Mayor Neal Linnartz
It is my pleasure to announce the Willard Canyon is now open to the public after a ribbon cutting on August 20th. Willard Canyon, the city’s newest park, offers a peaceful and natural wooded hiking experience. The latest addition to the City’s Parks & Recreation System, Willard Canyon’s trailhead is located at 616 Beverley Lane, just off North Walnut Avenue and Wood Road. The new park was made possible through the generosity of Dr. Fred and Mrs. Colleen Willard who donated the 10-acres of land to the City, so it could be used as parkland. For years, whether you talk to people around town or look at the results of the National Community Survey, adding more green space, more parkland, and more trails are always high on the priority list. And it is always exciting to be able to respond to citizens’ desires, preserve more green space for New Braunfels, and add more trails to our city’s growing hike and bike trail system.
The Willard Canyon property was once owned by Mr. E.P. (Pete) Nowotny, who lived above the canyon at 660 Laurel Lane. He is credited with saving Landa Park, and his father and grandfather were both former Comal County Sheriffs. Bob and Cheryl Warnecke pieced together partial tracts of land into the lot which is the current home of Dr. Fred & Mrs. Colleen Willard, which they acquired in 1982. In 1983, the Willards acquired the lot below their house, at the corner of Beverly Lane and Forest Drive from Bill and Joyce Kolodzie. The Willards acquired the remainder of the canyon property in 2005 from Mr. & Mrs. Kolodzie with the intention of keeping the property as natural greenspace. Later, a strip of the property was sold to TxDOT when Walnut was widened, and NBU acquired an easement through the canyon for the Grandview water tank.
In 2024, the Willards generously reached out to me and expressed their desire to partner with the city to preserve their property as greenspace in perpetuity. Their home is located on the adjacent property, so the city worked to have the property replatted, separating their homestead and the park land. The Willards agreed to donate the property to the city with the following request: name the park Willard Canyon, keep a firebreak clear to protect the homes just above the park, and keep the property as natural greenspace. Of course, the city was happy to accept the property and honor those requests.
Willard Canyon is home to some amazing heritage oak trees, elm trees, ash juniper trees, and many other native plant species. There are now three different trail segments, totaling nearly a mile of interconnected trail loops:
- Canyon Trail – 0.4 miles – Easy, wide trail
- Ledges Trail – 0.35 miles – Moderate, rocky, shady, tree-top experience
- Cactus Trail – 0.25 miles – Moderate, rocky, winding along a dry creek bed
When the property was originally transferred to the city, the only walkable portion was an NBU easement that had been cleared and leveled (which is now the Canyon Trail) but the remainder of the property was not very accessible for hiking or walking. The New Braunfels Parks Foundation contributed approximately $20,000 to have additional trails cleared and made ready for hiking. The Canyon Trail takes you up the side of the hill for a nice view of the canyon and the beautiful live oak canopies. The Cactus Trail follows the dry creek bed and offers a chance to walk among many native plants and grasses below the tree canopy. All of the trails are easy to navigate and are not very challenging, so nearly everyone should be able to enjoy them.
It is exciting to be able to add this additional greenspace and opportunity for outdoor recreation to the City’s parks system. We sincerely appreciate Dr. Fred & Mrs. Colleen Willard’s vision of keeping this property as greenspace and their generosity in sharing it with the community. I hope to see you out walking the trails in Willard Canyon soon!