Longleaf Ridge Texas Master Naturalists's Boletim

The Longleaf Ridge chapter of Texas Master Naturalists began in September conducting bioblitzes on the Third Saturday of each month with a mission of documenting every living species in Jasper and Newton Counties. With that goal in mind, this project should go on for the foreseeable future! For now we are alternating between Siecke State Forest in Newton County and Boykin Springs in Jasper County.

During the October 15 outing, we documented Southern Whitetop (Doellingeria sericocarpoides), a Twelve-spotted Skimmer and a Variegated Fritillary. None had previously been documented on iNat for our two counties.

If anyone would like to join us, let me know. We need experts in grasses, moths, and just about everything to help us find what we're missing!

The Longleaf Ridge Texas Master Naturalists, on a field trip to Five Mile Prairie March 5, 2022, observed a flower that had yet to be recorded for Deep East Texas on iNaturalist. Russell Pfau, an iNat Curator who has been focusing on anemones, confirmed the ID and commented, "Oh, good. Finally an observation of this species from deep East Texas." According to Pfau, this species is "known from all around that area." He said that "This species requires sandy soils, and open areas without competition from trees."

The "Open areas without competition from trees" probably explains why we observed this species at Five Mile Prairie. This is one of the only areas, like Black Branch Barrens, in the Angelina National Forest, that resembles a prairie. The Catahoula Formations in both areas provide some of the only places here that don't have lots of trees, unless it's mowed, and we don't usually look for flowers in mowed places. This page explains why the lack of trees, if interested:

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/southern/BlackBranchBarrens/index.shtml

Longleaf Ridge Master Naturalists enjoyed the brisk weather on Sunday afternoon, January 19, 2020, exploring the Canyon Rim Woodlands Trail in Newton County, so named because in places the trail is constructed around a canyon with up to 40 foot embankments graced by beech, southern magnolia and loblolly pines. We had a very good turnout. Vehicles crowded the small parking area, and the narrow path made for a long string of hikers.

The winter date was chosen so we could see the rare Bigleaf Witch-Hazel, Hamamelis ovalis, which was soon spotted and admired. Its winter blooms come in shades of red, orange and pink. Soon the trail curved to follow an old logging road last used by mule and ox-drawn wagons about a century ago, and we were able to view a cannon range used by Fort Polk trainees during World War II. Above the spectacular views at Deer Run Lookout, we saw a turpentine face on a longleaf pine stump that was used by collectors of turpentine in the 1920s.

Keith Stephens led the hike and was able to identify all of the trees with nothing but the bark in some cases, since many of these huge beauties were devoid of leaves this time of year. In addition to the huge beech, magnolia and loblolly pines, we saw large black cherry trees, black gum, sassafras, white oak, white ash, winter and summer huckleberry, American basswood, American hophornbeam, Ironwood, Georgia holly, Possumhaw, Carolina Buckthorn and Sweetleaf. Keith pointed out a White Oak stump that looked like a rock, explaining it wouldn’t rot because moisture couldn’t get inside.

The entire trail is about 1.6 miles, with some easy, moderate and more challenging terrain. There were fallen limbs across the path, and we discussed returning to do trail cleanup as a service project. In some places, feral hog activity made footing a challenge, and there were more than a few up and down grades to navigate. Canyon Rim is located on State Highway 87 in Mayflower, south of Hemphill, north of Burkeville. It is one of the sites on the Big Thicket Loop of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail known for Black and White Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Red-eyed Vireo.

A group of our hardcore students and veterans braved the weather forecast this April 6 and ventured out to Five Mile Prairie for the second field trip of the 2019 Class. As the caravan arrived, the weather was gloomy but the raindrops had not began to fall yet.

As we headed out, the ground was wet and boggy in places from rainfall the previous two days, but the tiny Arkansas Leastdaisy, Chaetopappa asteroides, still smiled, covering patches all along the way. Moving further in, the purple blooms of Englemann’s Milkvetch, Astragalus distortus var. engelmannii, provided a contrasting ground cover with the daisies, and light rain began to fall. We saw stunted Blackjack Oak, Quercus mirlandica, and Post Oak, Quercus stellata, that are characteristic of shallow soil overlaying the Catahoula formation in this area. We spotted several blooming Longbract Wild Indigos, Baptisia bracteata, along the way.

