text:
Talk:Wes Cooley (politician)

Untitled
Information from the 1996 Voters Guide can be found on the web: http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may2196/pamphlet/fedcan/cooleyw.html In this 1996 version, Cooley's campaign seems to be claiming only "U.S. Army, 1952-54."

Was it a 1994 Voters Guide that led to Cooley's conviction?

Information apparently supplied by Cooley for Congress '98, which I found on what seems to be the Oregon Secretary of State website, has this to say about Mr. Cooley's military service: "U.S. Army: Company L, 63rd Infantry; Basic Airborne, Fort Benning, GA; 25th Special Forces Operation Detachment; 10th Special Forces Group; HQ & HQ Company, Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, NC." and "U.S. Army, Special Forces; Veteran, Korean Conflict; Military Specialty of Demolition Specialist (MOS33533 - prefix "3" indicates completion of Special Combat Training)." http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may1998/guide/rcan/repcon/coolew.htm

Something seems fishy about the "'98'"---so I wondered, did he actually run again, AFTER being convicted in 1997 of falsifying information? Evidently so, as is seen in an AP story from Cave Junction, Oregon, in the Hanibal Courier-Post, http://www.hannibal.net/stories/042798/Excongressman.html Ex-congressman finds road back to be lonely (Last modified at 10:41 a.m. on Monday, April 27, 1998)

"Athough Cooley was convicted last year of a felony for lying in the Oregon Voters Pamphlet, to this day he refuses to admit he never served in Korea. He insists that he simply cannot prove it because some of his military records were destroyed in a fire. . . . . Cooley, 66, lives on a small ranch near Bend and owns a vitamin company. . . . Four years ago, as a part-time state senator, he edged out four competitors for the GOP nomination. With an endorsement from his Republican predecessor, longtime incumbent Bob Smith, he waltzed into Congress. . . . But doubts were raised about Cooley's history from the beginning. A Phi Beta Kappa key turned out to be a lesser honor from a community college. A ninth-place finish in an international motorcycle race was unsupported by records. . . . Even the circumstances of his second marriage were suspect. His wife, Rosemary, had collected monthly veteran's benefits from 1965, when her Marine Corps husband died, to 1993, when she married Cooley in California. But friends said the couple had married in Mexico in 1983, and loan papers filed in 1985 showed the Cooleys were identifying themselves as a married couple then. Federal law prevents a military widow from collecting benefits if she remarries or lives with another man. The FBI investigated the potential fraud, but Rosemary Cooley was not charged. . . . What finally drove him from office were persistent reports casting doubt on his claim that he'd fought in Korea with the fledgling Army Special Forces. . . . .Cooley said he'd been sworn to secrecy about his mission. Although some of his Army records burned, those that survived gave no hint he ever left Fort Bragg, N.C., and his old sergeant denounced Cooley as a liar." [article Copyright 1998 Hannibal Courier-Post]

I remember a televised press conference Rep. Cooley held, in which a reporter asked him who his commanding officer in Korea had been, and he said something like, "it's classified top secret," but, when pressed, he later said something like, "Buddy. That's it! Sergeant Buddy. Sergeant Buddy was my commanding officer." To most of the questions, his answer was something like "I have ordered an ongoing investigation into this matter of my top secret military service record, and pending this pending investigation into that matter, it would not be proper for me to comment further." [P.S. I guess what he actually said was "Poppy! Sgt. Poppy!" (not St. Buddy).]

"The truth is out there."
Can anyone verify whether Wes Cooley actually said this, and (if so) the exact date and occasion?

CNN report March 1997
Squib from CNN: Cooley Lied About Military Record SALEM, Ore. (CNN, March 18) -- Wes Cooley, a former Republican representative from Oregon, was found guilty Tuesday of falsifying his military record in the 1994 state Voters Pamphlet. A judge placed the 64-year-old Cooley on two years' probation, ordered him to do 100 hours of community service,and pay $5,000 in fines and $2,110 in court costs. Cooley, who said he served in special forces in Korea among his qualifications for candidacy, was found in violation of the election law. He dropped his congressional bid last year and left office in January. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/03/18/briefs/

Margaret Carlson squib story, May 13, 1996
"Oregon Congressman Wes Cooley won't say whether he married his second wife in the mid-1980s, as his voter-registration card and friends say he did. Or in 1994, when his wife notified the Veterans Affairs Department that they could stop sending her $900 a month in benefits as the widow of a Marine captain. His press spokesman says Cooley, a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, will let us know when he got married as soon as he has "all the facts at his disposal." The Cooleys could owe the VA as much as $100,000. He's already under investigation for a claim that he served in the Army Special Forces in Korea, and has admitted that his campaign materials falsely awarded him a Phi Beta Kappa key." http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/time/9605/13/carlson.shtml

FEC
http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe1998/orh.htm

Oregon Republican Primary, May 19, 1998 DISTRICT 2

Walden, Greg               R             36,909   54.66 Atkinson, Perry A.         R             22,162   32.82 Cooley, Wes                R              6,156    9.12 Newkirk, John D.           R              2,166    3.21 Scattered                  W(R)             133     .20 Total Party Votes:              67,526

relation to Wes Cooley the motorcyclist?
His ex-wife Beverly Charboneau said he spent the war in Fort Bragg, N.C.

"One of BidBay's vice presidents, Wes Cooley, is a former congressman from Oregon who was forced to quit his re-election campaign in 1996 amid accusations he had lied about fighting in the Korean War. He was convicted in 1997 of lying about his record in the Oregon Voters' Pamphlet and was sentenced to two years of probation, though his conviction was set aside last year. Oregon law provides that convictions for certain minor crimes may be set aside when all conditions of a sentence have been satisfactorily discharged."

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-270809.html?legacy=cnet

Is former Congressman Wes Sadric Cooley related to the Wes Steven Cooley who is in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame? (Photos of the younger Cooley resemble the disgraced former member of Congress, but maybe it's just the moustache.)

A brief review
It appears that a very lengthy and completely unsourced description of an alleged Stolen Valor violation by Rep. Cooley sat in this article, unchallenged and undisturbed, for six years. This is shameful. WP:BLP requires that any negative information about a living person must be either well-sourced, or immediately removed. I'm not going to do the research. If Rep. Cooley's detractors want this information in his WP biography, they'll do the research and provide reliable sources for every sentence -- and they won't appear as single-use IP accounts to put it back in with a National Enquirer writing style. Furthermore, it won't provide details about other scandals involving Republicans from Oregon such as Bob Packwood (which belong in their respective biographies, and not here). Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 17:21, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Good call. I added back some cited info about this case, and took out some other possibly inflammatory information that needs citing. --Esprqii (talk) 18:34, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wes Cooley (politician)


text:
Glenville State University

Glenville State University (GSU) is a public college in Glenville, West Virginia.

History
Glenville State University was founded in 1872 as a branch of West Virginia Normal School. It became known as Glenville State Normal School. It served the higher education needs of Central West Virginia. By 1910, the college enrollment had exceeded the population of Glenville and grew into a full four-year college by 1931.

The Glenville State College Alumni Center, known as the John E. Arbuckle House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

On February 22, 2022, Glenville State College attained university status.

Academics
The college awards bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, master's degrees, and certificates.

Athletics
In athletics, the school's sports teams are known as Pioneers and Lady Pioneers, and they compete in the Mountain East Conference. They have teams in football, basketball, track and field, softball, golf, baseball, cross country running, acrobatics & tumbling, and volleyball. The women's basketball team won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2022. After the women's basketball team won the 2022 championship, their head coach Kim Stephens was named the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Coach of the Year in Division II. Stephens was also selected as the 2022 recipient of the Fufari Award which recognizes the college coach of the year for the state of West Virginia, an award which she also won in 2019. They previously competed in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which disbanded following the 2012–13 season.

Notable alumni
• Gray Barker, writer best known for his books about UFOs and other paranormal phenomena

• W. E. Blackhurst, author and a lifelong resident of the Cass, West Virginia community

• Brent Boggs, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Scott Cadle, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Craig Drennen, artist best known for his ongoing long-term Timon of Athens project, for which he has produced paintings, drawings, prints, videos, performances, and sculptures.

• Lloyd Hartman Elliott, former President of the George Washington University and former President of Maine University

• David Evans, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Ed Evans, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Audeen W. Fentiman, engineer, and Crowley Family Professor in Engineering Education, at Purdue University

• Cam Henderson, former college athletics administrator for Marshall University

• John Kee, former United States House of Representatives

• John R. Kelly, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Todd Longanacre, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Howard Justus McGinnis, former President of East Carolina University

• Bob Mollohan, former United States House of Representatives

• Dave Pethtel, former West Virginia House of Delegates

• Harmonia Rosales, painter best known for The Creation of God

• William Allison Shimer, former president at Marietta College

• Bob Sowards, former professional golfer

• David Stover, current West Virginia Senate

• David Sypolt, former West Virginia Senate

• Steve Westfall, current West Virginia House of Delegates

• Jay Wolfe, former West Virginia Senate

• John M. Wolverton, former United States House of Representatives

• Adam Young, former West Virginia House of Delegates

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Glenville State University


text:
Weißenfels

Weißenfels (often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately 30 km south of Halle.

History
Perhaps the first mention of the area, before the town itself was founded occurred in 806 CE, when Charles the Younger (Karl der Jüngere), King of the Franks, fought and killed two West Slavic Knezy (princes) nearby:  duke Miliduch of the Sorbs and Nessyta (possibly also a Sorbian leader). Miliduch had led a Sorbian invasion of Austrasia.

The settlement arose around a castle on a ford crossing the Saale and received municipal rights in 1185. During the Thirty Years' War, the town was badly damaged and the population fell from 2200 to 960. On 7 November 1632 the body of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was first laid out at Weißenfels after he had been killed the day before at the Battle of Lützen. Shortly afterwards however, the town took a steep rise in importance, when Duke Augustus, a scion of the Saxon House of Wettin, established the Duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels in 1656 and chose Weißenfels as his residence and as the capital of the duchy. Since 1638 Augustus had served as the Protestant administrator of the Magdeburg archbishopric, which, according to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia would be finally secularised to Brandenburg-Prussia upon his death.

