ENJOY EAST TEXAS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

Editorial by Ted Lee Eubanks, President
Fermata Inc.

The forests and forest industry of East Texas are undergoing radical change. All of the major timber companies (like the paper companies in Maine) are divesting themselves of forest lands they have owned and managed for decades. Temple-Inland is the latest of these companies to begin the process of divesting itself of its timber lands (the announcement came on Monday as I attended meetings in Jefferson and Nacogdoches). This will impact over 1.1 million acres in East Texas, including some of the most sensitive woodlands (particularly long-leaf ridge) that have been protected by this company for generations.

The reason is simple – pressure from Wall Street and outside investors (in this case, corporate raider Carl Icahn). The Conservation Fund and others have been working with companies such as Temple-Inland on a series of conservation purchases, and I have been involved directly with them in an East Texas project (the Texas Pineywoods Experience) involving communities from Beaumont to Jefferson. But I must be honest in admitting that the latest news from Temple-Inland has placed us in a difficult position. Once we thought that we might have a few years within which to work; in truth, this time frame has been reduced to months.

These divestitures are a once in a lifetime (or century) opportunity to conserve the East Texas forests in some semblance of their original form. Yes, this work clearly impacts a significant component of the birdlife of our state. Bachman’s Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, American Swallow-tailed Kite, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Swainson’s Warbler are just of a few of the East Texas species that depend on these forests for their existence. Yet we Texans are directly impacted as well. These East Texas watersheds (Sabine west to the Trinity and San Jacinto) generate most of the freshwater in the state. Houston, for example, receives the majority of its drinking water from one East Texas river, the Trinity. Galveston Bay depends on this same river from most of its freshwater inflow. There is a long list of ecological services these forests provide, from carbon sequestration to flood control. To be blunt, the birds and people of East Texas are intertwined in their dependence on healthy forests, and these very forests are now at risk.

We will all continue to do what we can to pursue the conservation of these irreplaceable resources. But I must admit that at times even I can be discouraged. At the same time that Texas is selling off its forest heritage, 19 new reservoirs are being proposed to squeeze the last drops of water from these same watersheds. This is not to mention the uncontrolled development that continues unabated along our coast, or the long reach of Austin and San Antonio into the cedar brakes of the Texas Hill Country. Our time to fiddle has past. If we (by we I mean those who love our state) do not act now we might as well accept our fate and enjoy the last days of what was once a remarkable landscape.

Editor’s note: Eubanks is a consultant to communities that want to develop nature tourism programs. He can be reached at eubanks@fermatainc.com. This editorial was written the day the Texas Senate passed SB 3, which would designate 19 sites in East Texas as unique reservoir sites and prohibit use of these sites for other purposes. The bill is pending in the House.