Living In A Park

January 23, 2019

Driveway

Often I wake about 5 AM and wish it was light so I could go for a walk in the woods.  Then, when it becomes light enough to see, I venture out into the woods and begin wandering a few of the two plus miles of man-made paths — listening to and observing nature.  Some of the most common sounds are those of the Barred owl calling “who cooks for you — who cooks for you all”.  Or, the Red-bellied woodpecker’s shrill, rolling kwirr or hoarse caws, rattles, and clicks of a crow.  But, it is also the silence of living in the country that I crave.  When it is particularly silent, I can hear an approaching breeze when it makes rustling sounds in nearby treetops.  I watch the ground as I walk because Pat and I have seen many snakes over the years but I have little fear of them — unless a rare, large Timber Rattlesnake is observed in the path.  I try to estimate the size of the deer or pig that made the fresh tracks or the size of the deer antlers that scraped the bark off of a small River Birch.  For many years, beavers lived in our creek and I could observe their overnight efforts at harvesting trees and shrubs.  I watch for the ever-changing species of mushrooms, wildflowers, birds, and leaf color of the many tree species.  But, almost every day, I visit Wickson Creek that borders our park because it often functions as a highway for fish, water snakes, birds, and occasional River Otters.

Dogwood Color

I think of this walk as therapy for all my imaginary and sometimes real ills.  The woods is where I feel calm and happy.  Sometimes, I listen to a book on tape when I walk but usually prefer the quiet and the sounds of nature.

For many years, Pat and I lived full-time in a motorhome where we frequently stayed in National, State, County, city and private RV parks.  It was a good life and we greatly enjoyed many adventures in these parks and saw lots of wildlife.

One of these private parks is this one that I hike so often and that we own.  It was our decision when we bought our 20 acres of woodlands near Bryan, TX that we would not farm or ranch our land or commercialize it in any way.  We bought it over 48 years ago with the intention of keeping it as natural as possible while enjoying its recreational features.  It has always been heavily wooded so it did not really have enough grass for a herd of cattle, but there was plenty of forage for deer, squirrels, armadillos, possums, rabbits, snakes and such.  My older brother Bruce suggested that I clear the forest and plant pecan trees, but I had a full-time job of teaching/research so was not interested in such a venture.  Not in my private park!

Over the years — without really noticing it — our woods became thicker with small trees of especially Yaupon.   The history of this land is that back in the 1860s, much of this land was likely planted in cotton so our acres were likely a plowed field during the Civil War.  But the soil was not particularly suited for row crops so it was abandoned to pastures.  Then, it was the classic case of old-field succession where animals and wind brought in seeds that grew into trees.  The largest and oldest trees have about 100 tree rings which indicate their age starting from about WW I.  

Yaupon Berries

In recent years, I began to realize that keeping these acres “natural”, was not really natural at all.  The reason being that this land is classified as a Post Oak Savannah and one of the characteristics a savannah is that wildfires started by native Indians or lightening killed much of Yaupon, small trees, and other underbrush every once in a while — keeping much of it as open grassland.  Now, our acres are fenced and forest fires are feared and rare.  Consequently, the underbrush has grown largely unimpeded until it has become an almost impenetrable thicket in places -- especially when several species of brier and grape vines add to the mix. 

Pat on a fallen tree

Anyway, that’s my working hypothesis that now provides the justification for interfering in this natural succession by murdering the yaupon with a chainsaw rather than killing it with wildfire.  But of course, building a driveway into the middle of the property and plopping a little house into the middle of it also violates our “natural” goal — but at least we did not bulldoze the whole park.  I strongly resist hiring a bulldozer to clear the underbrush, because a dozer driver cannot recognize unexpected plant species that I may wish to protect.  While clearing with a chainsaw, I have recognized unusual species like the Texas sophora, Black cherries, River birch, Possumhaw, Honey locust, Basswood, etc. and made efforts to save them.  I also need the exercise provided by this work and prefer this exercise to working out in an expensive gym.  Besides, I enjoy work.

Honey Locust

We had many very large trees that were barely visible because their view was obstructed by underbrush.  To see them, it was often necessary to force our way through the underbrush until we were under a tree — then look up to see it.  But, in 2011 a drought proved to be the driest on record and many of our trees died.  It was very distressful to see the leaves on these once healthy trees turn brown and fall.  Some of these trees started falling the first year after the drought and now — eight years later — some of these trees are still falling and create a considerable fire hazard of dry wood.  When the largest and tallest trees fall, they leave a hole in the canopy that allows the sun to penetrate down into the lower canopy of Yaupon which then can grow much faster.  It also allows the sun to reach the ground where new seedlings now get more sunshine which improves their chances of survival.  But maybe best of all, these openings in the woods provide a much better view of the large, beautiful, sturdy trees that survived the drought.

Glade in the forest

Redbud

What appeared at the time to be a major ecological disaster proved to be something of a blessing.  It made me realize that we not only had too many Yaupons but also far too many upper canopy trees.  Now, when I saw up and burn an old, dead tree, I also remove much of the surrounding shrubbery which then allows long dormant seeds of Bluestem grass, Indian grass, and Bluebonnets to sprout.  Or, it provides an opening for planting a Bald cypress or some other tree or shrub.  So, the species composition of our savannah is changing from what was almost of semi —monocultures of Post oak and Yaupon thickets, to a much more interesting, diverse and open ecosystem.  Interestingly, Eastern red cedar survived the drought much better than the oaks and elms, so there are many more cedars than there once were.  We have also added a vegetable garden, a small fruit orchard, and more open spaces and trails while still having an abundance of forest.

Bamboo

Dogwood

Species that can be found In this forest include Post oaks, Pin oaks, Water oaks, Live oaks, Blackjack oaks, Winged elm, American elm, Sugarberry, Cedar elm, Dogwoods, Redbuds, American holly, Yaupon, River birch, American basswood, Black cherry, Honey locust, Trumpet vine, Wicker, American beautyberry, Farkleberries, Rusty blackhaw, Texas sophora, Possumhaw, Mexican plum, Red Mulberry, Pignut hickory, Mockernut hickory, Eastern red cedar, White ash, Swamp privet, Hercules club,  Mustang grapes, Muscadine grapes, Pepper vine, Passionflower, Turkscap, Coralberry, Saw brier, Laurel brier, Bristly brier, Bush palmetto, Sycamore, Loblolly pine, Bamboo, Texas sumac, Chinese tallow, Common Persimmon, Hawthorn, and — of course — Poison ivy.   We also have lists of birds that we have seen.

So, much like government and private parks who justify building roads and constructing buildings and RV hookups onto this semi-natural landscape, we too decided to improve upon this “nature”.  

Our park is located on a bend in Wickson Creek so I have flirted with the idea of renaming it “Wickson Bend” to replace the “Woodvine” name — but it makes little difference so the old name will stay.  But, the “bend” in the creek means that at the middle of the bend, floods wash at our high bank causing it to erode.  Thus, I’m losing some of my park every year to the benefit of someone downstream.  However, we are gaining some bank at the end of the bend so maybe it all balances out.

Wickson Creek

We obviously have a deep affection for this park and wish to remain here as long as feasible.  Our kids have enjoyed it too over the years, but they all live far away and will have little interest in maintaining it after we are gone.  So, it will be sold and the next owners will decide whether to keep it as their park or clear it for apartments.  Oh well!

Holly

Visitors welcome!

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