Augustus therefore from 1660 onward erected the Baroque Neu-Augustusburg Castle on a hill in Weißenfels as the seat of his ducal successors. Completed in 1680 it became the duchy's administrative as well as cultural centre until its dissolution in 1746. Composers like Johann Philipp Krieger and Georg Philipp Telemann worked here, the actress Friederike Caroline Neuber made her first appearances at Weißenfels. In 1702 Johann Sebastian Bach's application for the position of the organist in Sangerhausen (belonging to Weißenfels) failed, because the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels preferred the—rediscovered in 2010—composer Johann Augustin Kobelius. In 1713 Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated his cantata ''Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 to Duke Christian of Saxe-Weissenfels.

The Lutheran theologian Erdmann Neumeister from 1704 on served as a deacon at the ducal palace's Trinity Chapel. Its pipe organ completed in 1673 has 22 stops. According to John Mainwaring, Duke Johann Adolf I of Saxe-Weissenfels himself discovered the musical talent of George Frideric Handel, when he heard the son of his physician Georg Händel playing on the organ. Bach wrote the Toccata and Fugue in F major (BWV 540) for it.

With the extinction of the Wettin Saxe-Weissenfels line in 1746, the town fell back to the Saxon Electorate and after the 1815 Congress of Vienna to the Prussian Province of Saxony. From 1816 on it was the capital of the Weißenfels district until its dissolution in 2007.

Population
Development of the town's population (from 1960 as at 31 December):
 * Datasource since 1990: Statistical office of Saxony-Anhalt

1: 29 October 2: 31 August 3: 3 October

Incorporations
On 1 January 1995 Weißenfels absorbed the former municipality Borau. Since an administrative reform on 1 January 2010, Weißenfels also comprises the former municipalities of Langendorf, Markwerben and Uichteritz. On 1 September 2010, the former municipalities of Burgwerben, Großkorbetha, Leißling, Reichardtswerben, Schkortleben, Storkau, Tagewerben and Wengelsdorf joined the town. These 12 former municipalities are now Ortschaften or municipal divisions of Weißenfels.

Politics
Seats in the municipal council (Stadtrat) as of 2014 elections:

Economy
Since the 19th century industrialisation, shoe manufacture was Weißenfels' primary industry, until 1991 when the last factory shut down. Since then, the food processing industry has grown significantly. The main companies are:
 * Frischli dairy
 * Tönnies Fleischwerk, Europe's third biggest meat group, runs one of its three meat-processing plants in Weißenfels
 * Mitteldeutsche Erfrischungsgetränke, the third largest mineral water company of Germany, has its seat in Weißenfels. Its brands include Leißlinger Mineralwasser and Saskia-Quelle.

The town has access to the A9 at the Weißenfels junction, near the interchange with the A38. Weißenfels station is a stop on the Thuringian Railway line from Halle to Erfurt/Jena.

Sports
Basketball and Unihockey are the two most popular sports in town. Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club (MBC) was playing in the German national basketball league in between 1999 and 2004 and entered the league again in 2009. Unihockey Club Kreissparkasse Weißenfels won the German Unihockey championship seven times, from 2003 to 2009. The Unihockey European Cup, organized every year in order to establish the best team in Europe, was held in Weißenfels and neighbouring cities Hohenmölsen and Merseburg in January 2004.

Notable people

 * Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), composer and organist
 * Gottfried Reiche (1667–1734), trumpeter
 * Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (1685–1747), Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
 * Anna Magdalena Bach (1701-1760), singer
 * Joachim Wilhelm von Brawe (1738–1758), playwright
 * Novalis, pen name of poet Friedrich von Hardenberg (1772–1801)
 * Louise von François (1817–1893), writer
 * Heinrich von Gossler (1841-1927), general
 * Willy Kükenthal (1861–1922), zoologist
 * Georg Kükenthal (1864–1955), botanist
 * Horst P. Horst (1906–1999), photographer
 * Benjamin Halevy (1910–1996), Israeli judge and politician
 * Konrad Dannenberg (1912–2009), rocket scientist
 * Johanna Elisabeth Döbricht (1692—1786), operatic soprano
 * Hermann Eilts (1922–2006), diplomat and adviser to Kissinger on Mideast
 * Gérard Tichy (1920–1992), Spanish actor
 * Max Frankel (born 1930), American journalist, Editor in Chief of the New York Times
 * Theresa Emilie Henriette Winkel (1784–1867), composer

Twin towns – sister cities
Weißenfels is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Kornwestheim, Germany (1990)
 * 🇸🇰 Komárno, Slovakia (1995)

title: Weißenfels


text:
Talk:Hillbilly heroin

 * Previous deletion debate

title: Talk:Hillbilly heroin


text:
Big Thicket

The Big Thicket is the name given to a somewhat imprecise region of a heavily forested area of Southeast Texas in the United States. This area represents a portion of the mixed pine-hardwood forests or "Piney Woods" of the Southeast US. The National Park Service established the Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) within the region in 1974 and it is recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Although the diversity of animals in the area is high for a temperate zone with over 500 vertebrates, it is the complex mosaic of ecosystems and plant diversity that is particularly remarkable. Biologists have identified at least eight, and up to eleven, ecosystems in the Big Thicket area. More than 160 species of trees and shrubs, 800 herbs and vines, and 340 types of grasses are known to occur in the Big Thicket, and estimates as high as over 1000 flowering plant species and 200 trees and shrubs have been made, plus ferns, carnivorous plants, and more. The Big Thicket has historically been the most dense forest region in Texas.

Native Americans are known to have lived and hunted in the area nomadically, but did not establish permanent settlements there before the Alabama–Coushatta settled in the northeast about 1780. Spanish explorers and missionaries generally avoided the area and routed their roads around it. Logging in the late 19th and 20th centuries dramatically reduced the forest concentration. Efforts to save the Big Thicket from the devastation of oil and lumber industries started as early as the 1920s with the founding of the East Texas Big Thicket Association by Richard Elmer Jackson.

Conservatively the area occupies all of Hardin County, most of Polk, and Tyler Counties, and parts of Jasper, Liberty and San Jacinto Counties, including areas between the Neches River on the east, the Trinity River on the west, Pine Island Bayou on the south, to the higher elevations and older Eocene geological formations to the north. Broader interpretations have included the area between the Sabine River on the east and the San Jacinto River on the west including much of Montgomery, Newton, Trinity, and Walker Counties, as well. Several attempts to define the boundaries of the Big Thicket have been made, including a biological survey in 1936 which included over 3350000 acre covering 14 counties. A later botanical based study in 1972 included a region of over 2000000 acre. This same habitat extends into Louisiana and eastward.

Geography
"One's fondness for the area is hard to explain. It has no commanding peak or awesome gorge, no topographical feature of distinction. Its appeal is more subtle."

- Big Thicket Legacy, University of Texas Press, 1977

Physical geography

Geology: The Big Thicket is notable for the unusually high diversity of plants concentrated in a relatively small area. A major factor enabling this diversity is an unusually high diversity of soils. The exposed surface soils are relatively recent, late Cenozoic Era, predominantly Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene Epoch formations. Other than some slight and uniform tilting, the strata are not greatly deformed. The strata were laid down in several cycles of glaciations and warmer interglacial interludes. Although glaciers never extended as far south as Texas, it was during these cold periods that enough water was frozen in polar regions to lower sea levels and the Big Thicket area was dry land well above sea level. Conversely, during the warmer interludes, enough ice melted to increase sea levels and submerge Southeast Texas in the sea. It was during those warmer periods of submersion that alluvial and delta deposits from the streams and rivers of the continent laid down the succession of strata, each new layer burying and compacting the previous. At some point there was an approximately 1% tilting of the layers. Some say it was caused by the rising of the Rocky Mountains, while others say it was the weight of the successive deposits that eventually caused the Gulf of Mexico to subside. The older Pliocene, Miocene, and Oligocene formations are exposed in the north (Polk, San Jacinto, and Tyler counties), while the more recent Quaternary Period formations are exposed in the south (Hardin and Liberty counties).

Soils: The soils of the various formations at the surface have shifted and intermingled through erosion and other factors over time and can be locally quite complex. The Big Thicket contains a greater variety of soils than any area of comparable size in the United States. Sources vary, but from 50 to 100 soil types are said to occur in Hardin County alone. The surface soils tend to be slightly to strongly acidic, and only occasionally neutral in much of the Big Thicket Basin. However, calcareous or alkaline soils do occur in the region, particularly along the Trinity River, in the Beaumont Formation to the south, the Fleming Formation to the north, and northern areas of the Willis Formation where the layer is thin and erosion and road cuts have exposed the Fleming Formation. Most plants are sensitive to soil pH levels (acidic, neutral, or alkaline) and many species will only grow in areas with a specific soil type. Claude A. McLeod's study stated that the Big Thicket was "an edaphicmesophytic climax forest" – edaphic, meaning the soil is a greater influence on the plants than the climate, and mesophytic meaning a medium moisture level.

Big Thicket Map.jpg.
 * Dark green area = Traditional "Hunter's Thicket"
 * Light green area = Biological survey
 * Solid black line = Ecological analysis
 * Dotted black line = Primitive Big Thicket Region
 * Solid red line = Big Thicket Basin, geological/ecological analysis ]]

Hydrology: Hardin, Tyler, western Jasper and southeast Polk counties are drained by the Neches River and its tributaries: Village Creek and its smaller tributaries (Beach, Theuvenins, Turkey, Hickory, Kimball, Big Sandy, and Cypress creeks) in the north; Pine Island Bayou and its smaller tributaries (Little Pine Island Bayou and Mayhaw Bayou) in the south. Eastern regions, including eastern Jasper and Newton counties, are drained by several relatively short creeks running into the Sabine River. Western regions including central Liberty, northeastern San Jacinto, northern Walker counties and southwest Polk County (via Kickapoo, Long King, and Menard creeks) are drained by the Trinity River. Areas farther west are drained by the San Jacinto River, with east and west forks. Additional wetlands are extensive, including innumerable nameless swamps, cypress sloughs, oxbow lakes, wetland savannas, and baygall bogs. Floodplains and bottomlands in the south, can retain surface water for days and weeks after rain. The Sabine and Neches rivers flow into Sabine Lake, a natural occurring brackish water estuary, just southeast of the Big Thicket. The other large lakes in the region were constructed in the decades following the Second World War, including B.A. Steinhagen Lake (1947–53) and Sam Rayburn Reservoir (1956–65) on the Neches River drainage, Lake Livingston (1966–69) on the Trinity River, Lake Houston (1953) and Lake Conroe (1970–73) on the San Jacinto River.

