(Hardin County) - Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners agreed to purchase a tract of land that will more than double the size of Village Creek State Park.

The purchase, which involved land that state park officials have wanted to acquire for some time, will add about 1,500 acres to the 1,090-acre park located east of Lumberton.

The Conservation Fund helped make the purchase possible by offering the land to the state park system at a quarter of its value, or about $650,000.

The state plans to enter into an agreement with the National Park Service that would allow the public access to several miles of Village Creek through Big Thicket Preserve property adjacent to the 1,500-acre tract, with current logging roads to be used as park trails.