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Unique Forest Areas by
Bob Bowman | |
In
the late l980s, a Connecticut-based forest products company launched a program
that triggered the protection of some of East
Texas' most unique forest areas.
The forerunner of the trend to set
aside unique areas for environmental reasons was Champion International, which
created six "Special Places in the Forest."
The initial sites were
later joined by ten others and the Champion program was continued by International
Paper Company when it purchased the Champion lands. Additonal lands were also
added to the Special Places sites with 37 sites totaling 8,100 acres in 15 counties.
Other
corporate landowners soon followed the Champion example. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
designated twelve areas in Texas and one in Louisiana
totaling more than 4,000 acres in six counties, calling them "Living Legacy
Lands." Temple-Inland also set aside seven "Distinctive Sites" totaling
more than 700 acres in several counties.
Most of the set-asides were located in remote forest areas, and all of them were
environmentally sensitive in some manner. "It is important that we try to exercise
enough control over tours so that the areas will not be adversely affected," said
Tony Bennett, president of the Texas Forest Industries Council, an industry association,
in 2000. |
The
areas were among some of the most unusual sites in East
Texas, including
A 317-acre Polk County stand of virgin longleaf pines, some more than 200 years
old. Dillard
Creek, 270-acres of huge boulders, petrified wood and lignite outcroppings in
northern Walker County.
Beef Creek Waterfall, a 225-acre site in Jasper County that includes a picturesque
20-foot waterfall with a sandstone bottom creek.A
1,227-acre area in Marion County where archeologists discovered what may be the
last known settlement of the Caddo Indians in East
Texas. It is believed to have been occupied by the tribe several hundred years
ago.The Oyster
Reefs, a collection of giant prehistoric oysters in White Rock Creek in Trinity
County. |
Today,
as a result of corporate land sales by International Paper, Louisiana Pacific
and Temple-Inland, the unique sites have fallen into the hands of new owners and
little is mentioned of the sites that author and environmentalist Pete Gunter
once hailed "as a new direction for the timber industry."
But, hopefully,
some of the unique sites may still be protected by the new landowners.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas
September 20, 2009 Column
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Copyright
Bob Bowman | |
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