The National Forests and Grasslands in Texas (NFGT), as managed by the U.S. Forest Service (FS), consist of four national forests, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Angelina, and Sabine, and two national grasslands (NGs), Caddo and Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ).  The two NGs total 38,186 acres with 17,873 acres in Caddo NG (Fannin County) and 20,309 acres in LBJ NG (Montague and Wise Counties).  These NGs are managed for grazing, watershed protection, recreation, mineral development, and wildlife.  They deserve our protection and visitation.  We need to know about their importance.  Texans and all United States (U.S.) citizens are fortunate to own these important conservation lands.

 

History of National Grasslands

 

Nationally, there are 20 NGs which cover about 4 million acres.  These NGs were originally the home of the American Bison, Elk, Pronghorn Antelope, and many other prairie animals.  They were the home of many Indian Nations including:  Hunkpapa Sioux, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atsina, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Ojibwa, Bungi, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Hidsata, Kiowa, Klamath, Kootnei, Mandan, Metis, Modoc, Pawnee, Santee, Shasta, Shoshone, Teton, Wichita, Yankton, and Yanktonia.

 

The U.S. acquired most of the Great Plains in 1803 via the Louisiana Purchase.  The Great Plains was one of the last frontiers settled in the late 1860’s.  The 1862 Homestead Act brought 6 million settlers into the Great Plains by 1890.  Many settlers tried but failed to replace grasslands with agricultural crops.

 

Drought was the major natural factor that prevented successful farming of the Great Plains.  In the 1930’s the “Dust Bowl” arose in the Great Plains due to improper farming.  Particularly in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and North and South Dakota enormous dust clouds rose 20,000 feet and blew away deep topsoil.  Soil drifts 10 feet tall buried fences and roads like snow.

 

Cattle and sheep grazing, prospecting, railroad development, and military installations all added their impacts to the Great Plains.  In the 1930’s the Great Plains was in severe economic trouble, exacerbated by the Great Depression.  In 1933, 1935, and 1937 the National Industrial Recovery Act, Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, and Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act respectively, allowed the federal government to buy and restore these damaged lands.  The lands were transferred to the FS from the Soil Conservation Service by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1954 and in 1960 the Secretary designated them as NGs.

 

 

Caddo and LBJ National Grasslands

 

The 17,873-acre Caddo NG is found in Fannin County.  It includes Lake Coffee Mill, East and West Lake Davy Crockett, Lake Fannin, Post oak and Blackjack oak savannas (Cross Timbers), and tall grass prairies.  Some wildlife in this NG include deer, quail, dove, rabbit, squirrel, waterfowl, furbearing mammals (raccoon and opossum), coyote, bobcat, and many birds, insects, reptiles, and amphibians.

 

The FS has a cooperative agreement with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to manage the 2,780-acre Ladonia and the 13,360-acre Bois d’ Arc Creek Units for wildlife, hunting, and fishing (largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, and sunfish).  Non-native feral hogs are present.  Horseback riding, camping, and hiking are big recreational uses.  Oil/gas development, wildfire control, and prescribed burning also occur on this NG.  Restoration of prairie and woodland ecosystems is a focus of management.

 

The 20,309-acre LBJ NG is managed like the Caddo NG.  The LBJ NG is in a natural transition zone (ecotone) where forest meets tallgrass prairie.  A “Cross Timbers Research Natural Area” is in LBJ NG and has bluestem tallgrass prairie, Western Post oak – Blackjack oak woodland, and the Texas oak woodland ecosystems.

 

The LBJ NG is in the “flyway” for birds that migrate south from nesting grounds in the north.  There is a 75-mile network of trails which horseback riders use.  A “bird dog training area” is in LBJ NG.  Part of the LBJ NG once had the “Chisolm Trail” and Comanche Indians lived in the area.  Black Creek Lake, Clear Lake, Rucker Pond, Rhodes Lake, Windmill Lake, Chicken Lake, Cottonwood Lake, and Little Cottonwood Lake are popular hiking, fishing, boating, and or camping areas.      

 

Management problems exist for both NGs.  Some of these problems are:  1) Caddo and LBJ NGs are broken into many parcels, surrounded by private lands, and development from the Dallas-Fort Worth area is moving west and north (incompatible land use); 2) Prescribed burning is needed to ensure that ecosystems are managed appropriately; 3) There are 39 water wells on these NGs that do not meet environmental protection laws; 4) Cisterns pose a public health hazard if people fall into them; 5) Dams need maintenance so they do not fail; 6) Oil/gas and right-of-way developments impact the NGs; 7) Boundary maintenance is needed to prevent, encroachment and trespass; 8) Road maintenance is needed; 9) Lake Fannin maintenance is needed.

 

These problems are exacerbated by low budgets and staff levels.  Less than 10 people are permanently funded to manage Caddo and LBJ NGs.  Fixed costs are 74% so additional cuts in budgets, result in “cut to the bone” management for both NGs.

 

The Sierra Club urges its members and the public visit Caddo and LBJ NGs.  Get to know, enjoy, and protect them.  Write the U.S. Forest Service and let it know how much they mean to you.  Send your letters to:  Mr. Eddie Taylor, Forest Supervisor, National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, 2221 North Raguet, Lufkin, Texas 75904.  Tell him you support additional funding and staffing for Caddo and LBJ NGs.  We own them.  Let’s take care of them!   

 

This article used information from the “Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands Five Year Plan:  FY 2018 – 2022”, U.S. Forest Service; Texas State Historical Association website, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website; Wikipedia; U.S. Forest Service website; “National Grasslands Management:  A Primer”, U.S. Forest Service, November 1997; “National Forests and Grasslands in Texas Fingertip Facts”, January 2017; and “Revised Land and Resource Management Plan:  National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, 1996”, U.S. Forest Service.

 

Brandt Mannchen

June 28, 2018