Big Thicket

The Big Thicket is a forested area in Southeast Texas in the United States. It is part of the mixed pine-hardwood forests, also called the "Piney Woods" of the Southeast US. In 1974, the National Park Service created the Big Thicket National Preserve within this region, and it is recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO.

This area is special because of its many different plants and animals. It has more than 500 types of vertebrates and a rich mix of ecosystems. Scientists have found at least eight, and up to eleven, different ecosystems in the Big Thicket. There are more than 160 species of trees and shrubs, 800 kinds of herbs and vines, and 340 types of grasses. Some estimates say there could be over 1000 flowering plant species and 200 trees and shrubs, plus ferns and special plants that eat insects.

For a long time, Native Americans lived and hunted in the area, but did not stay in one place. Later, the Alabama–Coushatta settled there around 1780. Spanish explorers visited the region, but did not try to settle it. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, logging cut down many trees. People started trying to protect the Big Thicket from damage by oil and lumber companies as early as the 1920s.

The Big Thicket mainly covers all of Hardin County, most of Polk and Tyler Counties, and parts of Jasper, Liberty and San Jacinto Counties. Some wider ideas about the area include parts of Montgomery, Newton, Trinity, and Walker Counties. The habitat also goes into Louisiana.

Geography

The Big Thicket is a special area in Southeast Texas known for its many different kinds of plants and animals. It has many types of soil, which helps many plants grow there. The land is mostly flat in the south and has gentle hills in the north. There are also many wetlands, like swamps and small lakes.

The weather there is warm and wet, with hot summers and mild winters. Rain is common, and sometimes tropical storms can bring even more rain. Many people live in small towns in this area, and jobs are often found in timber, oil, and farming.

Biology

The Big Thicket area is known for its rich variety of plants and animals. It is part of the Piney Woods region and includes many different ecosystems, such as uplands, sandylands, savannas, slope forests, floodplains, baygalls, flats, cypress sloughs, and mixed-grass prairies. These ecosystems support a wide range of plant and animal life.

The region is home to over 500 species of vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. Common mammals include the Virginia opossum, nine-banded armadillo, and white-tailed deer. Birds such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and Bachman's sparrow can also be found here. Reptiles like the American alligator and various turtles and snakes inhabit the area, and amphibians include salamanders and frogs. The Big Thicket also supports a diverse insect population, with nearly 1,800 species of butterflies and moths documented, along with many species of dragonflies and damselflies.

The area's complex mix of ecosystems and plant diversity makes it a unique and important natural habitat.

Exact numbers of plant and animal species occurring in the Big Thicket region are difficult to state objectively due to a number of factors including: the imprecise boundaries of the area; which (if any) accidental and vagrant species to count; whether to count extinct and extirpated species; whether to count introduced and invasive species; migratory vs. resident species; frequent taxonomic changes and taxonomic instability. These and other factors all contribute to what sometimes appear as inconsistent or contradictory counts and numbers.

Flora

The area contains over 100 species of trees and shrubs, with longleaf pine once dominating the region. Big Thicket National Preserve has introduced programs to re-establish this dominance, including one of the US's most active prescribed burn programs. With the National Park Service's centennial occurring in 2016, efforts were made to plant between 100,000 and 300,000 longleaf pines. The National Park Service lists more than one thousand species of flowering plants and ferns that can also be found in the thicket, including 20 orchids and four types of carnivorous plants.

Fauna

During the last glacial period, plant and animal species from many different biomes moved into the area. Before their extinction, the Big Thicket was home to most species of North American megafauna.

Well over 500 species of vertebrates occur in the Big Thicket region, including more than 50 mammals, 300 birds, 60 reptiles, 30 amphibians, and over 90 fishes. The records and numbers below for mammals, reptiles, and amphibians are based on county records for Hardin, Jasper, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Tyler, and Walker counties, which in a few cases may reflect marginal, peripheral, and vagrant records for a given species in the region and not all of the species are ubiquitous or evenly distributed throughout the Big Thicket.

Mammals: About 54 species of mammals occur in the Big Thicket (not counting extirpated species), including such species as the Virginia opossum, nine-banded armadillo, short-tailed shrew, American beaver, Baird's pocket gopher, southern flying squirrel, white-tailed deer, eastern spotted skunk, American mink, river otter, coyote, gray fox, bobcat, and Rafinesque's big-eared bat a threatened species in Texas. Although many of these species are common, they can be highly secretive and are seldom seen in the dense woodlands. Many prominent species that once occurred in the Big Thicket have been extirpated from their historical ranges. Examples include hog-nosed skunks, red wolves, ocelots, and jaguars.

