Four Corner - Texas Water Development Board

The flora and fauna or the project areas when first settled could include open land,
woodland and wetland habitats. The following are excerpt from a book by A A
Parker (1835).
" . .list of the forest trees, shrubs, vines i.e. red, black, white, willow; post
and live oaks; pine, cedar, cottonwood, mulberry, hickory, ash elm
cypress, box-wood, elder, dogwood, walnut, pecan, moscheto-a species of
locust, holly, haws, hackberry, magnolia, chinquspin, wild peacan, suple
jack, cane brake, palmetto, various kinds of grapevines, creepers, rushes,
Spanish-moss, prairie grass and a great variety offlowers ....
... Then there are bear, mexican hog, wild geese, rabbits and a great variety
of ducks ... "
Wild herbaceous plants that were native to this area include bluestem,
indiangrass, croton. beggerwood. pokeweed. partridgepea, ragweed and fescue.
Examples of native hardwood trees would be oak, mulberry, sweetgum, pecan,
hawthorn, dogwood, persimmon, sumac, hichory, black walnut, maple and
greenbrier.. Coniferous plants included red cedar arid coast juniper. Shrubs
included American beauty berry, farkleberry. yaupon and possumhaw. Wetland
plants such as smartweed, wild millet, bulrushes, saltgrass and cattail are native to
the area (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1976).
This vegetative environment supported wildlife such as bear, rabbit, red fox, deer,
coyotes, racoon, opossum, muskrat, beaver, alligator, armadillo, squirrel, and
skunk. A wide variety of birds were present such as quail, dove, prairie chicken,
song birds, herons and kingfishers. The area was also a winter home for a number
of migratory birds such as geese, ducks, egrets, coots, etc. (U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 1976).
2.2. EVALUATION OF AREA'S POTENTIAL WETLANDS
2.2.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and the rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder by the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the United States Army Corps ofEngineers (USACE), the discharge of
dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands,
requires the issuance of a permit from the USACE (33 CFR Parts 320-330). For
the purposes of administering the Section 404 permit program, the USACE
defines wetlands as follows:
Four Corners Area Water and Wastewater Facilities Planning Study
Page 2-2
FINAL REPORT