The Neches River begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for 416 miles (669 km) through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. The Angelina River is a major tributary with its confluence at the north of Lake B. A. Steinhagen. Tributaries to the south include Village Creek and Pine Island Bayou, draining much of the Big Thicket region, both joining the Neches a few miles north of Beaumont. Towns and cities located along the river including Tyler, Lufkin, and Silsbee, although significant portions of the Neches River are undeveloped and flow through protected natural lands. In contrast, the lower 40 miles of the river are a major shipping channel, highly industrialized, with a number of cities and towns concentrated in the area including Beaumont, Vidor, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, and Port Arthur.
Hardin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 56,231. The county seat is Kountze. The county is named for the family of William Hardin from Liberty County, Texas.
Kountze is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,981 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Southeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the U.S. state of Texas, bordering Southwest Louisiana and its greater Acadiana region to the east. Being a part of East Texas, the region is geographically centered on the Greater Houston and Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical areas with a combined population of 7,662,325 according to the 2020 U.S. census.
The Piney Woods is a temperate coniferous forest terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles (141,000 km2) of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. Historically the most dense part of this forest region was the Big Thicket though the lumber industry dramatically reduced the forest concentration in this area and throughout the Piney Woods during the 19th and 20th centuries. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers the Piney Woods to be one of the critically endangered ecoregions of the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines most of this ecoregion as the South Central Plains.
The Lower Neches Valley Authority was established in 1933 by the state legislature as a district to store, control, conserve, and utilize the water of the lower Neches River valley in Texas. The LNVA, the second river district created by the state of Texas, is currently one of 23 river districts in the state. It includes all of Jefferson, Hardin, and Tyler counties and parts of Jasper, Liberty, and Chambers counties.
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 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. The diversity of animals in the area is high, with over 500 vertebrates, and 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 what is now Texas.
The Loess Hills are a formation of wind-deposited loess soil in the westernmost parts of Iowa and Missouri, and the easternmost parts of Nebraska and Kansas, along the Missouri River.
The World Birding Center is the official title given to a combined nine parks and nature preserves in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas managed by a partnership of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the local communities in which the parks reside. The stated mission of the World Birding Center is to "protect native habitat while increasing the understanding and appreciation of the birds and wildlife", with an additional emphasis on promoting local economic development through ecotourism.
Big Bend Ranch State Park is a 311,000-acre (126,000 ha) state park located on the Rio Grande in Brewster and Presidio counties, Texas. It is the largest state park in Texas. The closest major town is Presidio, Texas. The state park's head office is located in Lajitas, Texas at the Barton Warnock Visitor Center. It includes Colorado Canyon.
Big Sandy Creek is a stream in Texas, United States. It rises in Polk County before flowing approximately 40 miles (64 km) southeast into Hardin County where it merges with Kimball Creek, forming Village Creek. Long sections of the creek pass through the Big Thicket National Preserve. The 14,343 acres (58.04 km2) Big Sandy Creek unit is named after the stream. The creek also passes through the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation reservation east of Livingston.
Pine Island Bayou is a tributary of the Neches River located in southeast Texas. It runs about 55 miles from the northwest corner of Hardin County, Texas and flows in a southeastern direction through western Hardin County, turning east and defining the southern Hardin and Jefferson County boundary for about 20 miles until its confluence with the Neches River. Two significant tributaries of Pine Island Bayou are Mayhaw Creek and Little Pine Island Bayou. The lower ten miles of Pine Island Bayou and much of Little Pine Island Bayou are protected from development in the Big Thicket National Preserve. Excluding the last few miles north of Beaumont, the area is not densely populated, and some small towns include Sour Lake and Saratoga, the latter the birthplace of country singer George Jones.
Guadalupe River State Park is a Texas state park located on a section of the Guadalupe River in Kendall and Comal Counties, northwest of Bulverde, Texas United States and is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The land was acquired by deed from private owners in 1974 and was opened to the public in 1983.
First opened to the public in October, 2005, Government Canyon State Natural Area (GCSNA) preserves 12,244 acres of rugged hills and canyons typical of the Texas Hill Country. It is designated a Natural Area, rather than a State Park, and therefore the primary focus is maintenance and protection of the property's natural state. Accordingly, access and recreational activities may be restricted if the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) deems such action necessary to protect the environment.
Kirby Lake is a 740-acre man-made reservoir located on the south side of Abilene, Texas, just east of Highway 83, in the northeastern portion of Taylor County. Kirby Lake is within the Brazos River Basin, meaning that Cedar Creek, which feeds Kirby Lake, eventually feeds into the Brazos River. Kirby Lake resides in the Red Prairies portion of the Central Great Plains ecoregion. Management is under the City of Abilene.
Lake Athens is a 1,799 acre reservoir located to the east of Athens, Texas in Henderson County.
Lake Tyler (West) is a man-made public water reservoir located south-east of Tyler, Texas, in eastern Smith County. While named after the town of Tyler (pop. 104,789), Lake Tyler is closer to the smaller cities of Whitehouse (pop. 7660) and Arp (pop. 970). Lake Tyler resides in the northern Neches River watershed, and was formed after the completion of Whitehouse Dam on Prairie Creek in 1949. The design engineer of the dam was T.C. Forrest (Now Forrest and Cotton, Inc.), and the earthfill dam was constructed to be 4,708 feet long, standing at a maximum height of 50 feet, with a width of 20 feet and a drainage area of 48 square miles, according to the Texas Water Development Board. Lake Tyler is found in the Piney Woods ecoregion of eastern Texas, a temperate coniferous forest hosting a great amount of biodiversity. Just to the east of the lake lies Lake Tyler East, created after the completion of Mud Creek Dam in early 1967. Just over a year later, in May 1968, the two lakes were connected by a canal to combine the water supply. Together, the two lakes have a combined safe yield of over 30 million gallons per day, and combine to encompass an approximate surface area of 4,714 acres, all maintained and operated by the city of Tyler to provide a source of public water to several surrounding communities.
Lake Tyler East is a reservoir on Mud Creek in the Neches River Basin of Smith County, Texas. It is neighbored by Whitehouse, Texas that is encompassed by Tyler, Texas which resides within the South Central Plains ecoregion.
Turkey Creek is a stream in Texas, United States. It rises in Central Tyler county and flows 30 miles (48 km) before converging with Village Creek, east of Kountze, Hardin County. It passes through the 8,032-acre (3,250 ha) Turkey Creek Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve on its way south.
