The more George Bristol dug into the history of the Texas state parks system, the more he returned to the same conclusion: Fort Worth’s fingerprints are all over it.

“There’s almost a straight line from the very beginning, with Amon Carter and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram voicing endorsement and support of state parks that went right through the ‘30s,” Bristol said.

Bristol, a prominent conservationist who led a 20-year push to increase funding for state parks, spent two years in his Fort Worth office researching the history of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which is celebrating its centennial this year.

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Just over 20 years ago, George Bristol was finishing a six-year term on the board of the National Park Foundation, the charitable arm of the U.S. National Park Service. Following his appointment by President Bill Clinton, Bristol focused his energy on creating a viable fundraising strategy and raising the profile of national parks in the public eye.

However, friends told him there was trouble with parks in his home state of Texas. In 2000, Bristol went to see Andrew Sansom, then the executive director of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

“I said: ‘What can I do to help?’” Bristol recalled. “He wrote on a tiny sheet of paper: ‘Money.’ Somewhere in all of my boxes, I’ve got that little note that says ‘Money.’ You could look around and, sure enough, we did need money.”

That conversation spurred Bristol to spend the next two decades convincing Texas lawmakers to increase the amount of state funding sent to the 95 parks, historic sites and natural areas overseen by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

His efforts paid off in 2019, when...

Texas state parks have been a convenient piggy bank for the Legislature whenever money was short elsewhere, but this session they got their due. Lawmakers put more funding than ever into state parks, and additionally are giving voters a chance to approve a constitutional amendment this November to ensure a long-term source.

The amendment, passed by more than two-thirds of the House and Senate and signed by Governor Greg Abbott this weekend, is basically a fulfillment of funding that was promised in 1993. That year, lawmakers dedicated a portion of revenue from the sales tax on sporting goods to fund state parks — 94 percent of the revenue was meant for parks and the remaining 6 percent to the state’s 22 historic sites. Since then, though, legislators have consistently appropriated far less than parks’ full share, moving the money around to other parts of the budget and leaving some of the most beautiful and popular places in the state woefully underfunded....

George L. Bristol has had an active career in business, fundraising, and politics, yet he found time to devote to conservation, which stemmed from a life-long love affair with national, state, and local parks. Bristol was born in 1941 in Denton, Texas. His father died in 1946, and George's mother was a school teacher and librarian. In pursuing her career, she moved the family frequently to a variety of Texas communities over the years: Beeville, back to Denton, Orange, Weatherford, and finally to Austin. When the family arrived in Austin, Bristol was 12 years old. He spent his teenage years in that city and has lived there most of his life. Today he lives in Austin and Forth Worth with his wife, Gretchen Denny. The two locations give him time to visit with their children and grandchildren.

In high school, Bristol played football, worked at a variety of jobs, and graduated in the top 10% of his class. The family made extensive use of Austin's parks and swimming pools, especially its signature Zilker Park, because they were close and free attractions. Furthermore, his...