2024 Marks 40th Anniversary of the Texas Wilderness Act

January 15, 2024

For those who love the Texas outdoors, 2024 is a bonanza and should provide all with many reasons to celebrate our conservation history.  2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the passage and signing of the Wilderness Act and the 50th anniversary of the passage and signing of the creation of Big Thicket National Preserve.

But 2024 also marks the passage and signing of the Texas Wilderness Act which created five East Texas Wilderness Areas in Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Angelina, and Sabine National Forests.

To obtain wilderness in the National Forests and Grassland in Texas (NFGT) took over 12 years.  This resulted in conservationists, including the Sierra Club, winning the fight against the U.S. Forest Service, timber industry, un-sympathetic politicians, and some rural folks so that 38,667 acres of federal national forest would be designated wilderness by the U.S. Congress.  These five wilderness areas are:

1. Little Lake Creek Wilderness Area (3,855 acres), Sam Houston National Forest.

2. Big Slough Wilderness Area (3,639 acres), Davy Crockett National Forest.

3. Indian Mounds Wilderness Area (12,369 acres), Sabine National Forest

4. Turkey Hill Wilderness Area (5,473 acres) and Upland Island Wilderness Area (13,331 acres), Angelina National Forest. 

Public Law 98-574 (H.R. 3788), the Texas Wilderness Act, was signed by President Ronald Regan on October 30, 1984.  This law not only designated the five wilderness areas but also allowed acquisition of Temple-Eastex intermingled lands by exchange which then would become wilderness.

The passage and signing of the Texas Wilderness Act ended an over 12-year fight to obtain wilderness for the “People of Texas”, East Texans specifically, and U.S. citizens everywhere, by the Sierra Club and others.

In 2024, the Sierra Club will celebrate this history by visiting several of these wilderness areas.  Please keep an eye on the Houston Sierra Club Outings “Meet-up” site to find out when these outings will occur.  Enjoy and protect your five East Texas Wilderness Areas in 2024 and in the future.