The Big Thicket Guidebook

The Big Thicket Guidebook
Author: Lorraine G. Bonney
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 865
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 157441318X

Follow the backroads, the historical paths, and the scenic landscape that were fashioned by geologic Ice Ages and traveled by Big Thicket explorers as well as contemporary park advocates as you explore this diverse area. From Spanish missionaries to Jayhawkers, and from timber barons to public officials, travel along fifteen tours, with maps included.

Reflections on the Neches

Reflections on the Neches
Author: Geraldine Ellis Watson
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1574411608

Annotation Having been a plant ecologist and park ranger for the US National Park Service, Watson has now returned to her native east Texas and settled in her private nature preserve. She documents a voyage (accompanied by her old blind dog) down the river Neches River, called Snow River by natives. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Big Thicket Legacy

Big Thicket Legacy
Author: Campbell Loughmiller
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2002
Genre: Big Thicket (Tex.)
ISBN: 157441156X

In Big Thicket Legacy, Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller present the stories of people living in the Big Thicket of southeast Texas. Many of the storytellers were close to one hundred years old when interviewed, with some being the great-grandchildren of the first settlers. Here are tales about robbing a bee tree, hunting wild boar, plowing all day and dancing all night, wading five miles to church through a cypress brake, and making soap using hickory ashes.

Tales from the Big Thicket

Tales from the Big Thicket
Author: Francis Edward Abernethy
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781574411423

Abernethy presents the history and folklore of the Big Thicket and its people, including a collection of Alabama-Coushatta tales, a search for hidden Jayhawkers during the Civil War, a nineteenth-century travel account, and a family history of the legendary Hooks.

Parking Lot Birding

Parking Lot Birding
Author: Jennifer L. Bristol
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2020-04-21
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 162349852X

Texas boasts greater bird diversity than almost any state, with more than six hundred species living in or passing through during spring and fall migrations. Jennifer L. Bristol’s Parking Lot Birding speaks to people who would love to observe a wide variety of birds in easy access locations that don’t require arduous hikes or a degree in ornithology. As she explains, “I have personally trudged down hundreds of miles of trails in Texas, loaded down with gear, searching for birds, only to return to the parking lot to find what I was looking for.” Drawing on her experience as a former park ranger and lifelong nature enthusiast, Bristol explores ninety birding locations that are open to the public and accessible regardless of ability or mobility. Divided by geography, with each of the nine sections centered on a large urban area or defined ecoregion, Parking Lot Birding: A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas will take readers to birds in locales from the busy heart of Dallas to the remote Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge in the plains north of Lubbock. Each birding stop includes the name and address of a specific birding location, number of species that have been recorded, and types of birding amenities offered. Locational accounts end with a “Feather Fact” that provides interesting and relevant details about selected birds in a particular region. You never know what you might see when on the beaten path, especially in a state as big and ecologically diverse as Texas. So grab your binoculars and let’s go birding!

Haunted Hikes

Haunted Hikes
Author: Andrea Lankford
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2006-04-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1595809856

Ghosts! Curses! Hoaxes! Unsolved mysteries! Paranormal events! Take a walk on the creepy side of North America's National Parks! Andrea Lankford, a 12-year veteran ranger with the National Park Service, has written a thoroughly investigated yet often tongue-in-cheek guidebook that takes the reader to the scariest, most mysterious places inside North America's National Parks. Lankford shares such eerie tales as John Brown's haunting of Harper's Ferry, the disembodied legs that have been seen running around inside the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center, and the "wailing woman" who roams the trail behind the Grand Canyon Lodge. Lankford also uncovers paranormal activities park visitors have experienced, such as the chupacabra that roams the swamps inside Big Thicket National Preserve and the teenage bigfoot who rolled a park service campground with toilet paper. She also reports on long-forgotten unsolved murders, such as the savage stabbing of a young woman on Yosemite's trail to Mirror Lake, and the execution style shooting of two General Motors executives at Crater Lake. The witnesses to the supernatural occurrences are highly credible people-rangers, park historians, river guides, and the like-and each tale has factual relevance to the cultural or natural history of the park. Haunted Hikes provides readers with all the information they need: for each hike: a "fright factor rating" is listed along with trailhead access information, detailed trail maps, and hike difficulty levels. Most of the haunted sites included in the book can be reached by the average hiker, some are wheelchair accessible, and others are for intrepid backpackers willing to make multi-day treks into wilderness areas. Intriguing photographs of many sites are included. Haunted Hikes is sure to satisfy readers looking for those spine-tingling moments when you begin to wonder if maybe, just maybe, we are not alone.

