The Woman’s Thursday Club gathered Thursday, Dec.12, at the First Methodist Church for our second study session hosted by Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette, who introduced us to the Piney Woods Ecoregion in East Texas.
Before we dove into our study topic, we first admired the beautiful Christmas charcuterie board prepared by Wyndi, and miscellaneous other snacks some of the other ladies helped prepare. As we enjoyed our treats, Wyndi shared a wealth of knowledge on the Piney Woods Ecoregion.
As you may have guessed, this Ecoregion is mostly characterized by its piney woods. The Longleaf Pine is the main species that typifies the temperate, coniferous forest ecoregion, that covers 54,400 square miles of East Texas, Southern Arkansas, Western Louisiana and Southeastern Oklahoma, but also includes other pines and hardwoods, including Hickory and Oak. Due to heavy lumber activity to help settle the vast Texas area, the World Wide Fund for Nature considers the Piney Woods to be one of the most critically endangered ecoregions in the US. The Piney Woods has the largest and last remaining old growth Longleaf Pine hardwood forests in North America.
What contributes to the success of the pines here? Rainfall and temperate climate help, with 40-52” of rainfall annually, and high humidity and temperatures contribute to its success. We swelter in these conditions, but the trees thrive!
Some common vegetation here includes: Pine, Oak, Red Maple, American Beech, White Ash, Sweetgum, Southern Red Oak, Water Oak, Red Mulberry, Eastern Redbud, Flowering Dogwood, Southern Magnolia, Eastern Red Cedar, Bald Cypress, American Beautyberry, Buttonbush, and Loblolly Pine.
Some common wildlife includes: Southern Shorttailed Shrew, Seminole Bat, Ringtail, Virginia Opossum, Eastern cottontail, Common Gray Fox, Striped Skunk, Bobcat, White-tailed Deer, Swamp Rabbit, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Eastern Flying Squirrel, Bullfrog, Attwater’s Pocket Gopher, March Rice Rat, Eastern Harvest Mouse, Cotton Mouse, Prairie Vole and River Otter. There are more than 300 bird species, 60 kinds of mammals, and 30 kinds of snakes that call the Piney Woods home.
The Caddo Indians played a big part of the early history of the Piney Woods. They are part of the Moundbuilder Tribes. Later, Spanish missionaries, French soldiers, African Americans and settlers from all over the world called East Texas home. Nacogdoches is one of the oldest towns in Texas, named for one of the groups of Caddo Indians that lived in the area. Many historians say that the Texas Revolution started in Nacogdoches. The first newspaper in Texas was published in Nacogdoches.
Caddo Lake is a prominent feature in the Piney Woods. It is the only natural lake in Texas! It started with a log jam, which was later replaced with a permanent dam. There are 400 year old trees in the lake. The typical depth of the lake is only 8-10’. Of course the habitat here is different, featuring three major habitats: bottomlands, mesic, and uplands. Its wildlife includes the American alligator and paddlefish. It covers 5,000 acres. The Spanish Moss hanging from the Cypress Trees in the lake makes it an eerie setting, especially at night. Tour guides who operate night tours must place plastic markers on their path, as all the cypress trees look alike, and they would otherwise become hopelessly lost.
This area is also figured signifi cantly in the Civil Rights movement. During the Civil War. Planters brought slaves with them to this area to work the cotton plantations. Harrison County (where Marshall is located) had the highest number of slaves in the state. Following World War II, activists lobbied for social change, with support from historically black colleges and universities in the area. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a commencement address at Bishop College’s Marshall campus in May 1960. Few whites knew he had been there.
She also shared the seven best towns in East Texas.