FOREST SURVEY RELEASE NO. 52 DEOEMBER 50" 

A OURSORY SURVEY OF THE FOREST RESOUROE OF THE 

EAST TEXAS POST OAK BELT 

By 

V. B. Davis 

Associate Forest Economist 

. A Pro'gress Report by 

THE SOUTHERN FOREST SURVEY 

·r. F. Eldredge, Regional SurveY Director 

In cooperation with 

THE TEXAS FOREST SERVICE 

E. O. Siecke, Director 

SOUTHERN FOREST EXPERX~ENT STATION 

E. L. Demmon, Director 

NeVI Orleans, La. 

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FOREWORD 

The Forest Survey, which is a part of the United States Forest Ser-.. 

vice, was authorized by the NcSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of 1928 

to make a Nation-wide study of our forest resources. The f:ivefold object) 

of this study is: (1) To make an inventory of the pres~ilt supply oftiml)er' 

and other forest products; (2) to ascertainth" rate at which this supply 

is being increased through growth; (3) to determine the rate at which this. 

supply is being diminished through industrial and local use, windfall,. fire, 

and disease j (4) to determine the present requirement and probable future . 

trend in the requirement for timber and other forest productsrand·. (5Yt~:,·.·. 

correlate these findings with existing and ariticipatedeconomic concli t.ions, 

in order that. policies may be formulated for the effective use of land 

suitable for forest production. In the South ,'the Forest Survey function.,·,.,. 

as an activity of the Southern Forest Experiment stationl'lith. head·quarte:q 

at New Orleans, Louisiana. 

In this release no attempt is made to determine the. rate 

or to present detailed information. on .. the utiliza·tion and. drain. -c.c--,'cc.-,"" 

materials. The inventory is based on 'an extensive :fields)lrvey" 

the author in April and May 1957 ,and by J. \1. Cruikshank.inMa;i 

cooperation .wi th the. Texas Forest Service • The fieldsurv.ey Wasljl. ade,:bY,;'.i~.'~: 

observers using an automobile equipped with a crop-meter and:"o' VA;';,,1 

network of 5,552 miles of roads well distributed oyer the unit, e·;:~x0·i".\;~ 

tent of the various land,-use classes was recorded on' 

the estimate of area in each. of the land-usec'la!3ses)and "'1' 'or'eSe 

computed from the percentages.so obtained.' The:character, 

the saw-timber and cordwood volume were determined by meaSll1r'3mEm 

records taken on many representative sample plots. 

A check of the area of forest land was made by Chris NelsQn 

of the Texas Forest .Service through a study of aerial photograph mc,AaiCiii:i;i 

covering approximately one-third of the area. 'It showed that· the 

meter method produced an underestimate of the forest area beCaUi3ea~dr:~~ 

cleared for agriculture occurs in greater proportion along 

ways than elsewhere. From this check acorrectiYe factor was 

which, when applied, increased the figure for forest 

percent of the total gross area. .Thefigures for 

increased in proportion and those for the various :I'. 19l:l(mJ~ol!relJ-'CJ.a~~. 

tions reduced accordingly; Timber-volume estimates 

rected forest acreages .and the per-acre volumes de,te,rm.ined .fr'Oiin .. _".~".~., 

plots. 

These' procedures made possible the. surveYr~!u~t~~6~i~t~Z:~~\,r~~ tively short time and at.small expense, ])utthe' 

rough approximations ·and do not approach. the 

plot survey used throughout the other .Survey 

forest values justified greater expenditure~ 

the personnel of Work 
A CURSORY SURVEY OF THE FOREST RESOURCE OF THE 

EAST TEXAS POST OAK BELT 

General Description 

The area covered by this report!! lies in the eastern half of Texas 

and may be called the East Texas post oak belt. It is irregular in outline, approximately 400 miles long and 20 to 80 miles wide, and contains 

a total land area of 11,661,700 acreS, From Lamar County on the north, 

it ,extends southwest to Atascosa and Bee Counties (see fig, 1), On the 

east, it is bounded by the East 'fexas pine Survey units and the coastal 

prairies; on the west, by the bla(Jkland prairies; and on the south, by the 

brushy plains, The natural limits of the post oak belt extend across the 

county lines selected as the western boundary of Texas Survey Unit No.2, 

and a considerable additional area and volume of post oak in that unit is 

dealt with in Forest Survey Release No, 40, "Forest Resources of Northeast 

Texas." 

