ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

190 INTRODUCTION/CONSERVATION IN BIG THICKET
such as Sour Lake (1901), Saratoga (1903), and Batson (1904), “transformed once isolated
villages into roaring boomtowns knee-deep in mud, drilling rigs, tent saloons and tough men
from the four corners of the world” (Gunter 1993). Batson’s Prairie, where five families had
lived before, swelled to ten thousand within a few years (Owens 1973). Unfortunately, the
consequences of unregulated early oil-drilling activities, particularly the oil and saltwater
overflow from wells and sludge pits, caused considerable ecological devastation (Gunter
1993). When spilled oil or saltwater runoff from the wells flowed down creeks or bayous or
into swamps or lakes, vast numbers of tupelo and bald-cypress trees were poisoned, and
another part of the Big Thicket was destroyed (Owens 1973; Edwards 2000). As Owens
(1978) noted,
Oil was black gold and men were willing to do to the land what was necessary to get it. They got
more than they could use or sell and let the wells gush out of control till oil flowed over land and
down ravines and streams, blackening the earth as it went.
Natural areas had little protection from such abuses. Fortunately, some of the worst examples
(e.g., destruction of wetlands by saltwater overflow) were fought and to some extent curbed
by agricultural interests such as rice farming (Owens 1978). From the standpoint of the Big
Thicket ecosystems, it was also fortunate that the initial oil boom and the associated lack of
any type of regulation were relatively short-lived. Nonetheless, oil continues to this day to
play an important role in the local economy, and environmental problems associated with oil,
though much lessened, still occur today.
CONSERVATION IN THE BIG THICKET
EARLY EFFORTS—The history of preservation efforts in the Big Thicket is complex and frustrating,
with numerous failed or only partially successful attempts made over many years (Henley
1967; Cozine 1993; Gunter 1993; Johnston 2001). Conservation activities began in the Big
Thicket as early as the 1930s, with the unsuccessful efforts of Richard E. Jackson (Fig. 108)
of Silsbee to preserve part of the region as a national
park (Parent 1993). Jackson, a conductor on the
Santa Fe Railroad that ran through part of the area,
was apparently the first person to suggest the preservation
of a portion of the Thicket (Loughmiller &
Loughmiller 1977). He was also instrumental in
1933 in the founding of the East Texas Big Thicket
Association, the forerunner of the still active Big
Thicket Association (Owens 1973, 1978; Gunter
1997 (detailed history); Johnston 2001). Because
of his contributions, Jackson is sometimes referred
to as the “Father of the Big Thicket” (Johnston
1997) and is credited as the individual who laid
the foundations upon which subsequent efforts to
preserve the Big Thicket were built (Gunter 1997).
By the early 1930s, the Thicket was being rapidly
reduced due to lumbering, clearing, and development,
and Jackson’s group began calling for action
to set aside 435,000 acres as a preserve or park.
The preservation movement eventually attracted a
FIG. 108/ RICHARD E. JACKSON, APPARENTLY THE FIRST
PERSON TO SUGGEST THE PRESERVATION OF A PORTION OF THE
BIG THICKET AND PRESIDENT OF THE EAST TEXAS BIG THICKET
ASSOCIATION (PHOTO FROM PARKS & CORY 1936).
variety of supporters, including the Texas Academy
of Science (Cozine 1993). Jackson and Don Baird
(then president of the Texas Academy of Science)
“became convinced that a biological and botanical