Abbott Says Boca Chica State Park Sale Isn't Coming Up for a Vote Soon

Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday, October 19, 2026, that a possible sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX won’t come before the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission anytime soon. He made the comments at a news conference, according to the Texas Tribune, a few days after a Texas Monthly report said the commission had been discussing a sale of the beachfront park in Cameron County.

The park has not been sold, and no vote is scheduled.

What Abbott said

Abbott told reporters he knew very little about the possible sale and wasn’t aware of the details of what the department was considering, the Tribune reported. “What I know is that that’s not coming up for a vote anytime soon,” he said.

He also said his priority is making sure the state follows through on what he signed into law, and he pointed to the parkland Texas has been adding. The governor appoints the members of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

His remarks didn’t rule out a sale at some later date. They only addressed the timing.

How this started

We covered the original report earlier this week. According to the Tribune’s summary, Texas Monthly reported that the commission planned to talk about selling 1,300 acres of public land in Cameron County during a closed-door session at its November 5 meeting, and that SpaceX was the likely buyer.

TPWD spokesperson Stephanie Garcia told Texas Monthly that the commission isn’t considering a sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting. That statement and Abbott’s comments line up: nothing is expected to happen in November.

SpaceX didn’t immediately comment to the Tribune, and Cameron County officials weren’t available. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for governor, came out against a sale and criticized Abbott’s ties to Elon Musk.

Why the park matters to SpaceX

Boca Chica State Park sits next to SpaceX’s Starbase launch site, about three miles north of the mouth of the Rio Grande, according to the Tribune. The Washington Examiner notes that SpaceX sometimes uses the area around the park for rocket tests and launches, and the public area has to be closed when that happens. Those closures have frustrated some locals.

The state park isn’t the only public land near Starbase that has been in play. In 2024, the commission approved a trade that would have sent 43 acres of the park to SpaceX in exchange for 477 acres next to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, but SpaceX later pulled out. Separately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to give SpaceX 715 acres of refuge land in exchange for 683 acres of private land. In September 2026, a federal judge turned down requests from environmental groups to stop that exchange, the Tribune reported. Lawsuits against the state and federal governments over SpaceX’s growth in the area have mostly failed.

What it means for visitors

For now, the park is still state land and nothing about its ownership has changed. Any sale would have to go back before the commission, and both TPWD and the governor say that isn’t happening in the near term.

Access is a separate issue. Because the beach and park area can close for SpaceX tests and launches, check with TPWD and Cameron County for current closures before you make the drive.

Nearby state parks you can visit now

Boca Chica isn’t in our directory, but two Rio Grande Valley state parks are open and popular with birders:

• Resaca de la Palma State Park in Brownsville covers about 1,400 acres on old Rio Grande channels called resacas. You can’t drive private cars past the visitor center, so you walk, bike or ride the tram on more than eight miles of trails, with four decks overlooking the water. The park often fills, so TPWD recommends reserving a day pass. Adult entry is $4.
• Estero Llano Grande State Park on the south edge of Weslaco is a World Birding Center site where about 340 bird species have been recorded. More than 5 miles of trails cross wetlands, ponds, woodland and thorn scrub, and about 2 miles are wheelchair accessible. Adult entry is $5.

Farther west, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, a few miles southwest of Mission, is the World Birding Center’s headquarters, with about 360 bird species recorded.