Local parks and trails provide enormous community health benefits. Use of nearby parks and trails has mental, social, and physical benefits including lower stress, lower blood pressure, lower risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases, and increased sense of overall well-being. Parks and trails can also be drivers for economic opportunity and community cohesion.

Texas Children in Nature Network strives to share information with our partners to help ensure access to nature near them. With that in mind, in 2021, TCiNN partnered with TPWD on a grant from the Department of State Health Services as part of their Community Conversations on Health Program. A tool that emerged from that partnership is the Texas Healthy Parks Plan.

The Texas Healthy Parks Plan is a joint effort by the Trust for Public Land, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the Department of State Health Services to identify communities within the State of Texas for strategic park and trail projects that will most effectively improve community health and increase access to parks.