Conversely other species have been introduced to the area like the nutria from South America, now common in the area. Feral pigs "constitute one of the most serious conservation threats in Texas."

Birds: Three hundred species of migratory and nesting birds occur in the Big Thicket including the red-cockaded woodpecker, a state and federal endangered species. The extinct ivory-billed woodpecker once occurred in the Big Thicket.

Reptiles: Sixty-one species of reptiles are known from the Big Thicket area including the alligator, 15 turtles, 12 lizards, and 33 snakes. Along with birds, reptiles are among the more commonly seen wildlife and they are an important part of the forest community or ecosystems. The American alligator, although somewhat uncommon, occurs throughout the Big Thicket where sufficient water is found. However, alligators are abundant in the open marshland of Chambers and Jefferson counties to the south, where they bask in the sun unobstructed by forest trees.

Snakes: With 33 species, the highest diversity among the reptiles are the snakes.

There are five species of venomous snakes in the area.

Amphibians: There are 31 species of amphibians found in the Big Thicket area, including 11 species of salamanders and 20 species of frogs and toads.

Fishes: Well over 90 species of fishes are known from the area.

Insects: Studies have documented nearly 1,800 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) in the Big Thicket.

History

In ancient times, people of the Caddoan Mississippian culture lived just north of the Big Thicket area. The Atakapa-Ishak people, including groups like the Akiosa and Akokisas, lived in the Big Thicket, moving along the Gulf of Mexico in Southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. They left behind signs of their camps, but the Big Thicket was not a major settlement like the areas farther north.

The Spaniards ruled the area from about 1521 to 1810. They set its borders with trails and rivers, such as El Camino Real de los Tejas to the north and the Brazos River to the west. They built a small settlement called Atascosito, later renamed Liberty. Other spots like Beaumont were mainly stops for river travelers.

After Mexico gained independence, the area stayed mostly quiet and undeveloped. A French scientist named Jean Louis Berlandier visited nearby areas in the 1820s and described the forests and local villages.

When Texas became part of the United States, more people began to move into the Big Thicket. Some were looking for opportunities, while others were trying to avoid military service. By the late 1800s, many mills were built to cut down the forests for lumber. This led to the discovery of oil at Spindletop in 1901, bringing even more growth and change to the region.

Efforts to protect parts of the Big Thicket began in the 1920s. After many years of trying, Congress finally passed a law in 1974 to create the Big Thicket National Preserve.

Protected and public land

The Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) is located in Southeast Texas, about 8 miles north of Kountze, Texas and 30 miles north of Beaumont. It is managed by the National Park Service and was created in 1974 to help protect many plants and animals. The BTNP covers over 113,000 acres and includes parts of seven counties. It was the first national preserve in the United States National Park System, along with the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. Some activities like hunting and oil exploration are allowed here, which is different from national parks.

Several other protected areas are nearby, including Huntsville State Park, Lake Houston Wilderness Park, Martin Dies Jr. State Park, Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary, Sam Houston National Forest, Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, and Village Creek State Park.

Ghost Road

Main article: Light of Saratoga

A dirt road called Bragg Road, built in 1934 near Saratoga, is famous for its strange stories. People tell tales of a mysterious light seen on the road at night, known as the Light of Saratoga. There are many ideas about what it could be, from old stories about hidden treasure to natural things like swamp gas or car lights shining through the trees.

Notable people

Some well-known people were born or lived in the Big Thicket area.

• John Alexander (born 1945, Beaumont, Jefferson County) is an American painter who often paints the landscapes of Southeast Texas.
• Brian Philip Babin (born 1948, resident of Woodville, Tyler County) has been a U.S. representative from Texas's 36th congressional district since January 2015.
• Annette Gordon-Reed (born 1958, Livingston, Polk County) is a historian and author who won a Pulitzer Prize.
• George Glenn Jones (1931, Saratoga, Hardin County – 2013) was a famous country musician and songwriter.
• Margo Jones (1913, Livingston, Polk County – 1955) was a stage and theater director known as "The Texas Tornado."
• Aubrey Wilson Mullican (1909, Polk County – 1967), nicknamed "Moon Mullican, King of the Hillbilly Piano Players," was a country-western musician and songwriter.