Localities:
The ENTOBLITZ
itinerary was designed so that participants would encounter three very
different habitat types within the upper Sabine basin of Northeast Texas.
We encountered upland Carpinus/Ostrya forest, Some of the
finest bottomland hardwood forest left in the state and strange sandy uplands
of the Sparta Sand formation. To understand the differences in our three
localities it is necessary to know a little bit about geology of the area.
Here Eocene sediments lie in roughly NE/SW bands. The layers alternate
between sandy formations and clay formations. Sandy formations form high
dry ridges while the clay formations form broad valleys. Add to this the
Sabine River and its major tributary Lake Fork Creek. The Sabine flows
crosswise against the orientation of the geology. It encounters broad floodplains
that roughly correspond to the clay formations and that pinch-off as it
crosses more resistant sandy formations (a perfect arrangement for big
reservoirs). On a broader scale we were at the very edge of the eastern
deciduous forest. The habitats that we encountered all meet their western
limits here or within 30 miles to the West. Many of the plant formations
here are reminiscent of the Ozarks. Several participants remarked how they
were reminded of localities in Illinois. Not enough collecting has been
done in this extreme Northeast corner of Texas and we would expect to find
numerous new state records for eastern taxa.
Godwin Woods
By William Godwin
Texas
A&M University
TEXAS: Wood Co. Hainsville, 3.5 mi.SW.
@ Godwin Woods. 28-30/IV/2000
32042'30"N;
95024'30"W
The most collecting was done
around our home base at Godwin Woods. This locality is characterized by
the trees Carpinus caroliniana (American
Hornbeam) and Ostrya virginaca (Eastern Hop Hornbeam). We
were on the Weches formation where
Lake Fork Creek intersects this resistant layer of glauconitic
green sandy clay with iron ore limonite layers.The Weches makes steep wooded
bluffs here overlooking Lake Fork Creek. In counties to the South the Weches
glauconite is mined for low grade road material. Glauconite is the water-bearing
carbonate of iron and potassium,it contains a little Al, Mg, Na, Be, Co,
Cr, Ni, Mo, V, Ti, U,etc. It is sometimes used as a fertilizer or soil
additive. The alkaline soils of the Weches formation are rare in the sea
of poor acid soils of East Texas and the greater South.
There is no evidence of clear-cutting or very intensive
tree harvesting at the Godwin Woods. The presence of two state champion
trees that are also soon to be national champions of their species indicate
the maturity of the forest here.
Carpinus caroliniana
Ostrya virginaca
Godwin Woods lies along Lake Fork Creek and although mostly
upland, it does have a narrow fringe of bottomland that is contiguous with
the big Sabine bottoms about five miles downstream. The transition from
Weches forest to bottomland forest is abrupt here on the sides of the bluff.
The state
champion Nyssa sylvatica (black gum) is the most striking sign
that you have left the Weches forest and entered the bottoms.
State
champion Nyssa Sylvatica at GodwinWoods.
It is 110 feet tall and 232 inches(nearly 20 feet) in
circumference.
State
champion Xanthoxylum clavaherculis
at Godwin Woods
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