Climate: The proximity to the Gulf of Mexico gives the region a climate of mild winters, hot summers, and high humidity most of the year. Average precipitation is 55 in a year, with northern areas receiving about 50 in, and southern areas receiving about 60 in. However, tropical storms and hurricanes can increase annual rainfall to over 100 in. Humidity stays well above 60% most of the time and exceeds 90% often. Winters are mild, with nighttime lows averaging 38 – and daytime highs 55 –. Winter cold fronts can drop temperatures to freezing, but freezes rarely last for more than a few days, sometimes only hours, averaging about 20 mostly nonconsecutive days each year. Snow is rare, occurring only once every ten years or so. Summer temperatures are hot, with nighttime lows averaging 69 – and daytime highs averaging 89 –. Temperatures exceed 90 F about 110 days each year and days with temperatures above 95 F and even above 100 F are not uncommon. The high summer temperatures with high humidity levels can produce very high heat index numbers.

Human geography
Population: In 2010, the United States Census Bureau reported a population of 54,635 for Hardin County, with an average of 61.3 PD/sqmi in a county of 890.5 sqmi. The larger towns (and populations from 2010 census) in Hardin County are Kountze, the county seat (2,123), Lumberton (12,448), Silsbee (6,611), and Sour Lake (1,813). Smaller unincorporated communities in the Hardin County include Batson, Honey Island, Saratoga, Thicket, Village Mills, and Votaw.

Tyler County had a total population of 21,766, with an average population of 23.5 PD/sqmi in 924.5 sqmi. The larger towns in Tyler County are Chester (312), Colmesneil (596), Warren (757), and Woodville, the county seat (2,586) with smaller unincorporated communities including Doucette, Fred, Rockland, and Spurger.

Polk County had a total population of 45,413, with an average of 43 PD/sqmi in an area of 1,057.1 sqmi in 2010 including Livingston (5,335), the county seat and the largest town in the county.

Larger towns and cities in the greater region include Beaumont, Jefferson County, located at the southeast corner of the Big Thicket area with a population of 118,296 and Liberty, Liberty County (8,397), on the southern edge of the Big Thicket area. Houston, Harris County, with a population of 2,320,268 (greater metropolitan area over 7,000,000) is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US with its central, downtown area located 75 mi by air southwest of the town of Kountze, Hardin County.

Economy: Timber, oil and gas, and agriculture continue to be significant to the economy of the area. Many people commute to work in oil refineries and related industries in the Beaumont area. Other sources list industries providing significant employment in Hardin County as: educational, health and social services, construction, recreation, accommodation and food services, finance, insurance, real estate, and rental and leasing.

Biology
"It is my observation that the Thicket communicates best with solitary wanderers, but it also speaks to companionable spirits. An important trick on the trail is to shift one's focus from the big scene to the minuscule. Take your time, folks. The Big Thicket is not a hurry-place."

- Maxine Johnston, Foreword in Nature Lover's Guide to the Big Thicket

Ecosystems
On a larger scale of ecoregions of the United States, the Big Thicket is part of the Piney Woods. The Big Thicket is located in the southwest of the Piney Woods and transitions into the Western Gulf coastal grasslands immediately to the south. To the west are the Texas Blackland Prairies and East Central Texas forests (a.k.a. post-oak savanna). Within the Big Thicket, a major component in the high diversity of plants and animals is the variety of ecosystems present in a relatively small area. The National Park Service identifies eight plant communities in Big Thicket National Preserve. Some biologist and plant ecologists identify as many as nine, ten, or eleven ecosystems in the Big Thicket. In nature these ecosystems are not always found in pure, large tracts of land, and often occur in intertwined and checkerboard mixes and ecotones, transitioning into one another. Ecosystems do not have universal standardized names. Many ecologist, botanist, zoologist and others have studied and classified ecosystems in the Big Thicket region (and elsewhere), defining and naming these communities as relevant to their own disciplines and studies. Although the exact names, definitions, and boundaries might vary (subdivided, compounded, or overlapping), below are summaries of ten major ecosystems recognized by most who have studied and written about the Big Thicket, starting with higher elevations in the north, and in a generalized way, moving to lower elevations in the south.

Uplands (aka: longleaf pine-bluestem uplands; dry upland forests; longleaf pine uplands ) In its natural state, this ecosystem is often described as having a park-like appearance, with widely spaced pine and oak trees, and grasses growing in the partially shaded open areas. Longleaf pine-bluestem grass uplands are most extensive in northern areas, on higher elevation plateaus between streams and dry upper slopes, where the soils of the Catahoula, Fleming, Willis, and Bentley formations often have several feet of moderately coarse sand over an iron oxide clay or plinthite hardpan stratum. The permeable sands and topography provide good drainage in the uplands which are relatively dry. Smaller fragments of this type are also found throughout the south where higher ridges, hills, and knolls occur. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is a common species in this ecosystem and one of the dominant trees along with shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and a variety of oaks (Quercus). Understory shrubs include flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) and American holly (Ilex opaca). Plant ecologist Geraldine Watson stated the U.S. Forest Service grass herbarium in Louisiana has over 200 species of grasses from this range and various bluestem grasses (Andropogon) are the dominant ground cover. Wildflowers like purple pleat-leaf (Alophia drummondii) and bird-foot violet (Viola pedata) grow in the lighter, semi-shaded areas, while Texas Dutchman's-pipe (Aristolochia reticulata) and false foxglove (Aureolaria grandiflora) grow in the deeper shade. Streams flowing through these areas can support large stands of southern bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum). Longleaf pine, bluestem grass, and many other plants in these areas are pyrophytic (adapted and resistant to wildfire), and wildfires are a critical factor in maintaining this ecosystem. Historically, naturally occurring fires would periodically eliminate non-pyrophytic plant species encroaching on this plant community. However, decades of fire suppression has allowed a wide mixture of species to invade and in time has turned many of the upland localities into beech-magnolia-loblolly slope forest or oak-hickory forest. Additionally, many areas clearcut for lumber have been replanted with rows of the faster growing, non-native slash pine (Pinus elliottii) eliminating much of the longleaf pine-bluestem grass uplands from Texas.

Sandylands (aka: arid oak-farkleberry sandylands; sand ridge savanna; sandhill pine forests; arid sandylands ): Sandylands resemble and have much in common with upland forest, with open grassy areas and widely spaced trees. However, the fundamental difference lies in the soils. These areas reside on deep sand dunes deposited by ancient seas and rivers. In contrast to the uplands where a few feet of coarse sand sits on a hardpan stratum, sandylands sit on layers of fine sand with thin layers of silicious silt that can be over a hundred feet deep, with little clay and low fertility. Although these areas receive the same rainfall as the rest of the region, water drains quickly in the deep sand which dries in the sun leaving an arid surface. The ground cover can be meager in places with sparse grasses, lichen, or even exposed sand in some spots. Plants adapted to arid environments like Louisiana yucca (Yucca louisianensis) and prairie prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza) are conspicuous indicators of sandylands in the humid Big Thicket climate. Although found throughout the region, some of the largest and best examples are in the vicinity of the Neches River and Village Creek. In the more arid sites bluejack oak (Quercus incana), sand post oak (Quercus margaretta), north blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), post oak (Quercus stellata), black hickory (Carya texana), and mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa) are dominant hardwoods. With increasing moisture levels longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) emerge over the oaks. Longleaf pine is characteristic of sandylands, but not always dominant. Farkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum) is the dominant shrub in the understory. Several rare wildflowers with limited distributions in Texas can be found in this environment; examples include Oklahoma prairie clover (Petalostemum griseum), Carolina vervain (Stylodon carneus = Verbena carnea), Hooker palafoxia (Palafoxia hookeriana), green-thread (Thelesperma flavodiscum), and trailing phlox (Phlox nivalis texensis) which is also an endangered species. Like the uplands, periodic wildfires are essential to keeping the understory open and preserving this ecosystem. These areas are said to have been preferred habitation sites for the nomadic Atakapa-Ishak people in Pre-Columbian times.

Savannas (aka: longleaf - black gum savannahs; wetland longleaf pine savannas; wetland pine savannas; pine savannah wetlands ) If the sandylands described above resemble a well drained and arid version of the uplands, the savanna wetlands might be described as a poorly drained, wet version. This ecosystem is characterized by the same open spaces with widely spaced pine trees as uplands and sandylands, but differs in being very flat, with a relatively thin layer of low nutrient, fine, packed sand, sitting on hardpan which is very near the surface. The nearly impervious hardpan both inhibits drainage in wet periods as well as prevents moisture from rising in dry periods. The severity of the fluctuating water table, along with occasional low-intensity ground fires that are necessary to sustain this ecosystem, limit the plants that can grow there. Savanna wetlands are most often found to the south of the uplands, on the Montgomery and recent Bentley formations, although they are not entirely restricted to this zone. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) along with black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), often stunted, make up much of the overstory, being among the few trees that grow in the severe conditions. Ground cover is dominated by rushes, sedges (Rhynchospora and Scleria), and grasses including Andropogon, Aristida, Muhlenbergia, and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). Within the flat savannas, the slightest change in elevation can produce significantly different vegetation. Occasional mounds with two or three feet of sand, support upland habitat, while depressions of just a few inches can hold acid bogs, with low pH levels and low levels of nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Even the peripheral areas around acid bogs, distinguished by subtle sloping elevations of only an inch or two, sustain a distinct zone of vegetation. Sphagnum mosses and carnivorous plants are adapted to these environments, including the pitcher plant (Sarracenia alata), annual sundew (Drosera brevifolia), rush bladderwort (Utricularia juncea), and small butterwort (Pinguicula pumila). A number of orchids are found in savannas including the grass pink orchid (Calopogon tuberosus), yellow fringed orchid (Platanthera ciliaris), snowy orchid (Platanthera nivea), and snake mouth orchid (Pogonia ophioglossoides).

