The Nature Conservancy of Texas
Fire Management Program

West Gulf Coastal Plain Ecoregion

The Nature Conservancy of Texas is utilizing fire management on several preserves in the West Gulf Coastal Plain of southeast Texas. These preserves include; the Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary (5,654 acres), Big Thicket Bogs and Pinelands Preserve (49 acres), and Little Rocky Nature Preserve (137 acres). Of critical importance on these sites is the occurrence of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests. Once dominating the southeastern United States, longleaf pine forests were estimated at 60-70 million acres. Today, less than 3% of this community remains. In the West Gulf Coastal Plain ecoregion, the Conservancy is working in cooperation with public and private partners to restore and sustain key conservation sites. Public partners include the National Park Service, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Major timber companies, such as Temple-Inland, Champion and Louisiana-Pacific, and various non-industrial private landowners are partners as well.

Fire is the dominant ecological process that is critical to maintaining biodiversity on the Piney Woods ecoregion preserves. The Nature Conservancy of Texas initiated a fire management program at Sandyland Sanctuary in 1978. The purpose of the fire program is to restore and enhance longleaf pine communities that were historically maintained by lightning-caused fires. The benefits of prescribed burning include, exposure of soil for longleaf pine seedling regeneration, nutrient enrichment of the soil, reducing competition from hardwood species, and stimulating herbaceous groundcover species of flowering plants, forbs and grasses. Under the proper parameters, prescribed fire can also assist in the mortality of slash pine (Pinus ellotti), a species not native to Texas. Prescribed burns are generally conducted in the growing season during May and June.

Other significant species on the Preserves that benefit from fire include the Texas trailing phlox (Phlox nivalis ssp. texensis), white firewheel (Gaillardia aestivalis var. winkleri), scarlet catchfly (Silene subciliata), smooth bluestar (Amsonia glaberrima), and yellow pitcher plant (Sarrencia alata).