East Texas forests are under attack from many sources. Some of these sources of attack include: climate change, which makes temperatures hotter and can exacerbate droughts; increased monoculture pine plantations which destroy vegetation and animal diversity; and land development, which fragments the forest, chops it up into smaller and smaller parcels, and paves it over. However, a source of attack that people do not think about is: “Feral Hogs”.
Feral hogs are the descendants of barnyard pigs and wild boar from Europe (brought over for recreational hunting) which were brought over by humans from Europe and escaped, turned “feral”, and live wild in East Texas forests. For many years I have seen wallows and rooting by these animals and intuitively known that this is not good. But I did not understand the magnitude of negative environmental effects that these animals cause until recently. I read several articles about research that has been done in East Texas and elsewhere which documented the effects that feral hogs have on forests and other ecosystems.
In the documents, “Feral Hogs Negatively Affect Native Plant Communities”, by Jared B. Timmons, Blake Alldredge, Dr. William E. Rogers, and Dr. James C. Cathey, printed by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and “Experimental test of the impacts of feral hogs on forest dynamics and processes in the southeastern US”, by Evan Siemann, Juli A. Carrillo, Christopher A. Gabler, Roy Zipp, and William D. Rogers, in the Journal of Forest Ecology and Management, the negative impacts of feral hogs are laid out. The negative impacts of feral hogs include:
1) They eat crops, small mammals, and livestock.
2) They compete with livestock for food.
3) Rooting creates injury-causing troughs and mounds, influences plant composition, and destroys forage grasses.
4) Algae blooms, oxygen depletion, bank erosion, and soured water occur due to wallowing behavior and reduces water available for livestock and wildlife.
5) Compete with wildlife for food and territory.
6) Change plant composition which favors non-native invasive plants via disturbance and seed dispersal.
7) Rooting, defecation, and urination affects soil structure, soil nutrients, stream nutrient inputs, and stream invertebrates.
8) Feed on seeds (acorns and hickory nuts) which reduces large-seeded tree species.
9) Greater mortality rate for large saplings.
10) Increases bare soil due to decreases in surface litter.
11) Increases nitrogen in soil.
12) Reduces grasses and increases woody plants and forbs.
13) Create high ground disturbance.
14) Increases the abundance of Chinese Tallow trees.
15) Decreases diversity and survival rate of native trees.
16) Increases fecal contamination in streams.
It is clear, that feral hogs have a significant negative impact on our East Texas forests. The only way to successfully reduce feral hogs is to trap or shoot them. The Sierra Club supports the preparation and implementation of region-wide and or multi-county-wide feral hog control plans in East Texas. This is a comprehensive way to reduce the negative impacts caused by feral hogs and improve the health of our forests. Foresters, farmers, conservation groups, counties, cities, and residents must join together to address this problem.
Brandt Mannchen
August 30, 2018