The terrain of this area is characterized by low rolling hills 

separated by wide flat valleys. The general elevation ranges from 250 feet 

to 500 feet above sea level. Drainage flows in a southeasterly direction, 

contributing to the Sulphur, Sabine, Neches, Trinity, Navasota, Brazos, 

Colorado, Guadalupe, $an Antonio, and other rivers, which cross or border 

the area. 

Light-colored sandy soils low in organic matter prevail throughout 

the upland timbered areas that make up the major portion of this unit. The 

principal soil series represented are Norfolk, Susquehanna, Lufkin, Kirvin, 

and Ruston. The soils of the prairie areas are brown, gray, and black loams 

or clays of the Crockett, 11ilson, and Houston series, Vlhile prairie soils 

occur to a considerable extent in Hopkins County near the north end of the 

unit, they are found on only a small part of the area north of the Brazos 

River; south of the Brazos they occur with increasing frequency. A belt of 

prairie land, occasionally broken by patches and strips of timber, extends 

southwestward through Hashington, Fayette, and Gonzales Counties and the 

western parts of Austin, Colorado, Lavaca, and Delfitt Counties, to the indentation in the southern boundary of the unit (fig, 1). 

Rainfall in this area averages from 25 inches annually in the extreme 

southwestern part to about 40 inches in the northeastern part. Most of the 

unit, however, has between 50 and 40 inches per annum, fairly well distributed throughout the year. The lightest precipitation usually occurs in July, 

August, January, and February. The summers are warm, with a mean temperature 

for June, July, and August of 820 F. in the area north of the Brazos River, 

and 8/.0 F. in the area south of the river. \'linters are mild except for short 

cold periods-generally accompanied by a "norther"-when the thermometer often 

drops 500 or more in a few hours. In the winter nionths the mean temperature 

ranges from 550 F, in the southern part of the unit to 460 F. at the northern 

end. 

!! Texas Survey Unit No.5. 
According to the 1950 Census, the total population was approximat'ely 

530,000,. an average of 29 per square mile. No cities or tovms in the unit 

had a population in excess of ~10, 000., and only 13 of them exceeded 2,500. 

Agriculture provides the chief occupation of more than half of. the gainfully 

employed workers of this area. Cotton and corn are the principal crops, but 

dairying and the raising of stock and poultry contribute materially to the 

farm income throughout the region and are particularly important in the 

southern part. 

Table 1 shows a classification of the area according to present land 

use. Forests cover 4,401,100 acres, or 38 percent of the total. Much of 

this area is fenced and used as range for livestock. Agricultural land, 

making up over 54 percent of the unit, is shovm under three classifications: 

"Cultivated" land is now in crops and has been cleared 5 years or more; 

"newly cleared" land is cropland or pasture cleared of forest growth within 

the past 5 years; "other agricultural" includes pasture and small amounts 

of idle and abandoned cropland. The brush and mesquite land, which, like 

the forested land, is mostly fenced for stock range, makes up 6 percent of 

the unit. The area occupied by towns, villages, roads, railroads, and other 

cultural features accounts for the remaining 2 percent. Land clearing and 

the reversion of abandoned agricultural land to forest are both proceeding 

at a slovi rate in this region, and the general conclusion is that very 

little change is currently taking place in the total forest area. 

Table l.-Area of' the unit classified accordingcto 

land use 

Forest 

Nonf'orest: 

Land use 

Agricul tural: 

Cultivated 

Newly cleared 

Other agricultural 

Total agricultural 

Brush and mesquite 

Towns, rights-of-way, etc. 

