AUSTIN – Visitors to Big Bend National Park can now hike into the rugged Christmas Mountains, guns and all, while state officials continue to look for a federal agency to take over the property, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson announced Thursday.

The 9,296-acre tract of West Texas land shares a one-mile border with Big Bend – the rest is surrounded by private property – but has been inaccessible to the public until now.

Visitors would be able to hike to the mountains through Big Bend only, and could camp there, but deed restrictions prevent motorized vehicles, so activities are limited.

Hunting is still prohibited, but Mr. Patterson has said he is working on a way to allow some form of the sport in the near future. Guns aren't allowed in Big Bend unless they're dismantled.

The move brought mild accolades from environmental groups who say they're glad the mountains are finally open to the public.

But it doesn't solve the bigger problem, they say, of the state's unwillingness to let the National Parks Service – in their minds, the ideal stewards – take over the land simply because the parks service doesn't allow guns on their properties without a special designation.

The state has been trying to sell the land for more than a year, saying it doesn't have the resources to properly care for it. After repeatedly declining offers from the state, the parks service finally expressed an interest in the Christmas Mountains last year after Mr. Patterson and the Texas School Land Board, which oversees state-owned land, threatened to sell it to a private developer.

In February, the board tabled the parks service offer over the gun issue and opened bids to all federal agencies.

The land has been owned by the state since 1991, when it was given to Texas by a private conservation group with the assumption that it would stay public unless the group, The Conservation Fund, approved a private buyer.