On September 14, our speaker will be Martin Hagne, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Observatory. Many who don't know the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, think they just watch birds. The GCBO has been a leader in avian conservation work.

On September 20, Matthew Strausser, a wildlife biologist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, will discuss insect conservation. Insects are an essential component for food webs, pollination and overall biodiversity.

This year, 2023, marks the 100th anniversary of the Texas State Parks system. One positive development in this year's Texas Legislative Session is the constitutional amendment, Proposition 14, that will create the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund.

The Big Thicket was once a 3.5-million-acre forest. The fight to establish a Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) took 45 years to accomplish. Today, BTNP is consists of 15 units and has grown from 84,550-acres to over 113,000-acres as of 2020.

In July 2023, four wildfires started in Indian Mounds and or Upland Island Wilderness Areas and all were caused by lightning. Many forest ecosystems historically evolved with lightning fires.

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.

Big Slough Wilderness Area is our smallest wilderness area, 3,639 acres. It’s found in Davy Crockett National Forest and is the place to go if you like bottomland hardwood forests.

There is no place like Little Lake Creek Wilderness Area in the 161,000 acres of Sam Houston National Forest. It is the only wilderness in this forest and it’s special in fact and due to its wilderness nature