Slope forests (aka: beech-magnolia-loblolly slopes; mesic upland forests: lower slope hardwood pine forest; beech-magnolia-loblolly pine association ): Slope forest have a wide mix of conifers, deciduous, and evergreen broad-leaved trees occupying the gentle slopes between the wet bottomlands and the dryer uplands. Small spring-fed streams drain the slopes before reaching the larger creeks. The closed canopy filters the light reaching the forest floor where an ample layer of leaf litter holds water, creating a mesic understory. The soils are relatively fertile with fine, loamy, sands and are well to moderately drained. The purest examples of slope forest are found on the soils of the Willis Formation with red clay in Jasper, Newton, Polk, and Tyler counties, but they extend well into the lower, southern regions where soils and topography are suitable, particularly along the slopes of the waterways. A variety of trees co-dominate slope forest and these can vary with elevation and moisture. In higher and less humid areas, forest shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), white oak (Quercus alba), and southern red oak (Quercus falcata) co-dominate, but sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) are also common. More humid areas tend to shift to American beech (Fagus grandifolia), southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), and American holly (Ilex opaca) co-dominating with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), but include a wide variety of other hardwoods such as white oak (Quercus alba) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). In the lowest, flatter areas of the south, beech trees tend to drop out and are replaced by chestnut oak or basket oak (Quercus michauxii) and laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia). Understory trees and shrubs include Hercules-club or toothache tree (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), hoary azalea (Rhododendron canescens), redbud (Cercis canadensis), and silver bell (Halesia diptera). A rich diversity of wildflowers are found in slope forest such as three jack-in-the pulpits (Arisaema dracontium, A. quinatum, A. triphyllum), Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), and wake-robin (Trillium gracile). Orchids include the yellow lady's-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus), spring coral-root (Corallorhiza wisteriana), whorled pogonia (Isotria verticillata), southern twayblade (Listera australis), crippled crane fly (Tipularia discolor), and three birds (Triphora trianthophora). Wildfires are much less important to the ecology of the humid slope forest than in the uplands and sandylands, both of which will slowly revert into slope forest when fire is suppressed and slope vegetation that is not tolerant of fire takes hold and fills in the open areas.

Floodplains: (aka: sweet gum - oak floodplains; wet forests: floodplain hardwood forest; oak-gum floodplain; stream floodplains ): Often referred to as bottomlands, floodplains are low laying areas adjacent to the larger creeks, bayous, and rivers which overflow and flood with some regularity. The floodwaters deposit rich alluvial soils, moderately permeable silty, sandy loams that support a wide diversity of vegetation. The major floodplains in the region were formed during the Wisconsin glaciation, when sea levels were low and great rivers cut deep and wide channels in the landscape. These channels are now largely filled with sediment and deposits through which the present day rives, much smaller than in the past, wind and meander. Floodplains often occur in terraces with various swales, ridges, and levees stepping down in tiers to the water level. Some ecologists subdivide these terraces into separate ecosystems, including but not limited to, baygalls on the outer margins of higher terraces, and cypress sloughs in the lowest areas. Pine trees are uncommon or absent in the floodplains, which are dominated by deciduous canopy trees including water oak (Quercus nigra), chestneu or basket oak (Quercus michauxii), willow oak (Quercus phellos), cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda), and red oak (Quercus falcata). Other important trees include the overcup oak (Quercus lyrata) which can grow in and around standing water, sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), water hickory (Carya aquatica), and red maple (Acer rubrum), often with a dense mid-story of ironwood (Carpinus caroliniana). Among the many wildflowers are three irises, yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus), southern iris (Iris virginica), and short-stem iris (Iris brevicaulis), as well as the fragrant ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes odorata), blue jasmine (Clematis crispa), and the aquatic spatterdock (Nuphar luteum). Although the floodplains in the region share much in common with one another, each river varies with some unique elements and plant species. The Trinity River basin in particular stands out in contrast to others with calcareous, relatively high pH, alkaline soils supporting vegetation that is seldom seen in other watersheds, including bois d'arc also called horse apple (Maclura pomifera), blueberry hawthorn (Crataegus brachyacantha), cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia), and Texas sugarberry (Celtis laevigata).

Baygalls  (aka: bay-gallberry holly bogs in part; Acid bog baygalls ): With dense undergrowth and twisted vines growing in stagnant, blackwater, acid bogs, under a shadowy canopy of swamp tupelo and cypress, baygalls are often said to exemplify and epitomize the Big Thicket. Baygalls typically form at the base of slopes where seeps, springs, and rainwater drain onto the margins of the flat floodplains and bottomlands, away from the main channels. The drainage from the slopes maintain saturated, muddy soils in these already damp and humid areas, where pools, bogs, and stagnant drainages form in depressions on the flat landscape. With sphagnum mosses and high peat content, baygall soils and water have very high acidity, pH levels of 4.5 are common. The high acid levels are a significant factor in distinguishing baygalls from the floodplain and flats ecosystems. Although baygall waters are generally shallow and torpid, they sometimes form small, highly acidic blackwater streams, slowly moving into the larger creeks and bayous. Hanging bogs occur where water pools on irregular flat and low areas on the slopes above the bottomlands. The name baygall is derived from sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) and sweet gallberry holly (Ilex coriacea). These and swamp titi (Cyrilla racemiflora) are dominant and other common shrubs include southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), water willow (Decodon verticillatus), red bay (Persea borbonia), and Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica). Vines like muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia), supplejack or rattan-vine (Berchemia scandens) can grow impressively large. Larger trees include swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). In addition to the prominent fragrant water-lily (Nymphaea odorata), baygalls harbor many small and obscure wildflowers such as four species of carnivorous bladderworts (Utricularia), and saprophytic species like burmannia (Burmannia biflora) and nodding-nixie (Apteria aphylla). Some baygalls and hanging bogs are no more than a small pool, while others can be a mile across. One author states that the Jack Gore Baygall Unit of the BTNP, at 12 square miles, is the largest baygall in the world.

Flats (aka: palmetto-oak flats; wet forests; palmetto-hardwood flats ): Dense stands of dwarf palmettos (Sabal minor) are an indicator of this ecosystem and it can have an exotic and tropical look with epiphytes draping from the trees, like Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and resurrection fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides). Some of the most extensive and well preserved palmetto-oak flats are found around Pine Island Bayou and Little Pine Island Bayou, the area known as the "Traditional Thicket" or "Hunter's Thicket". Flats, often several miles wide, are old river channels and floodplains and their associated bars and levees, filled with centuries of sediments and alluvium deposits. They are some of the flattest and lowest areas in the Big Thicket. Flats are typically poorly drained areas with very deep calcareous soils of a high clay content having vertisols properties, meaning the soil moves, shrinking and swelling with moisture content. Palmetto-oak flats alternate between flooded and dry conditions, with a few inches of water standing for days, weeks, even months after rains, to dry periods in which the soils dry, leaving large and deep cracks in the hard baked surface. The canopy is made up of several hardwoods species of which the swamp chestnut oak or basket oak (Quercus michauxii), laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), overcup oak (Quercus lyrata), swamp post oak (Quercus similis), and cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia) are dominant species. Other trees and shrubs filling in the canopy and understory include sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), Carolina ash (Fraxinus caroliniana), blueberry hawthorn (Crataegus brachiacanthua), and arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). The shade of the canopy and the severity of the wet and dry conditions limit the species that grow in the understory. However the dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) thrives, typically growing to about 4 ft, although occasional specimens can be found up to 10 to 15 ft tall. Some regard the larger specimens as a different species or variety, the Louisiana palmetto (Sabal louisiana), others do not recognize it a valid species. Other understory species found on the flats are creeping spot-flower (Spilanthes americana), Missouri ironweed (Vernonia missurica), lance-leaved water-willow (Justicia lanceolata), and inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium). The ancient levees and bars deposited along the old river channels, varying in size from less than an acre up to 10 acre, are slightly higher with better drainage supporting stands of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and water oak (Quercus nigra) with understory species such as Hooker eryngo (Eryngium hookeri), and sharp-sepal penstemon (Penstemon tenuis). Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) grow in and near permanent or semi permanent water and the disc water-hyssop (Bacopa rotundifolia) may be found floating or growing at the water's edge. Drainage patterns are significant in shaping and maintaining these ecosystems and drainage alterations have reduced the historical size of this community.

Cypress slough (aka: sweet gum - oak floodplains in part; swamp-cypress tupelo forest; slough, oxbows, and cypress-tupelo swamps ): Recognized as a distinct ecosystem by some, regarded as a component found within the flats, floodplains, and baygall bogs by others, cypress sloughs with older bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and their buttresses and protruding knees are impressive environments. Cypress sloughs occupy low laying areas in the floodplains of creeks and rivers set back from the main channels, with still or very slow moving permanent, or semi permanent, water, like secondary channels, ox-bow lakes, sloughs, and ponds. Cypress sloughs are found throughout the region but, are perhaps more extensive in the low laying south. The dominant trees are the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and the water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica). Water tupelo often grow in deeper water and bald cypress in shallower parts or at the periphery, although both are adapted to growing in permanently submerged areas or on dry land with sufficient moisture. Understory trees and shrubs found growing around cypress sloughs include water or Carolina ash (Fraxinus caroliniana), water elm (Planera aquatica), river birch (Betula nigra), eastern hop-hornbean (Ostrya virginiana), and buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Plants like lizard's tail (Saururus cernuus) and burhead (Echinodorus cordifolius) can be seen growing in shallow water with cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) at the water's edge. Bald cypress trees typically live for 600 years or more and some are known to have lived 1,200 years. Cypress is a valuable hardwood, particularly prized for its resistance to rot and highly valued for shipbuilding, docks, and bridges. Consequently, this ancient swamp forest, once common in the region, have been greatly reduced because of logging in the nineteenth century. Trees over 100 years old are rare in the area now.

