DESCO Conducted Vegetation Sampling and Mapping of the Big Sandy Creek Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve

DESCO sampled over 200 plots and mapped vegetation alliances of the Big Thicket National Preserve’s Big Sandy Creek Unit in Polk County, Texas. The vegetation survey covered over 14,000 acres of upland pine, slope pine/hardwood mix, and bottomland floodplain habitat. It was conducted as part of an Environmental Assessment in support of proposed 3-D seismic survey activities within the unit. The project was the most detailed vegetation analysis of the area to date, and its purpose was to determine baseline ecological conditions and predict project impacts. The data collected will later be used to assess actual project impacts.

DESCO recruited a number of ecologists and botanists to compliment our staff and assist in completing the extensive fieldwork required for the project. The resulting team included DESCO’s ecologists, Dr. Stanley D. Jones (renowned plant taxonomist associated with Whitenton Group, Inc. and Botanical Research Center); ecologists from the Houston and Austin offices of PBS&J; and several other botanists and ecologists from all over the United States.

Along with the vegetation sampling, threatened and endangered species surveys were conducted with an emphasis on red cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis), canebrake rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), Texas trailing phlox (Phlox nivalis spp. texensis), and scarlet catchfly (Silene subciliata), which is a species of special concern listed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

The National Park Service is currently reviewing and finalizing the Environmental Assessment and Plan of Operations. Proposed seismic operations will occur on the Big Sandy Creek, Menard Creek Corridor, and the Hickory Creek Savannah Units of the Preserve in the winter of 2003/2004. DESCO will provide environmental compliance monitoring and consulting services during seismic operations to ensure the crews perform their duties in the least invasive manner possible.

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