TEXAS — A number of habitats and ecosystems converge in Kountze, Texas, at a national preserve known as the Big Thicket.
Some call it America’s first national preserve even though it was established October 11, 1974, the same day as Florida’s Big Cypress
Just a short drive from Big Thicket National Preserve headquarters is the Kirby nature trail, what Megan Urban says is the perfect introduction to the preserve’s different ecosystems.
“Just a great way to get off and explore and hopefully not get carried off by mosquitoes,” Urban said.
Urban is the chief of interpretation and education. Her experience spans nearly two decades but her favorite place so far is in the heart of southeast Texas.
“You get an idea of what the early settlers lived in and you can almost imagine having to carve out a little piece out of this very dense thicket we have here. And these live oak trees are just amazing and beautiful,” Urban said as she walked by the Staley Cabin.
The Staley Cabin is a unique piece of human history still standing in the Big Thicket. It was built in 1934 by the Staley family. The family did so not knowing the land was owned by Kirby Lumber Company. The company set out to evict the family before agreeing to let the family stay after Jimmy Staley signed an acknowledgment of tenancy. The cabin later served as the Big Thicket’s visitor’s center and still stands today, mostly untouched.
Just beyond the Staley cabin is one of the big thicket’s nine land ecosystems, a slope forest.
“Slope forest is designed to help drain water but also hold water every now and then and then send it back,” Urban said
The Big Thicket is considered one of, if not the most biologically diverse areas in the world. It’s recognized by the United Nations as a national biosphere reserve. It’s alive with cactus, ferns, orchids and longleaf pines just to name a few.
“This is one of those traditional pines you’d find in southeast Texas,,” Urban said, pointing to a massive tree along the Kirby trail.
The word thicket explains the density of the woods and abundant plant growth.
Historically, the area was essentially impenetrable until the lumber industry boom in the late 1800s.
“Even during the civil war there were people escaping both sides of the war, come in and live in the thicket for a couple years and find their way out. and so it’s really been used as a refuge for people to escape from everywhere else,” Urban said.
It wasn’t until the 1960s the thicket grabbed the attention of conservancy groups.
“A lot of the smaller shrubs are kept to a reasonable height and you get this natural pine savanna ecosystem that encourages not only long leaves but lovelolly. And of course we have better birding opportunities out here. When birders ask me where to go birding, I tell them come here,” Urban said.
Urban is referring to the Sundew trail. The preserve lies along a major migratory flyway.
The Sundew trail is also a place to see four of the five carnivorous plants on the preserve like Pitcher plants and the Sundew.
“If a little bug comes up it’ll trap, digest and let go. So a lot of times people might have sundews in their yard and not even realize it,” Urban said. “We’re still finding new plant species ,new mushroom species but we have a fairly good hand as to all of our land and what it looks like.”
The preserve has seen consecutive years of record attendance which didn’t slow down during the pandemic.
The preserve is open for hiking, backcountry camping, hunting, paddling, fishing and biking. And with more than 170 square miles to explore, Urban admits it’s impossible to cover it all in an interview, Texans have to venture to southeast Texas to discover it all themselves.
