The Piney Woods is a terrestrial ecoregion An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna in the Southern The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans, early European settlements of English, Ulster Scots, United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language covering 54,400 square miles (141,000 km2) of East Texas According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone County and then southeastward to Galveston Bay", though some separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region, southern Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land, western Louisiana Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of current, and southeastern Oklahoma Southeastern Oklahoma, also known by its official tourism designation, Kiamichi Country, encompasses the southeastern quarter of the state of Oklahoma. The term "Kiamichi Country" was coined by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation as one of six travel destination regions within the state and is named after the Kiamichi River. These temperate coniferous forests The temperate coniferous forest includes areas such as the Valdivian temperate rain forests of southwestern South America, the rain forests of New Zealand and Tasmania, northwest Europe , southern Japan, and the eastern Black Sea-Caspian Sea region of Turkey and Georgia to northern Iran are dominated by several species of pine See Pinus classification for complete taxonomy to species level. See list of pines by region for list of species by geographical distribution as well as hardwoods Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen including hickory Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as Hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and large nuts. Between 10–24 species are native from China and Indochina, with 11–12 in the United States, 2-4 in Canada and 1 in Mexico and oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist on earth. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus. The genus is native to the northern hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cold latitudes to tropical Asia and the Americas. The World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with considers the Piney Woods to be one of the critically endangered ecoregions of the United States.[1]
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Setting
The Piney Woods cover an area of 140,900 square kilometres (54,400 sq mi) of eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and the southeastern corner of Oklahoma.[1] They are bounded on the east by the Mississippi lowland forests, on the south by the Western Gulf coastal grasslands The Western Gulf coastal grasslands are a subtropical grassland ecoregion of the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is known in Texas as "Coastal Prairie". The ecoregion covers an area of 77,425 square kilometres , extending along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico from southeastern Louisiana through Texas and into the, on the west by the East Central Texas forests and the Texas blackland prairies The Texas Blackland Prairies are a temperate grassland ecoregion located in Texas that runs roughly from the Red River in North Texas to San Antonio in the south, on the northwest by the Central forest-grasslands transition, and on the north by the Ozark Mountain forests The Ozark Mountain Forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the central United States delineated by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The ecoregion covers an area of 23,900 square miles in northern Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
Flora
The region has heavy to moderate rainfall, with some places receiving over 60 inches (1,500 mm) of rain per year. Longleaf Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida, Shortleaf and Loblolly Pines Pinus taeda, commonly known as the Loblolly Pine, North Carolina Pine, Bull Pine, or Old-field Pine,) is one of several pines native to the Southern United States. It is particularly dominant in the eastern half of North Carolina . It is one of the varieties of Southern yellow pine, along with Bluejack and Post Oaks, dominate sandhills A sandhill is a type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem in the coastal plain of North America. It is not the same as a sand dune. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo ecological succession and become more oak dominated. A well developed understory Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs. Young canopy trees often persist as suppressed juveniles for decades while they wait for an opening in the grows beneath the sparse canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns, and includes Yaupon Holly and Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood, syn. Benthamidia florida Spach) is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas and also in Illinois, with a disjunct population in eastern Mexico in Nuevo León and Veracruz. Pine savannas consist of scattered Longleaf and Loblolly Pines alongside Black Tupelos, Sweetgums, and Sweetbay Magnolias.[1] Other common trees in this ecoregion include Eastern Redbud, Southern Sugar Maple, and American Elm.[2] American Wisteria, a vine, may cover groves of trees
A creek running through the Piney Woods in Northeast Texas Northeast Texas is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. It is geographically centered around two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20: Tyler in the west and Longview/Marshall to the east. Clarksville, Mount Pleasant, Greenville, Paris and Texarkana in the north and the Nacogdoches/Lufkin area, Jacksonville and.Two varieties of wetlands A wetland is an area of land which soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish. The world's largest wetland is the are common in the Piney Woods: bayous A bayou is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with the state of are generally found near rivers and sloughs A swamp is a wetland featuring flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or forest swamps and "transitional" which are generally found near creeks. In bayous Bald cypress Taxodium distichum is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States, Spanish moss Spanish moss is a flowering plant that grows upon larger trees, commonly the Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) or Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the southeastern United States, and water lilies Nymphaea is a genus of aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. There are about 50 species in the genus, which has a cosmopolitan distribution are common plants.[3] Sloughs are shallow pools of standing water that most trees are capable of growing in, and other species such as the Purple bladderwort, a small carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Charles Darwin wrote, have found a niche in sloughs.
