Davey Woods State Nature Preserve

Transcription

>> THIS AREA YOU KNOW IS IN BETWEEN TWO PICNIC AREAS, YOU KNOW, "WHY DON'T YOU MOW "THIS SO THAT WE CAN WALK ACROSS THERE," AND WHAT WE SAY IS, "WELL, IF YOU DON'T MIND "WALKING AROUND FOR A COUPLE "OF YEARS, YOU KNOW THE NATIVE TREES WILL COME BACK." THE SEEDLINGS ARE THERE, WE JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM AN OPPORTUNITY TO GROW. (music) (on radio) HURRICANE RITA MADE LANDFALL NEAR THE SABINE RIVER SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT THIS MORNING... >> FIRST IT WAS HURRICANE RITA IN 2005. THEN CAME HURRICANE IKE IN 2008. BOTH STORMS SLAMMED THE TEXAS COAST TAKING LIVES, DESTROYING BUILDINGS AND HOMES, CAUSING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PROPERTY DAMAGE. SEVERAL STATE PARKS WERE HIT AS WELL. THEIR BEAUTY ALTERED BY A MASSIVE LOSS OF VEGETATION. TODAY THE LAND IS HEALING. DESPITE THE DESTRUCTION THERE IS NEW LIFE, AND IRONICALLY, NEW OPPORTUNITY, TO HELP RESTORE, WHAT WAS ONCE LOST. >> IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE. IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT'S BEEN THAT LONG AGO, STILL A PRETTY FRESH MEMORY SOMETIMES. >> DAVID WEEKS IS THE SUPERINTENDENT OF MARTIN DIES JR. STATE PARK. HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIS MEMORY OF HURRICANES RITA AND IKE, AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE PARK. >> PLACES IN THIS AREA RIGHT HERE WHERE YOU COULD NOT EVEN SEE THE GROUND SURFACE, THERE WAS SO MUCH DEBRIS ON THE GROUND. (chain saw) YOUR WAY IN IS BLOCKED BY STORM DEBRIS ON THE ROADS THAT YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO STOP AND PHYSICALLY CUT YOUR WAY INTO THE PARK. (tractor rumbles) YOU KNOW WE'RE OUT HERE EVERY DAY AND WE TAKE PRIDE IN THE PARK AND TO SEE IT DAMAGED IS NOT SO MUCH DISCOURAGING AS IT IS DISHEARTENING BECAUSE, YOU CAN SEE OUT THERE IF YOU LOOK OUT THERE THROUGH THE WOODS HOW OPEN IT IS AND YOU ALSO NOTICE THAT THERE'S QUITE A FEW PINE TREES THAT ARE STICKING UP THERE THAT ARE DEAD. SO THOSE TREES WERE DAMAGED BY THE STORM, UH THEY DIDN'T DIE IMMEDIATELY, BUT BECAUSE OF BUG INFESTATION AND OR DRY WEATHER OR DROUGHT CONDITIONS THEY DIED. >> WHEN HURRICANE RITA HIT THE PARK, THE VEGETATION WAS SO DENSE HERE THAT FALLING TREES CREATED A DOMINO EFFECT. (crane rumbling) TWO YEARS LATER WHAT RITA STARTED, HURRICANE IKE FINISHED, CREATING LARGE OPEN AREAS THAT INTRODUCED NEW DIVERSITY TO THE FOREST. >> WITH THE OVER-STORY GONE, ALL OF THE UNDERBRUSH AND NEW TREES, WHICH IS CREATING A PROBLEM WITH INVASIVE SPECIES, WHICH ARE LIKE THE TALLOW TREES GROWING RIGHT HERE, THE DOG FENNEL WEEDS THAT ARE GROWING UP. WE'VE SEEN A TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN OUR SMALL ANIMAL POPULATION, AS WELL AS OUR DEER POPULATION HERE IN THE PARK. >> WE HAVE LESS TREES BUT WE CERTAINLY HAVE MORE WILDLIFE. AS FAR AS OUR VISITORS, I CAN'T TELL YOU THE NUMBER OF VISITORS THAT HAVE COME UP HERE AFTER THE HURRICANE AND CRIED BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN COMING HERE FOR SO MANY YEARS SEEING THESE BIG MAGNIFICENT OAKS AND MAGNOLIAS, AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE'S SO MANY OF THEM DOWN ON THE GROUND. >> IN FACT IT WAS THOSE VERY TWO SPECIES OF TREES THAT HURRICANE RITA BLEW DOWN ON TOP OF THE PARK'S NATURE CENTER. >> WE HAD A LARGE RED OAK HIT A MAGNOLIA AND BOTH OF THEM HIT THIS BUILDING AND COMPLETELY TOTALED