Mixed-grass prairies:  Prairies (small patches are sometimes called coves), are sometimes included as a Big Thicket ecosystem. These are isolated fragments of coastal prairie more typical of Chambers and Jefferson counties to the south, in areas mostly found where the forest and coastal prairies transition. Prairies are dominated by grasses and herbaceous plants, some are the same as those found longleaf pine savannas, but others are distinctive like Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) and prairie bluebell (Eustoma grandiflorum). Common grasses of these areas include Indian grass (Sorghastrum avenaceum), eastern gama-grass (Tripsacum dactyloides), and tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper). One author distinguished prairies from longleaf pine savannas by the presence of pimple mounds or mima mounds. Prairies and coves were once found in the Big Thicket with some consistency, particularly in higher elevations in the south, and specifically in higher southwestern areas between the Pine Island Bayou and the Trinity River drainages. However, natural wildfires are an important factor in maintaining these areas and when fire is suppressed, trees and shrubs quickly grow in and fill in these areas. The Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera) is a particularly aggressive and problematic invasive species in prairie habitat in the region. Prairies are also often the first areas to be developed for farming and residential housing. Unfortunately, prairies in the Big Thicket are now rare.

Roadsides and river edge: Although not a natural or even stable plant assemblage, some have recognized roadsides as an ecosystem in the Big Thicket. Proponents of the concept have identified a number of distinguishing characteristics of roadsides from the other ecosystems. Sunlight and heat can reach the ground along the clear highway easements, unlike most areas where the light is filtered by the forest canopy before it reaches the ground. Roadsides receive more rainwater, diverted from the pavement and often retained for a time in roadside ditches. Soil types not normally found at the surface are often exposed with the construction of roads, particularly deep road cuts in the low hills in the north that expose calcareous soils or where the formations are thin near transition zones supporting the growth of plants not normally occurring in the surrounding habitat, allowing for more diverse plants species to grow. The "corridor effect" of traffic, both human (vehicles, tourists, and road crews) and birds and other animals, inadvertently dispersing seeds and roots along roadsides from other areas. And finally, regular cycles of mowing and cutting, as well as the use of herbicides can both inhibit and benefit various wildflowers and plant species growing there. Most plant species at any given roadside represent the association immediately adjacent to that locality, but often have a few odd of species from other areas. Roadsides are a convenient and accessible places to view wildflowers, regardless of whether they are true ecosystems. In the past some (including the National Park Service) have discussed the river edge as an ecosystem in the Big Thicket however, most ecologist do not recognize river edges as an ecosystem distinct from the one a river runs through.

Exact numbers of plant and animal species occurring in the Big Thicket region are difficult to state objectively due to a number of factors including: the imprecise boundaries of the area; which (if any) accidental and vagrant species to count; whether to count extinct and extirpated species; whether to count introduced and invasive species; migratory vs. resident species; frequent taxonomic changes and taxonomic instability. These and other factors all contribute to what sometimes appear as inconsistent or contradictory counts and numbers.

Flora
The area contains over 100 species of trees and shrubs, with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) once dominating the region. Big Thicket National Preserve has introduced programs to re-establish this dominance, including one of the US's most active prescribed burn programs. With the National Park Service's centennial occurring in 2016, efforts were made to plant between 100,000 and 300,000 longleaf pines. The National Park Service lists more than one thousand species of flowering plants and ferns that can also be found in the thicket, including 20 orchids and four types of carnivorous plants.

Fauna
During the last glacial period, plant and animal species from many different biomes moved into the area. Before their extinction, the Big Thicket was home to most species of North American megafauna.

Well over 500 species of vertebrates occur in the Big Thicket region, including more than 50 mammals, 300 birds, 60 reptiles, 30 amphibians, and over 90 fishes. The records and numbers below for mammals, reptiles, and amphibians are based on county records for Hardin, Jasper, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Tyler, and Walker counties, which in a few cases may reflect marginal, peripheral, and vagrant records for a given species in the region and not all of the species are ubiquitous or evenly distributed throughout the Big Thicket.

Mammals: About 54 species of mammals occur in the Big Thicket (not counting extirpated species), including such species as the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis), American beaver (Castor canadensis), Baird's pocket gopher (Geomys breviceps), southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), American mink (Mustela vison), river otter (Lontra canadensis), coyote (Canis latrans), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), bobcat (Lynx rufus), and Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) a threatened species in Texas. Although many of these species are common, they can be highly secretive and are seldom seen in the dense woodlands. Many prominent species that once occurred in the Big Thicket have been extirpated from their historical ranges. Examples include hog-nosed skunks (Conepatus leuconotus), red wolves (Canis rufus), ocelots (Leopardus pardalis), and jaguars (Panthera onca). In 1902 ornithologist Harry Church Oberholser reported what he considered reliable accounts of jaguars in east Texas, including one killed south of Jasper a few years earlier, along the Neches River near Beaumont, and in the timber south of Conroe.

Although once common in the Big Thicket, the American black bears (Ursus americanus) was the target of a concerted effort to extirpate them from east Texas in the late nineteenth century. Reports of field naturalists in 1902 indicated: Vernon Bailey, chief naturalist for the U.S. Biological Survey, interviewed a hog farmer and bear hunter named Ab Carter in 1904. Carter reported that in 1883, he and a neighbor set out to exterminate the bears in the Tarkington Prairie area of Liberty County that preyed on their free ranging hogs in the forest. That same year 182 bears were killed within a 10 mile radius of Tarkington Prairie and annual hunting continued until 1900 when the last two bears were killed in that area. Currently, extremely rare bear sightings in east Texas are believed to be wandering individuals from reintroduction efforts in adjacent areas of Louisiana. They are now a threatened species in Texas and the National Park Service list them as "probably present".
 * Conroe: "A few still found in the big thicket 15 mile south of here."
 * Beaumont: "A few still found in the forest northwest of here."
 * Sour Lake: "Still common in the swamps near here; a few killed every year."
 * Rockland: "Now very rare or quite extinct."

Conversely other species have been introduced to the area like the nutria (Myocastor coypus) from South America, now common in the area. Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) "constitute one of the most serious conservation threats in Texas." They prey on natural populations of invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, ground nesting birds, and rodents and are known to play a role in the transmission of disease including brucellosis, pseudorabies, and swine fever. Their forging habits involve rooting up and disturbing soils, reducing both the numbers of individual plants and animals and the number species in any given area.

History
In pre-Columbian times, people of the Caddoan Mississippian culture occupied areas just to the north of the Big Thicket region. The Atakapa-Ishak (including the subgroups Akiosa, Akokisas, Bidai, Deadoses, and Patiri) occupied the Big Thicket area, living nomadically along the Gulf of Mexico in Southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. They left evidence of hunting camps and such, although the Big Thicket area itself does not appear to have been the site of any significant permanent settlements comparable to the Caddo mound builders to the north. The Atakapa-Ishak speaking people were largely decimated by European diseases in the late eighteenth century, with only a few descendants surviving today. About the same time as the collapse of the Atakapa-Ishak people, the Alabama-Coushatta, originally two closely associated tribes living in adjacent areas of Alabama, began a westward migration about 1763 due to the encroachment of Europeans. The Alabama-Coushatta settled into the northern sections of the Big Thicket area by 1780, prior to the acquisition of their reservation in 1854. The Spaniards ruled the region c. 1521–1810, defining the Big Thicket's boundaries with the north as El Camino Real de los Tejas (Old San Antonio Road), a trail from central Texas to Nacogdoches; in the south as the Atascosito Road running from southwest Louisiana to Southeast Texas; to the west by the Brazos River; and to the east by the Sabine River. The Spanish established a settlement called Atascosito on the Atascosito Road at the Trinity River in 1756, renamed Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad (Village of the Most Holy Trinity of Liberty) in 1831, later shortened to Liberty. However, this was little more than an outpost on the road and a stop on the river and interior areas were not developed in colonial times. Likewise, Beaumont (Tevis Bluff) was established in 1826 and Fort Teran, a long abandoned site in Tyler County on the Neches River were both primarily stops for river traffic.

After Mexican independence (c. 1810–1836), the region remained largely undeveloped. One of the earliest European naturalists to survey Texas was Jean Louis Berlandier (1803–1851), a French naturalist who participated in a Mexican Boundary Survey from 1828 to 1829. Although Berlandier did not survey the Big Thicket area, he did travel to Robbins Crossing, where the El Camino Real (Old San Antonio Road) crossed the Trinity River and camped May 25–29, 1829, collecting information on the Trinity River among other things. Of the lower Trinity, Berlandier wrote in his journal "Every year in May or June the water overflows its banks. These banks are covered with dense forest where one finds many nut trees [pecans], oaks, maples, elms, and pines. The banks are populated by various Indian nations of the United States of America, such as the Conchates [Coushatta], Kichais, and Kicapoos, who have established their village there. One also finds two villages of colonist, known as Trinidad and Atascosito, which have achieved some growth at the present time". Lorenzo de Zavala (1788–1836) received empresario land grants in 1829 and sought to interest capitalists in New York without success. In 1830, Zavala formed the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company in New York City with Joseph Vehlein and David G. Burnet (holding grants for 3743163 acre in Texas) in hopes of colonizing the land, but they had minimal success. Stephen Jackson received 4428 acre in Hardin County, settling at Sour Lake Springs around 1835, the oldest extant town in the county. With Texas independence (1836), and the early years of statehood in the United States, Anglo-Saxon settlers began drifting into the area. Entrepreneurs bottled the water from the Sour Lake Springs and Jackson had developed a health resort with quality accommodations there by 1850. A Sour Lake post office was established in 1866 but discontinued in 1876. In the mid-nineteenth century the Big Thicket was sparsely populated by a few scattered inhabitants living in the woods off subsistence farming, hunting, and running free range hogs and cattle. It also had a reputation as a place for those avoiding conscription in the Confederate Army, Jayhawkers, outlaws, and such.

