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The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has acquired approximately 6,900 acres in Anderson County which will become the Trinity River Wildlife Management Area. This Wildlife Management Area (RWM) is an addition to the Middle Trinity River Ecosystem Project
Texas Forestry May/June 2025 p 2, 6 Post Oak Savannah Wildlifer June 2025 TFS News 6/27/25 which includes Gus Engeling, Richland Creek, Big Lake Bottom, and Keechi Creek WMA’s, together encompassing more than 38,000 acres in East Texas. The new purchase adds 11.3 miles of Trinity River frontage, giving a new total of 25 miles of frontage, providing an important corridor for migratory birds. The purchase was financed primarily by a portion of the Texas state legislature’s appropriation of $10 million in Migratory Game Bird Stamp Funds and a grant to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation from the Knobloch Family Foundation, together as a match for a Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wetland restoration and creation, along with rebuilding bottomland hardwood, is TPWD’s top priority for the new acquisition. Prairie restoration will be implemented on the upland acres in the northern portion of the property and recreational opportunities – such as hunting, fishing, camping and bird watching – will be available to the public when appropriate.
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According to an article by ResourceWise (April 7, 2025), the value of an acre of timber is dependent upon four major factors:
Location and Proximity to Mills – The closer the timber is to the mill the lower the trans-portation cost. Timber Type and Age – Managed pine plantations, typically clearcut at age 25-35, may yield 80-105 tons per acre, with sawtimber (12”+ DBH) yielding the highest returns. Natural mixed stands are often denser with 90-110 tons per acre. Harvest Methods – Clearcuts maximize the per acre revenue, but thinnings provide earlier cash flows with lower yields. Thinnings of young pine plantations (16-20 years old) with 30-50 tons per acre of mostly pulpwood and chip’n’saw typically command less than 21-25 year old stands with more, and larger, sawtimber and chip’n’saw. Natural pine thinnings may yield 40-60 tons per acre. Market Trends – Demand for timber products fluctuates with construction cycles and pa-per production. Based on 2022-2024 stumpage prices, the article states that a 100-acre pine plantation in the U.S. South at 26+ years old, might yield $211,100 - $227,500 from a clearcut. Thinned at 21-25 years, it would typically bring $53,800 - $90,400. A 100-acre natural stand might yield $196,000 - $216,800 with thinnings at $66,400 - $75,700. Soil quality, accessibility, mill proximity, etc. could significantly adjust these dollar amounts. The I.D. Fairchild State Forest in Cherokee County had its Centennial Celebration in April. The program included a demonstration of shortleaf pine management, as well as talks on native grasses, Eastern wild turkey and red-cockaded woodpeckers. Jason Ellis (Texas A&M Forest Service and Reuben Gay (Texas Park and Wildlife) shared their expertise on shortleaf pine management from both a timber and wildlife standpoint.
The Texas A&M Forest Service thinned a mature shortleaf pine stand on the State Forest, leaving trees about 70 feet apart on a grid pattern to produce natural regeneration. The demonstration forest provides an alternative to the more costly artificial regeneration. While shortleaf has slower growth than loblolly pine, it is less susceptible to freezing rain that tends to snap loblolly’s branches. Its wood is also denser than that of loblolly pine. Shortleaf, however, doesn’t self-prune as well as loblolly, but prescribed burning can encourage natural pruning and shortleaf is more fire tolerant than loblolly. Its columnar crown is less spreading than loblolly, allowing more light to reach the ground to produce more understory vegetation, serving as natural food plots. Properly maintained shortleaf forests can produce good habitat for song birds, turkeys, deer, and other wildlife. Even when they die, the dead trees can provide dwelling cavities for wildlife. So shortleaf can be a viable alternative to loblolly pine for both timber production and wildlife management. The key, I believe, is to match the tree species to the site qualities. Check your soil survey! While we historically thought that tree height in our pine plantations was independent of the planting density, recent research by the Texas A&M Forest Service (TAMFS) seems to indicate otherwise at low density spacing. So although tree height is unaffected by high densities between 700 or 800 tress per acre, the TFS found that the tree height was influenced by the spacing when they compared their data from plantings varying from 300 to 500 plus trees per acre.
The TAMFS planted four densities of control mass pollinator (both parent tree sources are known) loblolly pine at Fairchild State Forest in 2018: 360 (10’ X 12’), 435 (10’ X 10’), 545 (10’ X 8’) and 726 (10’ X 6’) trees per acre. While the 435 and 726 densities had a total height of about 27-28’ in 2024, the 545 spacing had a total height of over 29’ and the 360 spacing had a total height of a bit over 30’. The research results, however, were influenced by a large volume of volunteer pines that seeded in from the adjoining natural stand. www.FS.USDA.gov While further research is needed to duplicate these studies, this project is opening a discussion regarding whether our standard 726 trees per acre plantings are excessive. The average diameter at breast height (dbh) was greater at the lower densities, but total volume per acre is dependent on survival and survival is most crucial in the lower density plantings. So will the TAMFS lower their planting density recommendations in the future. Time (and more research) will tell! |
AuthorGary Allen Burns Archives
May 2026
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