Field trips provide a form of didactic education that surpasses the classroom lecture. Field seminars will provide students with direct access to experts in the department on the level of peers in a fun, hands-on and informative way. 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. 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. 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.