On October 11, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed a bill into law (Public Law 93-439) that created the 84,550-acre Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP). 2024 celebrates the 50th anniversary of that historic day. As they say in the country, “A lot of water has flowed under the bridge” since that day. Today, Texans and the people of the U.S. have a real national natural treasure which is finally getting its due. Let the birthday party begin!!!
The BTNP today is 112,250 acres. Conservationists originally envisioned a several hundred thousand acre protected area in the Big Thicket. There is discussion of a new BTNP expansion bill which would allow acquisition of over 100,000 additional acres. If this effort is successful, the original dream may at last become a reality.
From the late 1920’s until October 11, 1974, conservationists, sportsmen, some local residents, environmentalists, Native Americans, business folks, and a load of other people, fought hard to get the Big Thicket of East Texas recognition and protection. The Sierra Club was instrumental in the creation and operation of the Big Thicket Coordinating Committee, which helped plan the strategy to get approval for a Big Thicket bill.
When efforts at the state level failed, people turned to the U.S. Congress. Champions like Senator Ralph Yarborough, Representative Bob Eckhardt, Representative Charlie Wilson, and Senator Lloyd Bentsen brought the bacon home so President Ford could sign PL 93-439 on October 11, 1974. We need more congressional stalwarts today if we are to “tote the water” for a new BTNP expansion bill.
Many compromises were made during the original fight, the most telling the downgrading of Big Thicket from a national park to a new unit of the National Park System, a national preserve. National preserves were created to allow important lands to be acquired that would allow activities, like hunting and oil/gas development, that are not allowed in national parks.
The BTNP, due to these compromises, has struggled since its inception. Lands to be acquired often had titles that were clouded with years of family and associated land deals and disputes that left ownership unknown. Condemnation was required, although much was friendly, to clear land titles, and left a bitter taste in some local people’s mouths. However, most of the land was acquired from large timber companies. It took well over 10 years to acquire the 84,550 acres that were originally part of BTNP.
BTNP was protected for its many varieties of plants and animals, but funding for law enforcement, resource protection, and nature interpretation has always been critical and lacking.
BTNP, because of its challenges to deal with a scattered land area with huge boundaries (more boundary than Yellowstone National Park), regulate and manage oil/gas operations, provide a hunter education and enforcement program, and encroachment of development, is a superb breeding grounds for training National Park Service employees.
Unfortunately, many of these employees, once trained and having developed valuable experience, leave for other jobs in parks or units of the National Park System. In addition, the U.S. Congress has been stingy with funds and often BTNP has limped along with far fewer employees than necessary.
But, as Maxine Johnston, “Godmother” of the Big Thicket, says, “It is our’n”. Citizens of the U.S. and Texas have a beautiful, mystical, water park to visit and enjoy and is only an hour and one-half away from millions of Houstonians. Canoeing, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, birding, nature study, environmental education, and photography are just a few of the enjoyable activities that you enjoy in BTNP.
But perhaps even more important is the opportunity to let your hair down, relax, and find peace, solitude, and quiet among the natural sounds and sights of a green forest and streams that cover and course through BTNP.
A spiritual connection, no matter what your religious or non-religious persuasion, is forged with other members of the community of life, the plants and animals, and you realize that we are all in this together and depend on one another for our lives and very survival.
What will the next 50 years bring? Hopefully more land for BTNP and better protection for this increasingly rare landscape and its residents. That is the birthday present I want you to have. Go to the BTNP website at http://www.nps.gov/bith and plan a trip. You will be awed and glad you did.
Photos by Brandt Mannchen.