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Cross Timbers Conservancy Preserving one of the least disturbed ecosystems in Texas
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A Special Place
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The Ancient Cross Timbers
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The Consortium has stated that the Cross Timbers may be one of the least disturbed forest ecosystems that survives in the eastern United States. Recent fieldwork has identified many large tracts of outstanding ancient post oak woodlands on rocky sites in Montague, Jack, Palo Pinto, Young, and Eastland counties of north central Texas, and in extensive areas of eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. These ancient oak-dominated woodlands provide vital natural habitat in an increasingly human-dominated landscape, and present an unparalleled opportunity of uncorrupted ancient forest natural areas for a cooperative network of research and field oriented education.
The Cross Timbers Conservancy exists in part to support further research and fieldwork on this very special place by the Consortium and its member institutions.
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Cross Timbers Conservancy P.O. Box 246 · Forestburg, TX 76239
© 2006, all rights reserved |
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The Ancient Cross Timbers
Consortium was established at the University of Arkansas under the
leadership of David W. Stahle, a Distinguished Professor in the Department
of Geosciences, to unite educational institutions, government agencies,
conservation organizations, and individuals around the research,
educational, and conservation opportunities presented by the extensive
old-growth forest remnants of the Cross Timbers ecosystem. Field
surveys conducted by the University of Arkansas Tree-Ring Laboratory have
been sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation, the McGee
Foundation of Oklahoma City, the Nature Conservancy, and the Graduate
School of the University of Arkansas. (See
Field work published in
the doctoral dissertation of Krista Clements Peppers, PhD, "Old Growth Forest in
the Western Cross Timbers of Texas", available from University
Microfilms at http://wwwlib.umi.com/dxweb/gateway, indicates that some 33% of the
region's post oak
trees are pre-settlement at more than 150 years in age, 8% more than 200
years, with some as old as 400 years. Dr. Peppers is presently
serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at
Ouachita Baptist University.