The 1860 census showed there were about 200 sawmills statewide, but most were located near the Gulf Coast or north of the Big Thicket. Compared to other states, lumber production in Texas was small. As late as 1870, the majority of the forest of East Texas remained untouched. However that soon changed as the "bonanza era" (c. 1880–1930) of Texas lumbering began, facilitated by a rapidly developed railroad system. In 1877 Henry J. Lutcher and G. Bedell Moore started the first major mill in Orange, Texas. Others followed, many building company towns in remote areas, where employees were often at the mercy of their employers. In the midst of the lumbering activity, oil was discovered at Spindletop in January 1901, just south of the Big Thicket. The frenzy of activity that followed saw rampant drilling and exploration, the founding of Gulf Oil, Humble, and Texaco, and a rapid growth in population, development, and infrastructure. The population of Hardin County went from 1,870 in 1880 to 15,983 in 1920 according to the Census Bureau. John Henry Kirby "Prince of the Pines", started the Kirby Lumber Company about 1900 which ultimately held mineral and timber rights to a million acres in the region. By the 1920s East Texas timber was nearing depletion and most of the operations practiced a cut-out and get-out policy and moved on, many to the Pacific coast, leaving vast areas of clear-cut forest behind. The Great Depression marked the end of the bonanza era for lumbering in East Texas. The population of Hardin County dropped to 13.936 (12.8%) in the 1930 census. Many of the towns in the Big Thicket emerged during this time in support of the lumber industry, as evidenced by names like Lumberton established in the 1890s, Kirbyville (1895) was named after John Kirby: Silsbee, (1894), was named for Nathan D. Silsbee an east coast investor in the railroads, others include Kountze (1882), Camden (1889), and Diboll (1894).

William Goodrich Jones (1860–1950), "the father of Texas forestry" was a bank president and civic leader in Temple, Texas. He had some exposure to good forestry practices in Germany and understood the commercial benefits of well-managed forests and he was appalled with what he saw in East Texas. He was not a conservationist, he advocated for sustainable forestry methods as a good business practice, including reforestation, maintaining soils, grasses, wildlife, and establishing parks. In 1898 the United States Bureau of Forestry asked Jones to write a report on the status of forestry in Texas. Jones condemn the destructive and wastefulness of the logging industry and predicted the forest would be gone in 25 years without changes. He recommended state and federal regulations with sustainable harvest and reforestation programs. In 1914 Jones formed the Texas Forestry Association with public officials, lumbermen, and conservationists. In collaboration with the United States Forest Service, the Texas Forestry Association drafted legislation to establish the Texas Department of Forestry, which, in 1926, became the Texas Forest Service.

What came to be a 50-year struggle to protect a portion of the Big Thicket for posterity begin in 1927 when R. E. Jackson, a railroad conductor, formed the East Texas Big Thicket Association (ETBTA) which sought to preserve 435000 acre. With Don Baird, of the Texas Academy of Science, the ETBTA instigated a biological survey that was conducted by Hal B. Parks and Victor L. Cory in 1936 defining the Big Thicket as a 3350000 acre area of East Texas. With this survey and growing support of newspapers and the scientific community, the ETBTA lobbied the government for a national park. However, four national forests had recently been established in East Texas, more oil was discovered in Polk County, there was resistance from the lumber industry, and World War II brought an increased demand for lumber, all undermining their efforts. By the 1950s, the ETBTA existed primarily on paper and eventually expired. However the idea did not die. A new Big Thicket Association was founded in 1964 by Lance Rosier and continued pushing for protected land and the governor appointed Dempsie Henley to head a proposal for a state park. However, with changing officials in state elections, lackadaisical attitudes, opposition from timber firms, and several attempts without success, Henley enlisted the aid of U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough in 1965. Yarborough was enthusiastic and introduced a bill to establish a 75000 acre national park in 1966. Claude McLeod, a biologist at Sam Houston State College, had been studying the Big Thicket for several years and completed a manuscript about the time a National Park survey team arrived in 1966 to develop the proposal. McLeod's research, which mapped over 1500000 acre acres across nine counties, was used as the basis for the National Park's report. It was only after seven years and another 27 Big Thicket bills were introduced in Congress, both pro and con, that a resolution was reached. Congress passed the Big Thicket National Preserve legislation in 1974 which was finally signed by President Gerald Ford.

Protected and public land
"Don't plan to hike the Big Thicket. A hiker expects to cover distance. Plan to stroll the Thicket - or saunter, to use Thoreau's word, pausing often to let your eyes squint and your ears pick up rustling and callings."

- Howard Peacock

The headquarters of Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) are located 8 mile north of Kountze, Texas, and approximately 30 mile north of Beaumont via US 69/287. It is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. It consists of nine separate land units as well as six water corridors and as of October 22, 2019, the preserve includes 113122 acre spread over seven counties. Centered about Hardin County, Texas, the BTNP extends into parts of surrounding Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Orange, Polk, and Tyler counties. It was established in 1974 in an attempt to protect the many plant and animal species within. Along with Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, the BTNP became the first national preserve in the United States National Park System when both were authorized by the United States Congress on October 11, 1974. Senator Ralph Yarborough was its most powerful proponent in Congress and the bill was proposed by Charles Wilson and Bob Eckhardt that established the 84550 acre preserve. The BTNP was also designated as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1981. National preserves differ from national parks in that some public hunting, trapping, oil/gas exploration and extraction are permitted.

 * Huntsville State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife (2083 acre)
 * Lake Houston Wilderness Park, Houston Parks and Recreation Department (4786 acre)
 * Martin Dies Jr. State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife (705 acre)
 * Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary, The Nature Conservancy (5654 acre)
 * Sam Houston National Forest, U.S Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Big Creek Scenic Area (1420 acre), Little Lake Creek Wilderness (3855 acre)
 * Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (30000 acre)
 * Village Creek State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife (1090 acre)

Ghost Road
A dirt road leading north out of the town of Saratoga is the core of the area's predominant ghost story. Bragg Road, as it is more formally known, was constructed in 1934 on the bed of a former railroad line that had serviced the lumber industry. In the 1940s, stories began to circulate about a mysterious light, sometimes referred to as the Light of Saratoga, that could be seen on and near the road at night. No adequate explanation of the light has been offered. The various ghost stories include reference to the Kaiser Burnout, long-dead conquistadors looking for their buried treasure, a decapitated railroad worker, and a lost night hunter eternally searching for a way out. Less paranormal explanations include swamp gas, and automobile headlights filtering through the trees.

Notable people

 * John Alexander (born 1945, Beaumont, Jefferson County), American painter that often draws inspiration and paints the landscape of Southeast Texas
 * Brian Philip Babin (born 1948, resident of Woodville, Tyler County) U.S. representative from Texas's 36th congressional district since January 2015
 * Annette Gordon-Reed (born 1958, Livingston, Polk County) historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author
 * George Glenn Jones (1931, Saratoga, Hardin County – 2013) country musician and songwriter
 * Margo Jones (1913, Livingston, Polk County – 1955) stage and theater director nicknamed "The Texas Tornado"
 * Aubrey Wilson Mullican (1909, Polk County – 1967) known as "Moon Mullican, King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", country-western musician and songwriter

title: Big Thicket


text:
Atfalati

The Atfalati, also known as the Tualatin or Wapato Lake Indians are a tribe of the Kalapuya Native Americans who originally inhabited and continue to steward some 24 villages on the Tualatin Plains in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Oregon; the Atfalati also live in the hills around Forest Grove, along Wapato Lake and the north fork of the Yamhill River, and into areas of Southern Portland.

The Atfalati speak the Tualatin-Yamhill (Northern Kalapuya) language, which is one of the three Kalapuyan languages.

History and culture
Atfalati people ranged around the valley, engaged in a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Primary food stuffs included deer, camas root, fish, berries, elk, and various nuts. To encourage the growth of the camas plant and maintain habitat beneficial to deer and elk, the group burned the valley floor to discourage the growth of forests, a common practice among the Kalapuya.

Before Euro-American contact, the Atfalati were known for wearing adornment such a red feathers on the head. Both men and women had pierced earlobes and noses, hanging long beads and bright dentalia from them. Compared to the peoples to the south, the Atfalati practiced a more severe form of infant head flattening, and compared to the peoples to the east of the Cascade Mountains raised fewer horses. The Atfalati kept slaves, who could sometimes purchase their freedom with horses. The Atfalati lived in rectangular multi-family houses.

Euro-Americans began arriving in the Atfalati's homeland in the early 19th century, and settlers in the 1840s. As with the other Kalapuyan peoples, the arrival of Euro-Americans led to dramatic social disruptions. By the 1830s the Atfalati had already begun to adopt Euro-American clothing styles. In the 1830s, diseases had decimated Native populations in the Pacific Northwest, including the Atfalati. The tribe had already experienced population decreased from smallpox epidemics in 1782 and 1783. These upheavals diminished the Atfalati's ability to challenge white encroachment. It is estimated that the band was reduced to a population of around 600 in 1842, and had shrunk to only 60 in 1848. By the 1850s, white settlers were rapidly populating the Willamette Valley, and the United States government (represented by Anson Dart, superintendent for Indian affairs in the Oregon Territory) negotiated treaties in 1851 with the Kalapuyans, including the Atfalati. Under the terms of a treaty of April 19, 1851, the Atfalatis ceded their lands in return for a small reservation at Wapato Lake as well as "money, clothing, blankets, tools, a few rifles, and a horse for each of their headmen--Kiacut, La Medicine, and Knolah." At the time of the treaty, there were 65 Atfalatis. The treaty resulted in the loss of much of the Atfalati's lands, but was preferable to removal east of the Cascade Mountains, which the government initially had demanded. This treaty, however, was never ratified.

Under continuing pressure, the government and Kalapuya renegotiated a treaty with Joel Palmer, Dart's successor. This treaty, the Treaty with the Kalapuya, etc. (also known as the Willamette Valley Treaty or Dayton Treaty) was signed January 4, 1855, and ratified by Congress, on March 3, 1855 (10 Stat. 1143). Under the terms of the treaty, the indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley agreed to remove to a reservation to be designated by the federal government. The government later designated the Grand Ronde reservation in the western part of the Willamette Valley at the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range as the permanent reservation for a variety of tribes.

