By Tony Cantú
Contributing Writer

With the recent mailing of invites to potential steering committee members, local conservationists continue to build on efforts to revitalize historic Brackenridge Park.

Potential candidates to fill a steering committee – charged with setting bylaws and identifying the most pressing conservation needs within the nearly 350-acre park – have been invited to join the group, according to Marcie Ince, president of the San Antonio Conservation Society. The step is the culmination of years of methodical plans toward preserving the landmark, she said.

“The conservation society has wanted to do this for many years and we’re finally doing it,” Ince said. “Brackenridge Park is a treasure, and we need to protect it,” she added.

Ince said the steering committee – whose candidates have expressed a desire to be part of it – should be up and running by next January.

Expected to be a 12- to 15-member group, the committee will comprise members overseeing various aspects of restoration, Ince said. For example, one person may head up efforts to deal with adjacent property owners at the park, while another would engage in dialogue with nearby business owners, she said.

Establishing such a governing body is patterned after conservation of New York’s storied Central Park, Ince noted. Although on a decidedly smaller scale, Brackenridge Park is equally important in terms of its historic significance to San Antonio, she said.

“We started this process in 2005, when the society sought help from New York’s Central Park Conservatory for guidance on creating a model that we could use here in San Antonio,” Ince said, noting historical designation for the local park is simultaneously being sought. “It’s in the heart of the city, so it really is the people’s park.”

Various elements of the 349-acre park at 3700 N. St. Mary’s – including Lambert Beach, Lion’s Field, Sunken Garden Theater, the Joske, Koehler and Cypress pavilions, Witte Museum and the San Antonio Zoo – make the recreational zone steeped in local history, Ince said.

Recently another element – the Japanese Tea Garden – was re-opened to the public to great fanfare. The San Antonio Parks Foundation/ Friends of the Parks, in partnership with the Parks and Recreational Department, led efforts in revitalizing the long-neglected gardens. The foundation raised matching funds through private donations and grants, and continues to raise money needed to restore the gardens to its original glory.

In recent action, city officials approved a Japanese Tea Garden master plan, providing the Parks Foundation with $1.6 million in funds toward the plan’s creation and initial infrastructure improvements.

The foundation provided a $525,000 financial match from private funds toward the goal. February marked the completion of pond restoration, a new re-circulation system to maintain a safe habitat for aquatic life, efficient water resources and other infrastructure improvements.

February also kicked off efforts to form the park steering committee. “This is the beginning of a long-range plan we hope will allow us to protect the historical character of a park that is one of San Antonio’s oldest treasures,” Ince said in announcing the meeting.

Like Central Park’s conservation, the local version will involve stakeholders to address needs as one collective voice without conservancy regulatory authority over Brackenridge Park, Ince said. She credited June Kachtik, chairman of the Brackenridge Park Special Committee, with much of the work in setting up the steering committee.

“It’s a very exciting historic moment in San Antonio,” Ince said of the park’s ongoing revitalization. “We’re excited to be a part of it.”