Finally we arrived at the treasure we were looking for. A healthy population, perhaps hundreds, of Schoenolirion wrightii greeted us. This flower is only found in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Its habitat is disappearing, and it is listed as globally vulernable. Louisiana lists it as Critically Imperiled and Arkansas as Threatened. The common names for this species of concern are Texas Sunnybells or Wright’s Lily, named after botanist and naturalist, Charles Wright, who discovered the plant during his surveys of present Jasper, Angelina, Tyler and Newton counties while he lived on the Neches River and taught school in Zavalla, Texas between 1837 and 1840. Afterwards he moved to Town Bluff and stayed several years before heading further west on botanizing ventures.

The rain began to set in then, and we slowly circled our way back until thunder began to rip the clouds directly above us. No one complained, but the pace quickened a little, and none protested when we reached the road and decided against venturing to our second planned site, Black Branch Barrens. We will reschedule a trip there, perhaps in the fall when the spectacular Nuttall’s Rayless Goldenrod, Bigelowia nuttallii, covers the barrens.

The first field trip for the Class of 2019 on March 23 was a fun adventure and provided many learning opportunities. Arriving at the site, everyone immediately noticed that the entire area had been subjected to a control burn just days earlier, and was still smoldering in some places. Students saw first hand how the burns help eliminate the underbrush that can grow into a thicket, but do no harm to the Longleaf Pines, Pinus palustris, and their seedlings. It also did not affect the blooms of the local Wild Azalea, Rhododendron canescens, and the black ground provided a dramatic backdrop for the many Flowering Dogwoods, Cornus floridana.

Arriving at a hillside seepage bog, we saw carnivorous Sundews, Drosera brevifolia, unaffected by the burn in areas that were too barren for other plants to grow. There were also carnivorous pitcher plants, Sarracenia alata. Some of these had been burned and the crispy leaves could be cracked open to reveal insects inside that had been trapped. Keith Stephens found one plant that actually contained a grasshopper inside about an inch long. The pitcher plants will rebound from the burn quickly.

We crossed Boykin Creek, a lovely, shallow, sandy bottom creek, and explored a little mountain of rocks, an outcrop formed by the Catahoula geologic formation. Keith Stephens told the history of the formation from ancient volcanos and pointed out fossils contained within the rocks. We also saw a beautiful display of the brilliant orange Elegant Sunburst Lichen, Rusavskia elegans, on many of the huge rocks towering over the creek.

After a short break, we caravaned to a nesting site for the endanger Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Dryobates borealis, and learned that their nesting trees are identified with white painted rings. We were able to see one young bird that kept poking its head out of the nesting hole, probably anxiously waiting for us to leave so mother would bring it some food.

Traveling on to the Old Aldridge Sawmill site, students were able to investigate the ruins and quiz Keith Stephens about the history. Just a short distance beyond the old mill, Keith hacked the grown up trail with a machete to take us past the old drying kiln, and then on to the bat houses that had been erected to replace an old torn down structure that had previously housed them.

Longleaf Ridge veterans, Sue Singletary and Nichola Coco thought to bring along trash bags and removed any debris we found along the way. Students learned that this is a good way to earn service hours. Anytime we find a public treasure like this trashed, we can pick it up.

Since we were in search of carnivorous plants, and our first bog had been burned, we traveled to a second site and were rewarded with seeing a few blooming Bladderworts, Utricularia spp, and more pitcher plants, Sarracenia alata. But the highlight of the day was last. A large population of blooming Butterworts, Pinguicula pumila, greeted us.

The day was a success! A handout prepared by Laura Clark was provided to students ahead of time with more information on the Carnivorous Plants of Longleaf Ridge.

Residents of Jasper and Newton Counties, we will be starting a new class for Master Naturalists on March 19th, 2019. The classes will be held on Tuesday nights from 6-9 at the dining hall at Martin Dies Jr. State Park for approximately 16 weeks. The cost of the class is $140 per person (the price for couples is discounted some). The course will cover introductory classes on subjects like geology, mammals, birds, insects, fish, reptiles, grasses, flowers, trees, geographic ecosystems, etc. The cost of the class includes a large study book.

The class size is limited, so please email us ASAP at lrmnchapter@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you want to be added to the class roll.