There is Nature in Texas
Texas may have a poor public lands to private lands ratio, but nature is abundant in every corner of the state.
Everyone who grows up in Texas has to hear the question “Do you ride a horse to school?” from folks out of state. OK, so maybe that was more prevalent in the 80s when I was a child, but stereotypes abound around Texas. We aren’t quite Florida Man (or Woman) but we do have our own unique brand of being that makes a lot of people roll their eyes at the state…Remember the Alamo! It took leaving the state and living in Florida for 8 years to realize how some of the tropes (from both states) were deserved and how wrong most were.
The one thing that did stand out upon my return to Texas was how comparatively little public lands were available to its citizens. Coming back from Florida where there are protected lands for rare habitats and species managed by federal, state, and local agencies seemingly everywhere you go, it can be harder to find public lands in the nooks and crannies of the Texas suburbs. Texas prides itself on its private property rights, frankly, to its detriment.
I returned to Texas fresh off a 5 month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail with my husband, Chris. Shortly after, I spent some time in Sabine National Forest, in deep east Texas. East Texas was a place I had barely spent any time growing up, mostly as we drove down I-20 into Louisiana on our way to a Florida vacation. I got glimpses of the piney woods during my drives up and down I-45 in college as I went to and from Galveston and my parent’s house in Tarrant county. The only thing taller than the towering loblolly pines was the Sam Houston statue in Huntsville. Traipsing about that national forest on a biological field job allowed me to see Texas with new eyes.
In the years since we moved back in 2010, I have slowly begun to wrap my head around the vast abundance and diversity in the state. I’ve spent time digging through the internet to find nature writers and enthusiasts that would compare to the environmental alumni that Florida has and have found a few worthy individuals. And there are people working on the ground right now protecting Texas’ flora and fauna. The problem is most people don’t know who they are. And most people have no clue what is in their own backyards, much less what the entire state has to offer biologically.
I normally write over on my blog Oceanic Wilderness and will continue to do so. I invite you to hop over and subscribe to my writing there, too. But, what I want to do here is to focus on some more specific writing pertaining to Texas Nature and where we can go from here in a state lacking in the will to conserve its lands in any conceivable manner. Our big name parks in the western part of the state get the primary focus, and those areas deserve the coverage, but there are unique habitats in all of our metropolitan areas that are constantly under threat to development and other issues. In this space I want to highlight those places, the flora and fauna, and the issues that need to be at the forefront of Texas voters minds when it comes to conservation in Texas.
This space will always be free for everyone to read. I welcome comments and topic suggestions!