The Big Thicket to be the Bigger Thicket?

Tuesday, 01 April 2008

The Big Thicket was once a vast dense forest of over 1,000,000 acres. It truly was a big thicket. Early settlers described it as perhaps the most impenetrable forest they had ever encountered.

Through development and parcelization, the vast Big Thicket actually became a smaller thicket and in its present official form, the Big Thicket National Preserve, managed by the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior, its size is roughly 100,000 acres. The original Big Thicket is now sometimes referred to as the Primitive Big Thicket, and is broken up by a number of small towns and private land.

The area has a rich history of so-called "wildman" or bigfoot sightings, often referred to as "Mossyback" in the area.

The good news: legislation was recently drafted by the National Park Service, at the request of U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R), 8th District of Texas, to increase the size of the Big Thicket National Preserve by another 100,000 acres. The land would be acquired from willing sellers.

The TBRC will keep a constant eye on the status of this important legislation. While 200,000 acres is not 1,000,000 acres, the expansion of the Big Thicket National Preserve by another 100,000 acres would no doubt be a great step toward the conservation and restoration of this place that's been called the biological crossroads of North America. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this special place called the Big Thicket can soon be the Bigger Thicket.

Source: The Big Thicket Reporter (Big Thicket Association).

Incident reports by region

Click on a state:

Findincidentreports-map

Or select a state and county:

Recent incident reports

RSS

Occurred 9/22/1995 in Vernon Parish County, LA

Published on November 9, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video

Former Fort Hood pilot reports dusk highway encounter a few miles east of Sabine River. Read more...

Occurred 7/15/1972 in Burleson County, TX

Published on October 21, 2009 Icon-photo-off Icon-video-off

While camping, family hears loud vocalizations. Read more...

Occurred 11/24/1994 in Little River County, AR

Published on October 17, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Hunter has dusk encounter along railway outside of Wilton. Read more...

Occurred Fall 1997 in San Jacinto County, TX

Published on August 13, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Sam Houston National Forest: while taking daughter's friends home, mother has roadside visual encounter. Read more...

Occurred 4/1990 in Palo Pinto County, TX

Published on August 11, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Two fishermen report early morning road encounter while enroute to Possum Kingdom Lake. Read more...

Occurred 5/1985 in Little River County, AR

Published on August 5, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Couple has dusk roadside encounter north of the Red River on Highway 41. Read more...

Occurred Summer 1986 in Rains County, TX

Published on August 4, 2009 Icon-photo-off Icon-video-off

Camper claims to have visual encounter on shore of Lake Tawakoni. Read more...

Occurred 6/22/2009 in McCurtain County, OK

Published on July 11, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Family hears vocalizations and finds possible track. Read more...

Occurred 9/2007 in Montgomery County, TX

Published on June 30, 2009 Icon-photo-off Icon-video-off

Worker has early morning visual encounter while working on construction of Fox Sports Facility. Read more...

Occurred Fall 1970 in Canadian County, OK

Published on March 10, 2009 Icon-photo Icon-video-off

Coon hunter reports late night visual encounter on Canadian River in Central Oklahoma. Read more...

View all sightings...