Following this, the Atfalati tribe declined; the 1870 census showed 60 members living at the Grand Ronde reservation and the 1910 Census showed only 44; a 1914 Smithsonian Institution publication listed a single survivor living on the Yakima Reservation in Washington. The degree to which the Atfalati assimilated with whites over time is not known.

title: Atfalati


text: Category:Lists of Nintendo characters

title: Category:Lists of Nintendo characters


text:
Zino Francescatti

René-Charles "Zino" Francescatti (9 August 1902 – 17 September 1991) was a French virtuoso violinist, renowned for his lyrical playing style.

Career
René-Charles "Zino" Francescatti was born in Marseilles, to a musical family. Both parents were violinists. His father, who also played the cello, had studied with Camillo Sivori. Zino studied violin from age three and was quickly recognized as a child prodigy. He began performing at the age of five and made his debut at age 10, playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

In 1925, he made his Paris debut with Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1, and in 1927 he joined the faculty of the École Normale de Musique; he also conducted the Concerts Poulets. He made his first world tour in 1931 and his American debut with Sir John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in 1939, again playing Paganini's Violin Concerto. For three decades after 1945 he had an exceptionally impressive international career, living in the United States and France.

A violinist of outstanding technical ability, Francescatti played all of the great concerti. His performances of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3, Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, and others, continue to be well-regarded.

Francescatti made many renowned LPs, including a set of the complete Beethoven violin-piano sonatas with Robert Casadesus, a frequent musical collaborator of his. Both in concerts and on disc, he performed on the celebrated "Hart" Stradivarius of 1727. Francescatti was also very active as an editor of classical repertoire for International Music Company, which continues to publish his work. Upon his retirement in 1976, he sold the instrument and established the Zino Francescatti Foundation to assist young violinists in La Ciotat. In 1987, an international violin competition was organized in his honor in Aix-en-Provence.

He died in La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, aged 89.

Selected recordings

 * Camille Saint-Saëns, Concerto No. 3, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez (Live concert 16/12/ 1975). CD Lyrinx LYR 086
 * Camille Saint-Saëns, Concerto No. 3, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. LP Columbia 1950 report CD Sony 1996
 * Camille Saint-Saëns, Introduction et Rondo Capricioso, Havanaise; Chausson, Poème, The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. LP Columbia 1950
 * Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 12 and Sonata in A minor, Op. 23 with Robert Casadesus, piano, Philips A01611R, 1961.

title: Zino Francescatti


text:
Yazoo Records

Yazoo Records is an American record label founded in the mid-1960s by Nick Perls. It specializes in early American blues, country, jazz, and other rural American genres collectively known as roots music.

History
The first five releases (L 1001 to L 1005) were issued under the label name of Belzona Records. The label was then renamed Yazoo Records, and the first five releases were reissued under the new name.

The Belzona and Yazoo labels featured an Art Deco drawing of a peacock, adapted from the 1927 label of Black Patti Records.

For Yazoo Records Perls compiled rare 78-rpm recordings made in the 1920s by musicians such as Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell, the Memphis Jug Band, Blind Blake, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Perls founded a second label, Blue Goose Records, in 1970, for which he recorded "rediscovered" black blues artists and younger blues and jazz performers.

In 1989 Yazoo was acquired by Shanachie Records. In 2014, Yazoo signed its first current artists, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band and released their album So Delicious on February 17, 2015.

Artists

 * Barbecue Bob
 * Scrapper Blackwell
 * Blind Blake
 * Big Bill Broonzy
 * Gus Cannon
 * Bo Carter
 * Reverend Gary Davis
 * Sleepy John Estes
 * Blind Boy Fuller
 * Blind Uncle Gaspard
 * Mississippi John Hurt
 * Skip James
 * Blind Lemon Jefferson
 * Tommy Johnson
 * Blind Willie Johnson
 * Eddie Lang
 * Furry Lewis
 * Charley Lincoln
 * Dennis McGee
 * Blind Willie McTell
 * Memphis Jug Band
 * Mississippi Sheiks
 * Charley Patton
 * The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
 * Washington Phillips
 * Ma Rainey
 * Leo Soileau
 * Charlie Spand
 * Frank Stokes
 * Roosevelt Sykes
 * Tampa Red
 * Henry Thomas
 * Benny Thomasson
 * Joe Venuti
 * Peetie Wheatstraw
 * Casey Bill Weldon
 * Robert Wilkins

title: Yazoo Records


text:
Rock hyrax

The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the dassie (klipdassie), it is one of the five living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only one in the genus Procavia. Rock hyraxes weigh 4 - 5 kg and have short ears.

Rock hyraxes are found at elevations up to 4200 m above sea level in habitats with rock crevices, allowing them to escape from predators. They are the only extant terrestrial afrotherians in the Middle East. Hyraxes typically live in groups of 10–80 animals, and forage as a group. They have been reported to use sentries to warn of the approach of predators. Having incomplete thermoregulation, they are most active in the morning and evening, although their activity pattern varies substantially with season and climate.

Over most of its range, the rock hyrax is not endangered, and in some areas is considered a minor pest. In Ethiopia, Israel, and Jordan, it is a reservoir of the leishmaniasis parasite.

Along with other hyrax species and the sirenians, this species is the most closely related to the elephant. An unrelated, convergently evolved mammal of similar habits and appearance is the rock cavy of Brazil.

Characteristics
Rock hyraxes are squat and heavily built, with adults reaching a length of 50 cm and weighing around 4 kg, with a slight sexual dimorphism, males being about 10% heavier than females. Their fur is thick and grey-brown, although this varies strongly between different environments, from dark brown in wetter habitats, to light gray in desert-living individuals. Hyrax size (as measured by skull length and humerus diameter) is correlated to precipitation, probably because of the effect on preferred hyrax forage.

Prominent in and apparently unique to hyraxes is the dorsal gland, which excretes an odour used for social communication and territorial marking. The gland is most clearly visible in dominant males.

The rock hyrax has a pointed head, short neck, and rounded ears. It has long, black whiskers on its muzzle. The rock hyrax has a prominent pair of long, pointed tusk-like upper incisors, which are reminiscent of the elephant, to which the hyrax is distantly related. The fore feet are plantigrade, and the hind feet are semi-digitigrade. The soles of the feet have large, soft pads that are kept moist with sweat-like secretions. In males, the testes are permanently abdominal, another anatomical feature that hyraxes share with elephants and sirenians.

Thermoregulation in rock hyraxes has been subject to much research, as their body temperature varies with a diurnal rhythm. Animals kept in constant environmental conditions also display such variation, and this internal mechanism may be related to water balance regulation.

Distribution and geographic variation
The rock hyrax occurs widely across sub-Saharan Africa in disjunct northern and southern populations; it is absent from the Congo Basin and Madagascar. The distribution encompasses southern Algeria, Libya, Egypt, and the Middle East, with populations in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Arabian Peninsula. The northern subspecies was introduced to Jebel Hafeet, which is on the border of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The shade of their pelts varies individually and regionally. In particular, the dorsal patches (present in both sexes) of the central populations are very variable, ranging from yellow to black, or flecked. In outlying populations, these are more constant in colour, black in P. c. capensis, cream in P. c. welwitschii, and orange in P. c. ruficeps. A larger, longer-haired population is abundant in the moraines in the alpine zone of Mount Kenya.

Subspecies
The subspecies, which are sometimes elevated to full species, are:

 * P. c. capensis (Pallas, 1766) – Cape rock hyrax, native to South Africa and Namibia

 * P. c. habessinicus (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1832) – Ethiopian rock hyrax, native to northeastern Africa and Arabia

 * P. c. johnstoni Thomas, 1894 – black-necked rock hyrax, native to central and East Africa

 * P. c. ruficeps (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1832) – red-headed rock hyrax, native to the southern Sahara

 * P. c. welwitschii (Gray, 1868) – Kaokoveld rock hyrax, native to the Kaokoveld of Namibia

Ecology and behavior
Rock hyraxes build dwelling holes in any type of rock with suitable cavities, such as sedimentary rocks and soil. In Mount Kenya, rock hyraxes live in colonies comprising an adult male, several adult females, and immatures. They are active during the day, and sometimes during moonlit nights. The dominant male defends and watches over the group. The male also marks his territory.

In Africa, hyraxes are preyed on by leopards, Egyptian cobras, puff adders, rock pythons, caracals, wild dogs, hawks, and owls. Verreaux's eagle in particular is a specialist hunter of hyraxes. In Israel, the rock hyrax is reportedly rarely preyed upon by terrestrial predators, as their system of sentries and reliable refuges provides considerable protection. Hyrax remains are almost absent from the droppings of wolves in the Judean Desert.

Feeding and foraging
Hyraxes feed on a wide variety of plant species, including Lobelia and broad-leafed plants. They also have been reported to eat insects and grubs. They forage for food up to about 50 m from their refuge, usually feeding as a group and with one or more acting as sentries from a prominent lookout position. On the approach of danger, the sentries give an alarm call, and the animals quickly retreat to their refuge.

They are able to go for many days without water due to the moisture they obtain through their food, but quickly dehydrate under direct sunlight. Despite their seemingly clumsy build, they are able to climb trees (although not as readily as Heterohyrax), and readily enter residential gardens to feed on the leaves of citrus and other trees.

The rock hyrax also makes a loud, grunting sound while moving its jaws as if chewing, and this behaviour may be a sign of aggression. Some authors have proposed that observation of this behavior by ancient Israelites gave rise to the misconception given in Leviticus 11:4–8 that the hyrax chews the cud, but the hyrax is not a ruminant.

Reproduction
Rock hyraxes give birth to two to four young after a gestation period of 6–7 months (long, for their size). The young are well developed at birth with fully opened eyes and complete pelage. Young can ingest solid food after two weeks and are weaned at 10 weeks. After 16 months, they become sexually mature, they reach adult size at 3 years, and they typically live about 10 years. During seasonal changes, the weight of the male reproductive organs (testes, seminal vesicles) changes due to sexual activity. Between May and January in Cape Province, South Africa, the males are inactive sexually. From February onward, the weight of these organs increases dramatically and the males are able to copulate.