The Big Thicket

The Big Thicket
Author: Pete Addison Y. Gunter
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1993
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780929398525

When a bill creating the Big Thicket National Preserve was signed into law, it climaxed more than half a century of environmental debate, planning and destruction. The preserve opened new vistas for recreation. In this revised and updated version, Gunter not only describes the history and rich diversity of the region saved from the bulldozers of real estate developers and lumber companies, but also the dimensions of the new Big Thicket Preserve. He makes it possible to plan a trip there by including descriptions of each stream corridor unit, maps and canoeing conditions, hiking trails, and camping facilities. He lists representative flora and fauna. The book provides a background—both historical and biological—which will make clear just what the visitor to the Big Thicket is seeing; why it has mattered, and why it will continue to matter.

Nature Lover's Guide to the Big Thicket

Nature Lover's Guide to the Big Thicket
Author: Howard H. Peacock
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1994
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Whether this is your first trip to the Big Thicket or your five hundredth, this handy guide will lead you down paths and waterways that are a nature lover's dream. America's first designated national preserve, the Big Thicket in Southeast Texas harbors at least a thousand species of flowering plants, two hundred species of birds, fifty kinds of reptiles, twenty species of mammals, two hundred species of wild trees and shrubs, and even four kinds of carnivorous (meat-eating) plants. The ten different ecosystems that support this unique diversity range from arid sandylands to cypress sloughs, from lordly upland forests to mud-crusted flats dappled by palmetto fronds. Small wonder, as popular nature writer Howard Peacock tells us, that the region has been called the "Biological Crossroads of North America" or even, as conservation efforts have focused on it, "America's Ark." Nature Lover's Guide to the Big Thicket offers tips on identifying plants and animals residing in the area, suggestions on trails to follow, and descriptions of sights to see and recreational opportunities to enjoy. It provides photographs to help plan your visit and checklists to record it. It's a book for the hip pocket, the car seat, the table by a reading chair. Let it lead you now in a leisurely tour--or many such tours--of this special 95,000-acre spot of earth.

Herping Texas

Herping Texas
Author: Michael A. Smith
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2018-10-12
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1623496659

Coiled beneath discarded trash or rocky slabs, basking along river edges, and tucked into rock cuts beside the highway, reptiles and amphibians constantly surround us. While many people go out of their way to avoid snakes or shudder at the thought of touching a toad, herpers take to the field armed with cameras, hooks, and notebooks hoping to come across a horned lizard, green tree frog, or even a diamondback rattlesnake. In Herping Texas: The Quest for Reptiles and Amphibians, Michael Smith and Clint King, expert naturalists and field herpers, take readers on their adventures across the state as they search for favorite herps and rare finds. Organized by ecoregion, Herping Texas describes some of the state’s most spectacular natural places, from Big Bend to the Big Thicket. Each chapter contains photographs of the various snakes, lizards, toads, and turtles Smith and King have encountered on their trips. Part nature travel writing and part guide to field herping, Herping Texas also includes a section on getting started, where the authors give readers necessary background on best field herping practices. A glossary defines herping lingo and scientific terms for newcomers, and an appendix lists threatened and endangered species at the state and federal level. Herping Texas promotes experiencing natural places and wildlife equipped with solid information and a responsible conservation ethic. Throughout their decades tracking herps, Smith and King have collected humorous anecdotes and fascinating facts about reptiles and amphibians. By sharing those, they hope to dispel some of the stigma and false ideas people have about these misunderstood animals.

The Guidebook of Federal Resources for K-12 Mathematics and Science

The Guidebook of Federal Resources for K-12 Mathematics and Science
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2004
Genre: Federal aid to education
ISBN:

Contains directories of federal agencies that promote mathematics and science education at elementary and secondary levels; organized in sections by agency name, national program name, and state highlights by region.