Total forest and nonfbrest 

Area Proportion of 

- Acres - - - Percent 

4,401,100 

2,919,100 25.0 

81,700 0.7 

5,595,500 29.1 

6,594,300 

657,700 

208,600 

11,661,700 

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total 

57.8 

54.8 

5.6 

1.8 

100.0 

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FIGURE 1. 

EAST TEXAS 

POST OAK BELT 

J.iC INLLEN 

TEXAS SURVEY UNIT 3 

_ PINE TYPE 

t'::,:,q POST OAK TYPE 

L 1 V E 

X / C 0 

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Description of the Forest 

In table 2 the forest area is classified into four main forest type 

groups and'two principal forest conditions. The scrub-hardwood types occur 

chiefly on the light sandy upland soils and occupy 95 percent of the forest 

area. In these types post oak predominates, often occurring in almost pure 

stands. Blackjack oak and hickory are common associates, and replace the 

post oak entirely in some of the scrub-hardwood stands. Elm and hackberry 

occur frequently along the borders of the prairies, and live oak is common 

in the southern portion of the belt. The trees in this scrub-hardwood type 

group are short-boled<andlimby. At maturity, they average 40 to 50 feet 

in height throughout most of the unit, but where the forest gives way to 

prairie or brush areas they seldom exceed 50 feet • 

Table 2.--Forest area classified according to forest type group 

and condition 

Cordwood and Proportion 

Forest type group Saw timber reproduction Total of total 

for'est area 

.- - - - - Acres - - ------ Percent 

Scrub hardwood 4,090,000 4,090,000 95,0 

Commercial hardwood 57,300 115,500 172,800 5.9 

Pine 20,800 50,000 70,800 1.6 

Cedar 67,500 67,500 1.5 

All type groups 78,100 4,525,000 1»401 ,100 100.0 

The commercial hardwoods are found chiefly in the river bottoms and 

to "a smaller extent on the better sites in the uplands. The principal species are redgum, oaks, pecan, elms, and cottonwood. In the bottoms along 

the Trinity River, the largest areas of ' this type group occurj here the 

'trees have the size and quality characteristic of the species'elsewhere in 

the South. Similar stands in smaller quantities are found along the Neches, 

Sabine, 'and SUlphur Rivers j but along the rivers to the south and west of 

the ,Trinity this type group occurs in progressively decreasing quantities. 

FUrthermore, the trees become shorter and of poorer quality, while the 

stands contain less redgum and more elm and pecan. 

The pine types are very limited in area and somewhat scattered as to 

distribution. They occur in several places along the eastern border of the 

unit, where it meets and partly overlaps the main pine belt of East Texas. 

Small isolated areas or "islands" of pines are also found in Bastrop and 

Fayette Counties, but the timber,. though of commercial quality, is shorter 

than the general run 'of southern pine. The average usable length for saw 

timber varies from one 16,-foot log per tree on the dry, gravelly ridges, 

to two and one-half logs per tree on the better sites. On the eastern side 

of this unit, both loblolly and shortleaf pines are found, while loblolly 

alone is found in Bastrop and Fayette Counties. The cedar types, which consist chiefly of Eastern redcedar, either pure or mixed with scrub hardwoods, 

also occur chiefly in these two counties. 

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Uses of the Forest 

Because the timber in the scrub-hardwood type is short and poor in 

quality, it has very little value for saw timber. In the local economy, 

however, this timber is highly important as a source of fuel wood and 

materials for general farm use. Studies in East Texas indicate that the 

average rural farm family uses 8 to 10 cords of fuel \'Iood'per year. It 

follows that a total of about three-fourths of a million cords of wood are 

consumed annually on the farms of the post oak region, as virtually every 

farmstead uses wood for' fuel. At $2.50 per standard cord stacked in the 

woods; this firewood has a value of close to 2 million dollars. In addition 

to the firewood used locally, a considerable quantity of scrub hardwood is 

shipped to the larger cities, such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Several 

small communities reported shipping from two to six thousand cords per year 

at a selling price of $2.50 to $5.00 per cord loaded on the car. Most of 

this commercial fuel wood is cut during the winter months, and its sale provides a supplementary income that is indeed welcome to the farmers of this 

area. 

