Still, funding limitations kept the City from fully realizing these dreams. Over time, the idea of managing the entire area as a natural area and educational resource gained favor. The City later added 86 acres of City land to the park to bring it to its current size of 372 acres.Įarly plans for Rio Bosque envisioned a mix of undeveloped open space and developed recreational facilities, but the City lacked the funds to carry out these plans. government conveyed another 9 acres to the City under the same program. Then, under the Federal Lands to Parks program, it was conveyed to the City of El Paso and became Rio Bosque Park. government administered this parcel until 1973. When the river was channelized, a 277-acre parcel within the old river bend switched from being Mexican territory to U.S. Before the channelization of the Rio Grande in the mid-1930s, a wide bend in the river wound through what is today the park. Along with the rest of the river valley, the landscape at Rio Bosque has changed dramatically over the years. The park is enclosed by irrigation canals and drains, and the western boundary of the park parallels the Rio Grande, which forms the international border between the U.S. Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is a 372-acre City of El Paso park located in southeast El Paso county near the town of Socorro, Texas.
