Bill Oates, Associate Director for Forest Resource Development & Sustainable Forestry for the Texas A&M Forest Service, provided a closer look at Texas’ forests and those who own them and help conserve them at the First Friday Luncheon held at Crown Colony Country Club on Friday, July 8.
The latest weather patterns have been a significant help in deterring and recovering from forest fires like the Bastrop Fire in 2011. However, as weather patterns are moving from an El Nino into a La Nina effect, the drier conditions return, which means there could be an increase in the future in forest fires across the state.
“We are not really expecting anything significant this summer in terms of a wildfire season,” said Oates. “We were in a La Nina in 2011, so we may see some of the same conditions. We will likely see an increase of fire occurrence.”
“Many fires we see today occur in a Wildland Urban Interface, the area between suburbs and the rural area.” said Oates. “Folks are moving out of the cities into these areas and they are moving into places that burn.” The 2011 Bastrop fire was in a Wildland Urban Interface, poignantly illustrating that between 2005 and 2014, 79% of forest fires happened two miles from a community . This intersection between timberlands and home away from the city is part of why the Bastrop Fire was the most costly in terms of damage in Texas history.
“This is a real significant thing for this state. As we continue to grow, we will conditions like this increase,” said Oates. “The key to fix this is to do a better job managing our lands.”
In 2009, just 60 dozers and 143 firefighters were available to fight forest fires. To combat the urban threat of forest fires, legislative funding brought those numbers up to over 100 dozers and 300 firefighters. “We are in a much better position to protect. With TFS, our folks working with volunteer fire departments and other state agencies, I believe we will be ready to handle any problems in front of us.”
“One of the issues we have when [Texas Forest Service] was created and still have today is restoration,” said Oates, “We were created in 1915 and the forest had been cut over and there was actually no reforestation going on and no real care for the resources.Part of our job is to educate land owners and property landowners and assist in the restoration of a species.”
Today, the Ponderosa Pine in West Texas is facing a rapid decline, dwindling by almost 70-80 per cent in the last six years. Without nurseries to assist in the regrowth of this pine and as drought, insect and fire risk bear down, it’s future is in jeopardy. “The area we are currently working on is owned by the Nature Conservancy and we are assisting them in this project,” said Oates. “In the town of Fort Davis, we are going door to door asking landowners if we can collect seeds. We’ve also worked with the county that had two huge Ponderosa pines.” With the small seedling nursery now established, the project will be ongoing for as long 20 years because of the slow growth rate of the tree.
Much closer to home, the southeast portion of Texas is covered in pine, covering 12.5 million acres. Of all the timberland in this state, 66.4% is privately owned by families, 25.4% is owned by timber investment management organizations and around 8% is publicly owned. More than 200,000 families own timberland, and most of that is in small plots less than 10,000 acres.
Timber provides $17.2 billion direct industry output and provides 60,900 direct jobs with a payroll of $3.4 billion. Timber is Texas’ seventh valuable agricultural product and for 33 of 43 counties the forest sector is one of the top five manufacturing employers.
The pines harvested in Texas provide 70% of forest products manufactured. In this regiont, timber is growing 14% more than is actually needed to cut. This abundance of forestry resource attracts investors. “With such a significant surplus, we can manage and conserve,” said Oates.