Hearty species of Prickly pear cactus Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae and Yucca Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the agave family, Agavaceae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Early reports can be found both in the forests and wetlands.
The indigenous Texas trailing phlox (Phlox Phlox is a genus of 67 species of annual or perennial flowering plants. Some species flower in early spring while others flower in summer into fall. Most species are native to temperate North America but a few species are also from northeastern Asia. They are found growing in diverse habitats from alpine locations to open woodlands and prairies nivalis texensisis), an endangered species, grows in the sandy soils of Longleaf Pine forests.[4]
Fauna
Mammals such as Eastern Cottontail The Eastern Cottontail is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is one of the most common rabbit species in North America rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit , cottontail rabbits (genus Sylvilagus; 13 species), and the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi, an endangered species on Amami Ōshima,, Eastern Gray Squirrels The Eastern Gray Squirrel , or the Grey Squirrel, depending on region, is a tree squirrel native to the eastern and midwestern United States and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada. The native range of the Eastern Gray Squirrel overlaps with that of the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), with which it is sometimes confused,, Virginia Opossums The Virginia Opossum , commonly known as the North American Opossum, is the only marsupial found in North America north of the Rio Grande. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, it is a successful opportunist and is found throughout Central America and North America east of the Rockies from Costa Rica to southern Ontario, Nine-banded Armadillos The Nine-Banded Armadillo , or the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo (and colloquially as the poor man’s pig or poverty pig), is a species of armadillo found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos. Its ancestors originated in South America and remained there until 3 million years ago when the, White-tailed deer The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States (all but five of the states), Canada, Mexico, Central America, and in South America as far south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand and some countries in Europe, such as Finland and the Czech, North American Cougars, Gray Foxes The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to northern Venezuela and Colombia. This species and the closely related Island Fox are the only living members of the genus Urocyon, which is considered to be among the most primitive of the living canids. Though it, Bobcats The Bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family, Felidae. With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States. The Bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semi-desert, urban edge, forest edges and swampland environments. It, Ring-tailed Cats The ringtail is a mammal of the raccoon family, native to arid regions of North America. It is also known as the ringtail cat, ring-tailed cat or miner's cat, and is also sometimes mistakenly called a "civet cat" (similar, though unrelated, cat-like omnivores of Asia and Africa). The ringtail is sometimes called a cacomistle, though this, Rafinesque's Big-eared Bats, and Seminole Bat;[4] and reptiles Reptiles are animals in the class Reptilia characterized by breathing air, a "cold-blooded" (poikilothermic) metabolism, laying tough-shelled amniotic eggs (or retaining the same membrane system in species with live birth), and skin with scales or scutes. They are tetrapods (either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed such as Cottonmouth Water Moccasins Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper, found in the eastern United States. Adults are large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite, but are not normally aggressive. This is the world's only semi-aquatic viper, usually found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes and, Prairie Kingsnakes, Slender glass lizards, and Squirrel Treefrogs, thrive in the Piney Woods. Birds include Sandhill Cranes, Black The Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus, also known as the American Black Vulture, is a bird in the New World vulture family whose range extends from the southeastern United States to Central Chile and Uruguay in South America. Although a common and widespread species, it has a somewhat more restricted distribution than its compatriot, the Turkey and Turkey Vultures, Northern Mockingbirds The Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Turdus polyglottos, and the vulnerable A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve. The following is a very small, non-representative fraction of the 8,566 species listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List Red-cockaded Woodpecker About the size of the Northern Cardinal, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker is approximately 8.5 in. (20-23 cm) long, with a wingspan of about 14 in. (36 cm.) and a weight of about 1.5 ounces. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes. American Alligators The American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, is one of the two living species of Alligator, a genus within the family Alligatoridae. The American Alligator is native only to the Southeastern United States, where it inhabits wetlands that frequently overlap with human-populated areas. It is larger than the other extant alligator species, the are not as common as they once were, but their population has rebounded since the 1960s. Louisiana Black Bears The American black bear is North America's smallest and most common species of bear. It is a generalist animal, being able to exploit numerous different habitats and foodstuffs. The American black bear is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern, due to the species' widespread distribution and a large global population estimated to be twice that of all are rare today, but still live in remote thickets. Recently, there has been significant talk of reintroducing the Black Bear into many parts of East Texas.[5][6] The most common fish is Catfish, which are a native species but also stocked in local reservoirs. Crayfish are common along river and creek banks.
