Forest Stewardship Briefings, June 2012 Page: 2
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Page 2 Texas Forest Service
from Sand County Founda-
tion and Texas Parks and
Wildlife publications
For more information:
" http://
lcablog.org/2012/
cooks-branch-
conservancy-
receives-leopold-
conservation-
award/
" http://
www.tpwd.state.tx.
us/landwater/land/
private/
lone_star_land_ste
ward/from Texas Forest Service
website
For more information:
. http://texasforest
service.tamu.edu/
main/popup.aspx?
id=1283LEOPOLD CONSERVATION AWARD
The transformation of a clear-cut, over-
grazed working ranch into Cook's Branch
Conservancy a century later has earned a
prominent Texas family the 2012 Leopold
Conservation Award, the state's highest
honor recognizing habitat management
and wildlife conservation on private land.
The George Mitchell family's Cook's
Branch Conservancy, which consists of
5,650 acres near Montgomery, north of
Houston, has been managed for nearly 50
years under a family tradition of conserva-
tion and sustainability.
The Mitchells practice adaptive manage-
ment, changing plans every three years
based on monitoring, current environmen-
tal conditions, and other factors. This
allows for adaptation to changing condi-
tions and provides documented responses
to management activities for future refer-
ence. Some of the Mitchell family's con-
servation practices include continuous
timber monitoring, selective thinning to
ensure uneven aged pine-dominated up-
land forest with a healthy representation
of sub-dominant tree species, and pre-scribed burning to rid the property of un-
wanted growth while enhancing native
ground cover.
Water resources at Cook's Branch have
been improved through the establishment
of streamside management zones, planting
approximately 2,000 hardwoods in for-
merly clear-cut riparian areas, develop-
ment of a groundwater quality monitoring
site, and implementation and maintenance
of impoundments to reduce erosion and
provide wildlife and fisheries habitat.
"The Mitchell family made a commitment
many years ago to demonstrate that pri-
vate landowners and federal land manage-
ment agencies in East Texas can support
and grow habitat suitable for use by the
federally endangered red-cockaded wood-
pecker through the use of sound forest
management practices," said Jeff Reid of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Such
management practices have also increased
the habitat suitability for bobwhite quail,
eastern wild turkey, white-tailed deer, and
myriad migratory bird species."TREE TIPS - EFFECTS OF DROUGHT STRESS
Immediate effects of drought on hard-
wood trees are usually obvious, but de-
layed effects also occur.
Plants store food reserves and prepare for
the next growing season during the cur-
rent growing season. The effects of last
year's drought will carry over to the cur-
rent growing season, and maybe beyond.
Hardwood trees display numerous symp-
toms related to water stress. Wilting of
leaves is a common indication of water
stress. Wilting can be classified as incipi-
ent, temporary, or permanent.
Incipient wilting is not readily noticeable,
but it can change to temporary wilting
which is characterized by visible droopingof the leaves during the day. At night the
plant will rehydrate and recover from tem-
porary wilting. During prolonged dry pe-
riods, temporary wilting can change to
permanent wilting where the plant does
not recover during the overnight period.
Permanently wilted plants may recover
when water is added to the soil, but pro-
longed permanent wilting usually kills
most species of plants.
Keep in mind there is great variation in
wilting among different tree species and
different types of soils. In addition to
wilting, leaves may curl or warp, become
crinkly, turn brown along the edges
(scorch), turn yellow, turn brown, and/or
fall from the tree.Page 2
Texas Forest Service
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Texas Forest Service. Forest Stewardship Briefings, June 2012, periodical, June 2012; Lufkin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576319/m1/2/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.