It is estimated that at least three-fourths of the fence posts used 

in this region are cut from scrub hardwood, chiefly post oak. It is difficuI t to estimate the total number of posts required annually, but the number 

is enormous, as practically all of the land is under fence. In recent years 

the use of cedar posts from the Cedar Brakes region farther west has increased, 

but they cost from 4 to 10 cents each, delivered in the county; consequently, 

a majority of the farmers still cut their posts themselves from their ovm 

woodlots. 

Several portable sawmills are at work in the pine stands of Leon, 

Bastrop, and Grimes Counties and the bottomland hardwood stands of the larger 

ri vers. Most of their output of lumber and rough construction materials is 

used locally, but a small quantity is shipped outside the unit. A cedar 

mill at Bastrop, in Bastrop County, produces cabinet lumber that is sold 

largely to outside markets. A few other small mills, some of which are rnn 

in connection with cotton gins that in turn use the slabs and edgings for 

fuel, are found here and there in the unit, operating at very irregnlar intervals. These mills for the most part do custom sawing for cash or a share of 

the product. They saw lumber for local consumption from the better quality 

post oaks and the cottonwoods, elms, and red oaks of the stream bottoms. 

In addition to providing fuel wood, fenc!, posts, rough construction 

material, and lumber to the value of several million dollars yearly, the forests are of undoubted benefit in preventing erosion and retarding run-off on 

land that is not suited for agriculture or is not now in demand for agricultural purposes. Their effectiveness in controlling -erosion needs to be increased, however, as overgrazing and burning have so reduced the ground cover 

and compacted the soil that run-off is too rapid and gullies are all too 

numerous. 

New developments in the pulp and paper industry may create new values 

in-the hitherto despised post oaks. A pulp mill has successfully used 

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bleached pulp made from Texas post oak mixed with pine sulphate pulp to 

produce coated magazine papers on a commercial scale. Should this use 

become general in the industry, the position of Texas as a source of 

pulping material win be strengthened. 

Volume Estimates 

On the basis of data from sample plots in the various forest types, 

the estimate of the volume of usable material is shown in table 3. Sawtimber volume includes pines 9.0 inches or more d.b.h. (diameter at breast 

height) and, in the commercial hardwood areas, hardwoods 15.0 inches d.b.h. 

or 'larger. Cordwood volumes inclUde not only the saw-timber material listed, 

but also the sound material in cull trees and the entire usable volume of 

all sound trees both large and small, except that no material under 4 inches 

in diameter is included in the commercial types nor under 2 inches in dia-

,meter in the scrub-hardwood types. The smallest trees tallied as containing such material were 5.0 and 3.0 inches d.b.h., respectively. All cordwood 

volumes include bark. 

Of the total volume of 33,348,700 cords, '91 percent is in the scrubhardwood types, which furnish the greater part of the fuel wood cut in this 

area. The average stand for the scrub-hardwood types is almost 7t cords 

per acre. 

Table 3.-Saw-timber and cordwood volumes 

Species group 

Hardwoods 

Pines 

: Cedar 

Total 

Saw-timber volume 

(lumber tally) 

N board feet 

186,500 

67,600 

254 100 

Cordwood volumell 

Cords2 

'2/32,691,000 

477,300 

180,400 

33 548 700 

1 'rhese volumes include the saw-timber volumes in the column to the left. 

61 Standard cords (4 x 4 x 8 feet). 

y 50,457,700 cords are in the scrub-hardwood type. 

Fire Damage 

Table 4 shows the fire damage as determined from the sample plots 

'examined during the survey. It is evident that by far the greatest damage 

occurs in the pine types. In the commercial hardwood types of the bottomlands, fire protection is less difficult and fires are less frequent because 

of the naturally moist conditions (and the consequent lack of dry forest 

litter) that prevail at most seasons of the year. The fires that do occur, 

however, not only kill some trees, but also reduce the quantity and quality 

of the saw timber in many of the surviving ones by burning them at the base 

and permitting decay to begin. 