The Piney Woods Region of the four state area is a noted area for Bigfoot (Sasquatch) sightings; with many legends dating back to pre European settlement. One such noted legend is the story of the Fouke Monster of Southern Arkansas; documented in the 1972 film The Legend of Boggy Creek. The area according to references lists this area to be the third highest in North America for these such sightings. Melanistic (black) cougars, another probable cryptid, have been noted by residents.[7]
Conservation and threats
Newly cleared forest in East Texas. Most of the mature trees have been cleared and the litter layer—the bottom layer of decaying matter that enriches the soil with nutrients—of the forest has begun to wash away due to recent rains.The majority of the commercial timber growing and wood processing in the state of Texas takes place in the Piney Woods region, which contains about 50,000 square kilometres (12,000,000 acres) of commercial forestland.
National forests
Four National Forests are found in the Piney Woods of East Texas, covering some 634,912 acres (2,569.40 km2) in 12 counties.
- Angelina National Forest (Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine and Jasper counties)
- Sabine National Forest
- Davy Crockett National Forest
- Sam Houston National Forest (Huntsville)
State parks
The Texas portion of the Piney Woods has at least 17 state parks:
- Atlanta State Park
- Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site
- Caddo Lake State Park
- Daingerfield State Park
- Governor Hogg Shrine Historic Site (Quitman)
- Huntsville State Park
- Jim Hogg Historic Site (Rusk)
- Lake Bob Sandlin State Park
- Lake Livingston State Park
- Martin Creek Lake State Park
- Martin Dies Jr. State Park (Jasper)
- Mission Tejas State Park
- Rusk and Palestine State Parks
- Starr Family State Historic Site
- Tyler State Park
- Village Creek State Park (Lumberton)
See also
External links
- Images and Information on the Piney Woods and East Texas
- Experience Nature, Arts & Culture, History & Heritage Destinations in the Texas Pineywoods
References
- ^ a b c "Piney Woods forests (NA0523)". WWF Ecoregion Reports. World Wide Fund for Nature. http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0523_full.html. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ "Ecoregion 1 – The East Texas Pineywoods Ecoregion". Plant Guidance by Ecoregions. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildscapes/guidance/plants/ecoregions/ecoregion_1.phtml. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ Liu, Changxiang; Jim A. Neal; Craig Scofield; Jane Chang; A. Kim Ludeke; Carl Frentress (2009-06-16). "Classification of Land Cover and Assessment of Forested Wetlands in the Cypress Creek Watershed". Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/pwd_rp_t3200_1056/index.phtml. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ a b "Pineywoods". TPWD Kids. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/kids/about_texas/regions/pineywoods/big_kids/. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ "Where they Once Roamed". Houston Chronicle. 2005-07-06. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3884479.
- ^ "Push grows to make E. Texas bear country". Houston Chronicle. 2006-08-08. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2006_4166744.
- ^ "Black Panther Sightings In Upshur County". KLT7 News. 2007-03-28. http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6295071.
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Categories: Ecoregions in the United States | Geography of the United States | Natural history of Arkansas | Natural history of Louisiana | Natural history of Oklahoma | Natural history of Texas | Nearctic | Regions of Texas | Temperate coniferous forests
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Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:13:28 GMT+00:00
Morning Sentinel Those piney clusters and stands of hardwoods, which lured tree men and provided the area with an economic boost more than a hundred years ago, ...
unknown
hu, 22 Jul 2010 20:21:52 GM
"Russian boar, . piney woods. rooter, razorback, feral hog, feral swine, pig," Hicks said. ""Even one hog, having one hog running around in Ohio's landscape is bad. They cause a lot of destruction, a lot of damage and a lot of disease ...
Q. I saw one last month in the Piney Woods in Tx and i was wondering if anyone else is seeing them too...no im not nuts been hunting since i was 8 im 42 now and first time i ever seen anything like it'
Asked by clark6561 - Tue Feb 13 22:04:54 2007 - - 12 Answers - 1 Comments
A. My grandfather had an amazing encounter with one, and I have had 2 . It is an amazing experiance! My GFather saw it and chased it after it broke into his chicken and duck pens on the ranch. I have only heard, and smelled it, and I only briefly seen it.
Answered by ZABU - Wed Feb 14 00:59:54 2007