Group structure
Hyraxes that live in more "egalitarian" groups, in which social associations are spread more evenly among group members, survive longer. In addition, hyraxes are the first nonhuman species in which structural balance was described. They follow "the friend of my friend is my friend" rule, and avoid unbalanced social configurations. The balance of social interactions within a group is positively correlated to individual longevity, meaning that "it is not the number or strength of associations that an adult individual has (i.e. centrality) that is important, but the overall configuration of social relationships within the group." The reason for such a balanced group configuration, rather than one that is centrally dominated by a few individual hyraxes, was suggested to have to do with the fact that information flow to all members is important in a fragmented habitat as that of the hyrax, making a dominance hierarchy a liability for the survival of the group at large.

Vocalisations
Captive rock hyraxes make more than 20 different noises and vocal signals. The most familiar one is a high trill, given in response to perceived danger. Rock hyrax calls can provide important biological information, such as size, age, social status, body weight, condition, and hormonal state of the caller, as determined by measuring their call length, patterns, complexity, and frequency. More recently, researchers have found rich syntactic structure and geographical variations in the calls of rock hyraxes, a first in the vocalization of mammalian taxa other than primates, cetaceans, and bats. Higher-ranked males tend to sing more often, and the energetic cost of singing is relatively low. A recent study found that snorts, a rare aspect of male hyrax songs, play an important signalling role as well, with increasing snort harshness being associated with "the progression of inner excitement or aggression". It is also positively associated with the singing animal's social status and testosterone levels. Singing has also been shown to be a marker of an individual hyrax's unique identity, where identity is expressed by unique vocal signatures "that are not condition dependent and are stable over years in singers that did not alter their spatial position."

Resting
The rock hyrax spends roughly 95% of its time resting. During this time, it can often be seen basking in the sun, which sometimes involves "heaping", where several animals pile on top of each other. This is thought to be an element of its complex thermoregulation.

Dispersal
Male hyraxes have been categorised into four classes: territorial, peripheral, early dispersers, and late dispersers. The territorial males are dominant. Peripheral males are more solitary and sometimes take over a group when the dominant male is missing. Early-dispersing males are juveniles that leave the birth site around 16 to 24 months of age. Late dispersers are also juvenile males, but they leave the birth site much later, around 30 or more months of age.

Names
The species is known as klipdas in Afrikaans (etymology: rock + badger), while most people just call them "dassies" (the plural of dassie) or "rock rabbits" in South Africa. The Swahili names for them are pimbi, pelele, and wibari, though the latter two names are nowadays reserved for the tree hyraxes. This species has many subspecies, many of which are also known as rock or Cape hyrax, although the former usually refers to African varieties.

In Arabic, the rock hyrax is called الوبر الصخري or طبسون (). In Hebrew, the rock hyrax is called שפן סלע (shafan sela), meaning rock shafan, where the meaning of shafan is obscure, but is colloquially used as a synonym for rabbit in modern Hebrew. According to Gerald Durrell, local people in Bafut, Cameroon, call the rock hyrax the n'eer.

Naturopathic use
Rock hyraxes produce large quantities of hyraceum, a sticky mass of dung and urine that has been employed as a South African folk remedy in the treatment of several medical disorders, including epilepsy and convulsions. Hyraceum is now being used by perfumers, who tincture it in alcohol to yield a natural animal musk.

In culture
The rock hyrax is classified as treif (not kosher; unclean) according to kashrut – Jewish food hygiene rules – due to statements in the Old Testament in Leviticus 11:5: "And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you". Hyraxes are also mentioned in Proverbs 30:26 as one of a number of remarkable animals for being small but exceedingly wise, in this case because "the conies are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs".

In Joy Adamson's books and the film Born Free, a rock hyrax called Pati-Pati was her companion for six years before Elsa and her siblings came along; Pati-Pati reportedly took the role of nanny and watched over them with great care.

The 2013 animated film Khumba features a number of rock hyraxes that sacrifice one of their own to a white Verreaux's eagle.

title: Rock hyrax


text:
Talk:Tommy Flowers

Untitled
Matt, re your recent edit comment. Colossus was not stored program in the von Neuman sense, but was programmable (rather like Eniac, if I follow correctly -- lots of plugs and plugboards). It is in part he programmable bit which contributes to its priority of place in the history of computing. The article Colossus (and talk page) has hashed this out at some length. Hope that helps.

I just noticed that I should have added that Colossus was not the world's first digital computer. It was the first digital, programmable, electronic computer. ww 21:35, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Sure, I've ammended the description to be in line with the Colossus article. — Matt 21:55, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

A quick Google search shows plenty of pictures of Tommy Flowers but I am not sure how to add it to the page. Also, I am not sure about copyright issues when doing this. Can somebody assist?

Peter Gant Budapest 213.134.24.164 10:40, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

The "we go tomorrow" story (about Eisenhower making the decision to invade when he did immediately upon being handed a decrypt, in Flowers' presence) seems to be not very widespread for something so colossally historically significant. Has anyone checked on this book (and its sources), and does this story appear anywhere else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.49.216.238 (talk) 20:31, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Zygmunt lozinski (talk) 19:07, 8 December 2011 (UTC) The blurb on the dust jacket of Flowers' 1976 book includes the following: "T.H. Flowers graduated in engineering and worked at the British Post Office Laboratories at Dollis Hill, London. He worked on electronics in Telephone Switching and then in World War II he produced the 'Electronic Brain' known as Colossus, which has only recetly been de-classified and is recognised as a significant setp in the development of Electronic Computers.  As Head of Switching Research from 1950-1964 he was concerned with the all-electronic exchange, after which he went to ITT-STC until 1970.  After that he continued as a Consultant." The dates don't quite line up up with the dates referenced from Brian Randall's (later) article. I'm assuming Flowers' dates are more accurate. If I hear no objections I will replace them.

Zygmunt lozinski (talk) 19:29, 8 December 2011 (UTC) The "we go tomorrow" story is on pp 80-81 of Copeland's book (2006 OUP hardback edition), in Chapter 6 D-Day at Bletchley Park, written by one T.H.Flowers. According to Jack Copeland's biography of the contributors, p. xiii "[Tommy Flowers] completed his chapters Colossus and D-Day at Bletchley Park shortly before he died in 1998'. Nowhere does Flowers say he was present when Eisenhower read the decrypt.

Pett level (talk) 22:51, 10 December 2011 (UTC) The article claims that Flowers was awarded an MBE and gives a reference to the London Gazette of 2nd June 1943 in support. The reference does not list him as a recipient. Indeed the date is highly unlikely considering the stage of his work at the Park. Further it was a common post-war gripe that honours were sparingly, even grudgingly, awarded to technical experts for significant war time work. A recent BBC program (BBC2 25/10/2011 "Bletchley Park's Code Breakers Secrets") made it clear that Flowers did not receive any honour for his ground breaking work.

Is the 'MBE' reference a hoax or a sick joke?

The article needs modification asap. --- Pett level (talk) 23:18, 10 December 2011 (UTC) I have just checked ref 6 which does state he was awarded an MBE after the end of the war. Q therefore is, for which date can it be found in the London Gazette? Can this be made explicit via other reference(s) (I know of none)?

Apologies for missing ref 6.

MBE or not
A search of the London Gazette yields the following: "No documents found, from 01/08/1943 to 31/12/1969 and containing the word(s) Flowers'Order of the British Empire' " which casts doubt on whether he was ever awarded an MBE. I agree that an award in 1943 is highly unlikely and would suggest that the whole sentance should be deleted. --TedColes (talk) 18:08, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

He did receive the MBE. It is recorded in the London Gazette at http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36035/supplements/2495 about half way down on the right hand side and is dated 4th June 1943. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.26.57.60 (talk) 20:50, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

I stand corrected. --TedColes (talk) 21:42, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Oxford DNB
Could anyone share "Thomas Flowers Biography" from Oxford DNB, please? It's out of my reach due to geographical causes.AmfiTIMNin (talk) 20:13, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

Hang on, I might be able to. Chambers biographical dictionary has nothing on him, which is just rude. I'll try to find my ONB. Si Trew (talk) 11:00, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Invented the computer
If he designed the first computer, shouldn't it described as inventing the first programmable electronic computer? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.41.41.184 (talk) 13:26, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

Using much of his own funds to build it.
From my reading around this subject, the statement that Flowers used "much of his own funds to build" Colossus is a gross over-statement. Considerable funds would have been needed and he was not a rich man. Professor Jack Copeland's book is the most comprehensive on the subject and does not say this. It seems inherently unlikely that an employee of the General Post Office research laboratories, who wold have full access to GPO stores, would need to use items from elsewhere, other than a few unusual ones for which the GPO's ordering process, and wartime shortages, would take an unduly long time. Neither of the two sources that User:Peter K Burian cites for this are particularly reliable about such matters.--TedColes (talk) 06:37, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

 * On what basis do you say the sources I quoted are "not reliable about such matters"? But OK, I did some more research. And many more sources simply say some of his own money OR

 * https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=1861897375 The officials at Bletchley Park were sceptical and would not back the development work. But Flowers was so convinced of its potential that he spent £1,000 of his own money and ten months designing and building the Colossus electronic ...

 * So, I revised this as TedColes suggested. In this article and in the Colossus computer article. Peter K Burian (talk) 17:17, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Z3 Zuze
That page says HE built the first programmable blah blah computer. This page says this one was. Well, this one was years later. So what is the confusion? Hunter Hutchins (talk) 05:45, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

 * There is no confusion and maybe this page will help because it mentions both Zuze and Tommy Flowers, showing what they did and the relevant dates: List of pioneers in computer science Anameisbutaname Talk 08:37, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

 * The Z3 was electromechanical. Colossus was electronic. Z3 was the first programmable computer of any type. Colossus the first programmable fully electronic (electron valve) computer. Relays soon went out of fashion. Skyerise (talk) 15:20, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Got it. I found it confusing while looking at both articles. Hunter Hutchins (talk) 11:06, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Tommy Flowers


text: User talk:4.232.123.136

title: User talk:4.232.123.136