By Brandt Mannchen

The Houston Sierra Club (HSC) hiked the east side of Sam Houston National Forest (SHNF) with 14 members of the public and Sierra Club in May.  It was great fun and camaraderie and resulted in learning about several important areas and ecosystems. 

The hike visited or saw Winters Bayou Scenic Area (WBSA), Lone Star Hiking Trail, East Fork of the San Jacinto River, Longleaf Pine Forest, Seepage Creek Wetlands, and Big Creek Scenic Area.

Winters Bayou Scenic Area, 1,587 acres, represents bottomland hardwood forested wetlands that are found in floodplains along rivers and larger streams in SHNF and East Texas.  The Winters Bayou Section trailhead parking area marks the end of the 128-mile-long Lone Star Hiking Trail (LSHT). 

The group was glad that the LSHT  connected our scenic surroundings for the day and provided a safe way to see the forest without getting lost.

We next drove over the East Fork of the San Jacinto River on our way to see seepage creek wetlands.  The East Fork makes possible safe and plentiful supplies of drinking water for Houston and the nearby area at a more economical price in Lake Houston.  It also provides for parks, green spaces, picnicking, compatible recreation like hiking, spiritual renewal, wildlife habitat, ecosystem protection, carbon storage, oxygen generation, and water-based recreational pursuits like swimming, canoeing, boating, and kayaking. 

Our next destination was a small stream that crossed the LSHT and provided a chance to visit seepage creek wetlands.  Sandy hilltops provide groundwater to seepage streams that flow into larger streams and into the East Fork of the San Jacinto River.

We saw that this seepage stream had Sweetbay Magnolia, Swamp Tupelo, Red Maple, White Oak, Black Gum, Water Oak, Sweetgum, American Holly, Tall Inkberry Holly, Red Bay, Southern Wax Myrtle, Chain Fern, Royal Fern, Cinnamon Fern, and other plants. Baygalls are associated with seepage streams and are habitat for rare plants and provide water, shelter, and food for wildlife.

We then moved to a totally different and much dryer ecosystem.  The Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) is a “Family Values” Bird that lives where there are old growth pine and pine-hardwood forests in East Texas.  Trees the RCW uses include native Longleaf, Shortleaf, and Loblolly Pines.  We were fortunate to see all three of these pine trees next to each other, so it was easy to tell them apart.  Many wildflowers also were blooming in the open pine forest including Bergermot, fleabane, dayflower, purple coneflower, pencil flower, and many others.   

The ”Family Values” aspect of this bird’s life centers on the upbringing of young.  Three to five eggs are normally laid and male birds and sometimes female birds from previous years that have stayed in the area assist their parents to incubate, brood, and feed chicks.  This is called cooperative breeding and allows the adults to more easily raise a family. 

Our last stop and where we ate lunch was at Big Creek Scenic Area (BCSA), which is a part of “The Big Thicket” of Southeast Texas, and a favorite hiking spot in the eastern part of SHNF.

BCSA is 1,920 acres and management emphasizes, “… protection, enhancement, or restoration of unique areas that are recognized as scenic, with outstanding visual quality”.  BCSA has “an emphasis to protect, enhance, and promote sustainable populations of unique plants or plant communities”.

Big Creek is a tributary of the Trinity River Watershed and Double Lake Branch and Henry Lake Branch combine to form Big Creek.  There are clear, spring-fed streams which flow year-round in BCSA; topographic elevations are about 190-295 ft.; and geology created soils of unconsolidated beds of clay, sand, sandy clay, or clay shale.

Three ecological communities compose most of BCSA including Coastal Plain Seepage Shrub Slope; Loblolly Pine-Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest; and Beech-Magnolia Forest.  One management sensitive species, the Slender/Sabine Wake-robin (Trillium gracile), occurs in BCSA. Fern beds (Netted Chain, Cinnamon, Lady, Royal, and Southern Shield Ferns) occur near the bottom of seepage slopes in BCSA and have an understory of Red Bay, Cherry Laurel, Maple-leaf Viburnum, Witch Hazel, and other shrubs and small trees.

All in all it was a great day to be outdoors and enjoy the landscape diversity of the east side of SHNF.  It’s your national forest so come out and enjoy and protect it.