2020 Private Lands Conservation Champion

White Rock Pasture - Trinity County, Texas

White Rock Pasture is approximately 11,545 acres in Trinity County owned by Red Town Timberlands and has been actively managed for wildlife and timber by Meridian Forestry since 2001. White Rock Pasture has an active wildlife management plan with Texas Parks & Wildlife and has been enrolled in the Managed Lands Deer Program since 2001. In 2007 they received TPWD’s Lone Star Land Steward Award which recognizes private landowners for outstanding contributions to natural resource conservation and management and is meant to promote long-term conservation of unique natural and cultural resources. The While the property is managed as commercial timberlands, the owner also has a strong interest in wildlife management, particularly deer and turkey management and has allowed Meridian Forestry to work closely with TPWD wildlife biologists to improve wildlife habitat while managing for timber. The property is leased for recreational hunting for deer and has had some permitted alligator harvest over the years. Bottomland habitat along White Rock Creek provides habitat for waterfowl, particularly nesting wood ducks. A unique pre-historic oyster reef with petrified oyster shells believed to be 40 million years old is also located on a portion of the property along White Rock Creek.

Habitat improvements have included: day-lighting roads, understory control using both herbicide and prescribed fire, conversion of logging sets to wildlife openings, and retention of hardwood stands. Improvements in the habitat led to the property being approved as an Eastern Turkey Super Stocking Site in 2015, and between 2015-2016 was stocked with 80+ wild trapped eastern turkeys as part of a restoration project by TPWD. The owners granted access to TPWD and Stephen F. Austin State University staff to conduct nesting and brood research by tracking GPS marked hens. TWPD also conducted gobble counts and brood survey routes to monitor the restoration efforts.

In 2016, a NWFT super fund project converted 29 old logging sets to permanent wildlife opening to provide nesting and brood habitat for turkeys, and in 2018 approval was granted to Louisiana State University to analyze GPS data collected in 2015-2016. In 2018, White Rock completed a Neches River Habitat Incentive Program/NWTF project to chemically control the understory on 14 stands totaling 537 acres, and in 2019 a NE Texas HIP project funded burning approximately 15 stands totaling 672 acres.

Red Town Timberlands and Meridian Forestry have always been open to and sought technical guidance from TPWD and have been extremely accommodating to staff for access to their property for monitoring, research and collection of data whenever asked. Continued focus on understory control using herbicide and prescribed burning will not only improve timber production and habitat for deer, it will also provide critical nesting and brood habitat for eastern turkeys. Not only will this help restoration efforts, but will also benefit multiple bird species that thrive in open pine habitats.