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Table 4;-Area of each forest type group classified according to presence 

or absence, of fire damage 

Forest type groups 

Scrub hardwoods 

Qommercial hardwoods 

Pines 

Gedar 

No evidence 

of fire 

71 

94 

6 

91 

Evidence of 

fire, but 

nb damage 

- Percent 

6 

2 

17 

o 

Fire damage 

evident 

25 

4 

77 

9 

The scrub-hardwood types, though not so subject to fire 'as the pines 

nor so severely damaged, show definite evidences of fire; much of the decay 

in the larger trees is traceable to this cause. vlhile large expenditures for 

fire protection may not be justified by commercial timber values in these 

types, better protection than they now receive would result in increased water 

infiltration and storage capacity of the soil. The result would be improved 

maintenance of stream flow and reductions in erosion, flood'peaks, and silt 

load of streams. 

Good Management and the Public Interest 

The species making up both the commercial and the scrub hardwoods reproduce themselves prolifically by seed and sprouts. Cut-over areas will 

restock naturally to a satisfactory degree, for where seed trees are lacking, 

sprout growth usually forms a new stand. Although inherently'capable of restocking adequately, many of the scrub-hardwood stands are understocked. 

Probably the chief reason for this is found in the efforts of many landOwners 

to maintain open stands favorable to the growth of grass for livestock. Fire 

is next in importance' as a cause of the depletion of the forest cover. Besides being poorly stocked, many of the stands have been allowed to deteriorate in quality as a result of the continued cutting of the best trees, while 

partly rotten and poorly formed trees are left to occupy space that should.be 

maintaining trees of better quality, The lack of data on forest growth and 

drain makes an accurate determination of the present trend impossible, but it 

seems likely that a gradual reduction of growing 'stock is still under way. 

Improvement in the quality and yield of the scrub-hardwood stands is possible, 

but it depends upon action by the O\Vller to effect proper coordination of ' 

grazing with good forest management practices, including fire protection. It 

is obvious that there will be no material improvement in forest management 

until and unless there is a marked improvement in the extent and character of 

the market for the wood produced. 

The pine types, though small in extent, are important, to this region 

as a source of local supply for,much-needed construction material. The land 

on which' they grow is not well suited for agriculture, and the continued production of saw timber is desirable. At present, however, the pine stands 

have been so heavily cut over that the yields of saw timber per acre will be, 

very low for a long time. In most cases enough trees have'been left tore-
-stock the -land to pine, but flJequent fires have prevented the survival of 

many pine seedlings. Hardwoods seem to be replacing the pine in the most 

heavily cut sections-of Bastrop OOunty. If new stands of pine are to develop, fires must-be controlled. Once rotection from fire is assured, 

natural reproduction will keep the stan~s well stocked and productive if 

an adequate number of seed trees is left at each cutting. 

The forests of the East Texas p t oak belt do not compare with the 

commercial forests of the South in theo:roduction of lumber or other highpriced commodities, but they are neVertheless of very great importance to _ 

the people in the extensive area in Which they are found. They provide 

annually several million dollars I Worth f forest products such as fuel wood, 

fence posts, farm construction materialSo and lumber. Much of this material 

is produced by farmers for their oVm" ' Some is cut and sold by the rural ~se. population and furnishes a needed SOllrc of cash income during slack seasons. Over and above these benefits, t~e forests serve as a natural cover 

to prevent both wind and water erOSion in an area where soils without ~dequate vegetative cover erode severely a d deteriorate quickly. There lS a 

good chance that they may eventually b nome a source of raw material for . d t ec the pulp and paper In us ry. 

These facts would seem to justif immediate action on the part of 

landovmers to effect better forest manaYement as well as greater expenditures by State and Federal agencies to grovid~ (1) assistance in protection from fire and overgrazing, (2) res~arch in management methods, and 

(5) extension services to the forest landovmers. 

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