Texas A&M Forest Service

Today is Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day which celebrates the pioneering advancements of the technology by developers that provide us with valuable information. GIS is essential to our work in forest management, urban tree planting, predictive services, fighting wildfires, and much more. We also collaborate with other GIS researchers and providers, including Texas A&M University Spatial Sciences Laboratory, to prepare the most up-to-date data about our lands. ?

Join us in congratulating Donna Smith, Business Assistant III in McGregor, for receiving the 2024 Director’s Award for Support Staff Field! This award honors an individual who demonstrates exceptional accomplishments in support of the agency. Smith is known to be an uplifting and encouraging spirit, supporting the office and her team in the field. She supports agency missions and activities such as Pac-testing, tree planting, administrative training, Sisters in Fire, Texas Arbor Day, and Smokey Bear events. Read more about the 2024 Director’s Award recipients here: https://ow.ly/MAFf50U6nGG

Today, we hosted our annual personnel meeting in the Rose Capital of America—Tyler, Texas. 78 employees were recognized for more than five years of service with the agency. Seven employees and one group were presented with Director's Awards, marking the impactful work they have contributed to the agency and the state of Texas. Director Al Davis shared an update on the state of the agency and highlighted the core values of conservation, protection, and leadership. Read more: https://ow.ly/MAFf50U6nGG

This past Saturday, we helped plant more than 150 trees and give away over 280 trees to community members at Morris Frank Park Wetlands in Lufkin. This tree planting event was part of our collaboration with ReForest Lufkin, a community tree planting initiative that’s co-led by our Green Future Program. Green Futures is a corporate sustainability partnership initiative that allows large organizations to accomplish their environmental, social, and governance goals through addressing global issues through local solutions. Those who helped make Saturday’s event possible include local volunteers, Angelina Beautiful/Clean, Caddo Sustainable Timberlands, City of Lufkin, Texas Conservation Alliance, Texas Forestry Association, Rayonier, RoyOMartin, TC Energy, TTG Forestry Services, LLC, and CoBank. Read more: https://ow.ly/9Wqy50U5kKC?

Today, Texas A&M Forest Service honors those who have served our country with great sacrifice and dedication. We are honored to have a diverse veteran workforce that helps carry the values of conservation, protection, and leadership throughout the state of Texas every day. #VeteransDay

Michael Easley, Texas A&M Forest Service District Forester, received the 2024 Ed Wagoner Leadership Award at the Texas Forestry Association Annual Conference in October. This award recognizes Texas Forestry Association members who contribute to the success of the association’s programs and to the advancement of forestry. Easley has been involved with the association’s Texas Tree Farm program since 2007, where he joined its leadership committee in 2010. He then served as the committee’s vice chair in 2019 and later as chairman in 2020. Through his involvement with the Texas Forestry Association and the Texas Tree Farm program, Easley helped transform the improvement and expansion of the program. He promotes Tree Farm certification to landowners, presents at local landowner association meetings, and recruits new inspectors.

Happy Texas Arbor Day! We are celebrating the many ???????????? of trees and discovering how we can ?????????? them well in return. We have foresters and staff visiting schools across the state to talk about the significance of trees and Texas Arbor Day and to plant trees with them. Our field offices have also been hosting tree giveaways for community members, which will continue throughout the weekend. Texas Arbor Day began in 1889 when W. Goodrich Jones, the father of Texas forestry, led community members of Temple, Texas, to initiate a roadside tree planting campaign. This special day remains as a reminder that it is crucial for us to invest in healthy forests and ecosystems as they greatly impact the sustainability of our environment and care for our mental and physical health. As opposed to National Arbor Day being celebrated in the spring, Texas Arbor Day is celebrated in November because fall is the best time to plant trees in Texas do the climate. Learn more about #TexasArborDay: https://lnkd.in/gNRdzNQ9

The red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) federal classification has been downlisted from endangered to threatened, as a result of decades-long conservation efforts! The RCW is a unique, non-migratory woodpecker species that resides across the southeastern US with over 1,800 dwelling in East Texas at the W.G. Jones and I.D. Fairchild State Forests, four Texas National Forests, and a few private lands. It is the only woodpecker species in North America that constructs cavities in living pine trees. Donna Work, Texas A&M Forest Service Biologist, has been at the center of Texas RCW conservation efforts since 1996. She has helped keep Texas RCW populations stable and genetically diverse while ensuring they have an adequate habitat to thrive in. Rapid urbanization surrounding forests has been identified as one of the factors that create barriers for red-cockaded woodpeckers to travel and mate. This reclassification will ensure that the RCW is still protected but will provide flexibility to reduce regulatory burdens by exempting certain activities that do not significantly harm threatened species. We will continue to work on our state forests and alongside land managers with these woodpeckers to create healthy ecosystems for the RCW and other native wildlife. More: https://ow.ly/8vzc50TWrEk

This week, Jaden Kelly, Texas A&M Forest Service Program Specialist, was presented with the Educator of the Year Award at the Texas Forestry Association 110th annual conference. Kelly has helped expand and create accessible education and outreach programs hosted at the W.G. Jones State Forest in Conroe and throughout the community, including the greater Houston area. He has played a key role in extending forestry education through agency projects and programs such as Project Learning Tree and Classroom Without Walls. Most recently, Kelly helped organize the W.G. Jones State Forest Centennial festival on Oct. 19 that attracted over 850 community members to the forest.

??Ponderosa Pine Update: One of the biggest threats to the Ponderosa Pines in West Texas is the Southwestern Pine Bark Beetle. As a result, we have been very active in assessing the risks and damage caused by this beetle. Over the summer we planted over 300 Ponderosa Pines on the Davis Mountain Preserve and at the McDonald Observatory. We recently returned to the Davis Mountain Preserve to do a fall trapping experiment to complete a full season of monitoring bark beetle activity and mitigation and recovery tactics in the area. The goal is to ensure that the repellents cause a significant decrease in bark beetle activity while simultaneously finding the right amount of repellents required to effectively protect the trees. With this information we can create an effective plan to protect the Ponderosa Pine in the Davis Mountains Preserve as well as having an effective solution to offer landowners in order to protect their own trees. This initiative is part of Operation Ponderosa, and this project was a collaboration with USDA Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy.