The Big Thicket Association (BTA) and National Park Service (NPS) recently celebrated 20 years of support and operation of the Thicket of Diversity (TOD) program.  This program was inspired by Dr. Daniel Janzen’s efforts inventorying biological diversity in Costa Rica and the first All Taxa Biodiversity Inventories in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

BTNP has been presented to the U.S. Congress and the public as a highly diverse area that the NPS manages.  It has been designated one of united Nations’ UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.

The TOD was created in 2006 to explore and document the biological diversity in BTNP.  Initially, TOD was funded through several grants.  Since 2012, the TOD has been an approved Supplemental Environmental Project of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for wetland species and ecosystem analysis.  Monies to the TOD come from TCEQ mitigation enforcement actions.

In 2017, volunteers from the BTA and others have ensured that TOD continues and have recruited and maintained biological diversity research in BTNP.  To date, 135,603 total species have been collected or observed in BTNP and 5,616 different species have been found, including 47 species new to science, 563 species new to the BTNP, 349 species new to Texas, and 6 species new to the United States. 

The hard work that the Sierra Club, BTA, and many other groups and persons have put in to protect and expand BTNP has been rewarded by the great diversity of life that the TOD has documented. Congratulations to the BTA, NPS, and BTNP.

This article used information from: “Thicket of Diversity Celebrates 20 Years!”, Mary Catherine Johnston, Big Thicket Association, 2026.