Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary

Why You Should Visit
The Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary harbors a variety of plant communities, including one of the last remaining longleaf pine communities in Texas. A rare combination of swamp, open-floor forest and Southern pinelands create a preserve with remarkable diversity, sustaining 727 plant species and 234 animal species. Visitors can hike, bird watch and study nature, or rent a canoe from local vendors on Village Creek.

The sanctuary is part of a comprehensive effort to protect and restore the longleaf pine ecosystem on the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Longleaf pine forests are among the most rapidly disappearing ecosystems in the southeastern United States. Some 70 million acres of majestic longleaf pine forest once stretched from Virginia to Texas, but only 3 percent of this biologically rich natural system survives today, and more is lost each year to agriculture and residential and commercial development.

Location
Sandyland Sanctuary, in Hardin County, is located in the heart of the Big Thicket region of southeast Texas, 20 miles north of Beaumont in Silsbee. The preserve is designated as Site No. 17 on the Upper Coast Phase of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail.

Hours
The preserve is open daily to the public during daylight hours. Please see our list of volunteer work days.

Size
5,561 acres

Conditions
Entry is free. Six miles of trails are available for hiking, photography, bird watching and nature study. Interpretive programs are available upon request for groups of ten or more. An 8.5-mile section of Village Creek meanders through the preserve, offering a relaxing daylong float trip. Local canoe vendors offer equipment rental and shuttle service. Individuals or groups may volunteer to assist with a wide range of science and stewardship tasks.

How to Prepare for Your Visit
If you have questions, call The Nature Conservancy of Texas Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary at (409) 385-0445.

Directions
For detailed directions, call The Nature Conservancy of Texas Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary at (409) 385-0445.

What to See: Plants
In the arid sandylands of the Village Creek floodplain, deep, porous, sandy hills formed by ancient river deposits create a desert-like habitat. This landscape supports one of the last stands of open, desert longleaf pines in Texas. Various pines, oaks and hickories, along with prickly pear cactus, yucca and more than 340 species of wildflowers, are found here.

Occupying the transitional slopes between the high sandy terraces and the floodplain below are hillside forests dominated by American beech trees, southern magnolias and loblolly pines. The underlying vegetation, partially comprised of American holly and sweetleaf, is highlighted in the spring by flowering wild azaleas and dogwoods.

Baygall and bog communities thrive where the Neches River once formed sloughs and channels. Lush growth of ferns and sphagnum moss grow beneath black gum, gallberry holly and white bay trees.

Surrounding these ponds and baygalls is the lower floodplain forest, stretching out from the creek banks. Huge water oaks and sweetgums create a closed canopy, which prevents much undergrowth. Willows and river birch grow along the stream banks of this hardwood ecosystem.

The globally endangered Texas trailing phlox flowers in early spring on the property's upland sandhill communities. Also here is the extremely rare white firewheel, currently found in only one other population, also in Hardin County. Another southeast Texas rarity is the tiny, carnivorous purple bladderwort, which floats on some of the preserve's ponds.

Download 'A Big Thicket Microcosm' (.pdf).

What to See: Animals
The sanctuary provides habitat for a variety of animals typical of the Big Thicket region. Surveys have identified 18 species of amphibians, 114 bird species, 29 species of reptiles, 28 mammal species and 44 species of fishes. As of 1999, lepidoptera surveys have identified 544 species of butterflies and moths. Signs of beaver and sightings of river otter are common in the lower floodplain forest.

Download 'Sandyland Birding Checklist' (.pdf), 'Amphibians and Reptiles' (.pdf), and 'Mammals of Sandyland Sanctuary' (.pdf), 'Sandyland Plant List' (.pdf).

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
This site is ecologically valuable because of its rare plants and unique botanical communities. Four globally endangered species and at least 12 species that are uncommon to southeastern Texas inhabit the preserve.

Virtually all virgin timber in the Piney Woods forests, including those at Sandyland Sanctuary, was completely logged by 1930, and the second-growth and third-growth forests that emerged often were displaced by human development or converted into commercial pine plantations. Another threat to the area's native species was the suppression of natural wildfire, which once played an important role in the region's ecology by maintaining an open woodland and limiting hardwood encroachment.

In 1977, Time Inc. and Temple-Eastex Inc. donated 2,138 acres to The Nature Conservancy of Texas to protect one of the Big Thicket's most unique natural areas. A preserve was established and named in honor of the late vice-chairman of Time Inc., lifelong conservationist Roy E. Larsen. In 1978, Gulf States Utilities Company added to the property with a 40-acre gift.

In July 1994, the sanctuary doubled in size with a 3,158-acre donation from Temple-Inland Inc. The remainder of the donation was a 2,778-acre conservation easement. The easement prohibits commercial and residential development and cutting of bottomland hardwoods.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The management program at Sandyland is designed to protect and sustain the species, communities and natural processes of the preserve. Restoration efforts include the use of prescribed burning, selective timber harvesting, reforestation, non-native species control and right-of-way management.

Extensive biological surveys have been completed for vascular plants and various vertebrates in the preserve. Inventories are continuing on insects, butterflies and moths, bats and freshwater mussels to serve as a future reference point for monitoring the health of the ecoysystems found on the preserve.

Several academic institutions use Sandyland as a natural area for field labs and research. The preserve is active in local forestry awareness projects, the Keep America Beautiful program and the GLOBE program, a hands-on science-based monitoring program for schoolchildren.

Related Information

Science Links: Big Thicket Association (resource for all taxa biological inventory of the Big Thicket region)