THIS HALF OF THE BUILDING. WE LOST A LOT OF OUR EXHIBITS INSIDE, SOME OF OUR BOOKS, SOME OF OUR EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. THANKS TO MY TAXIDERMY FRIENDS AND A LOT OF VOLUNTEERS, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO RESTOCK THE NATURE CENTER, MAKING EXHIBITS AND HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS AND ADULTS. WE LOST ANYWHERE FROM 35 TO 40% OF OUR TREES FROM THE TWO HURRICANES. (music) ORIGINALLY THIS WHOLE AREA WAS PART OF THE BIG THICKET MADE UP OF MORE OF LONG LEAF PINES THAN THE OTHER TWO PINES THAT WE HAD. ALL OF THIS AREA WAS COMPLETELY CLEAR-CUT RIGHT AFTER WORLD WAR II. SO THEY GOT ALL THE LONG LEAF PINE, AND LEFT A FEW OF THE LOBLOLLIES. SO WHAT CAME BACK WAS LOBLOLLIES. SO WHEN WE KNEW WE WERE GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING WITH THIS AREA, WE DECIDED TO TRY AND HELP PUT IT BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS ORIGINALLY. PRETTY SOON THOUGH, SAY IN 25 TO 30 YEARS, THIS AREA WILL LOOK LIKE THE AREA WITH THE TALL PINE TREES AGAIN. (truck sound, birds chirping) >> JUST DOWN THE ROAD AND ALSO IMPACTED BY HURRICANES RITA AND IKE, IS VILLAGE CREEK STATE PARK. >> WE ARE IN THE BIG THICKET AREA OF TEXAS, IT'S KNOWN FOR HOW THICK AND LUSH THE VEGETATION IS IN THIS AREA, AND WHEN YOU GET THIS MUCH SUNLIGHT REACHING THE GROUND, EVERYTHING COMES UP AND STARTS GROWING. >> MOTHER NATURE GAVE PARK STAFF HERE THE SAME OPPORTUNITY, TO REBUILD THE NATIVE LONGLEAF PINE FOREST THAT ONCE DOMINATED THIS REGION OF TEXAS. >> BECAUSE OF THE CLEARING FROM THE HURRICANE IT GAVE US AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOME RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THIS AREA A LOT EASIER AND FASTER THAN WE WOULD HAVE NORMALLY BEEN ABLE TO DO IT. AN AREA OF ABOUT 75 ACRES BACK THERE ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE PARK ON THIS SANDY RIDGE WOULD HAVE BEEN DOMINATED BY LONG-LEAF PINE TREES. BUT IT WAS MOSTLY OVERGROWN WITH LOBLOLLY PINE TREES AND HARDWOODS, AND THE HURRICANE TOOK A LOT OF THOSE OUT. THEN WE CAME IN AND MULCHED THE UNDERSTORY, WHICH WAS ABOUT 6 TO 8 FEET HIGH. AND WE FOLLOWED THAT WITH A PRESCRIBED BURN IN THE AREA, WITH THE CONTRACTOR COMING IN AND DOING A THINNING OF SOME OF THE REMAINING LOBLOLLY PINE TREES. LEFT A FEW OF THEM. LEFT ALL THE LONG-LEAF PINE TREES HERE FOR SEED TREES, AND LEFT A FEW OF THE HARDWOODS. AND THEN THE CONTRACTOR ALSO CAME BACK AND PLANTED OVER 25,000 LONG-LEAF PINE TREE SEEDLINGS TO BRING THAT LONG-LEAF BACK TO THIS AREA. ABOUT 45 OF THAT 75 ACRES THAT WE'VE WORKED ON HERE HAS BEEN REPLANTED IN LONG-LEAF PINE TREES. BEFORE THE STATE BOUGHT THIS PROPERTY IN 1979, IT HAD BEEN LOGGED IN THE 20S AND AGAIN IN THE 50S. SO MOST OF THE FOREST WAS AN EVEN AGED FOREST. ALL THE TREES WERE ABOUT THE SAME AGE AND THAT'S NOT NATURAL IN A FOREST. AND SO WHEN THE HURRICANE CAME THROUGH, IT TOOK OUT SOME OF THE CANOPY TREES, THEN YOU HAVE AN UNEVEN AGED FOREST WHICH CREATES MORE BIODIVERSITY. THEN YOU HAVE MORE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANTS AND DIFFERENT LEVELS, WHICH IN TURN FEED THE DIFFERENT ANIMALS IN THE ECOSYSTEM. IT'S A GOOD THING AS FAR AS THAT GOES. IT'S A BAD THING WHEN IT DESTROYS PEOPLE'S HOMES AND BUSINESSES AND THINGS LIKE THAT. >> YES, HURRICANES ARE PART OF NATURE AND WE HAVE DEFINITELY COME BACK AS A PARK. AND WE'RE DEFINITELY COMING BACK AS A BEAUTIFUL NATURE AREA ALSO.