Historical Ecology of the Texas Hill Country
Lisa O’Donnell, Senior Biologist
Austin Water Wildland Conservation
1 June 2024
Historical Accounts of Vegetation Communities ~1700-1900
Project History
Example of Using Historic Accounts
to Justify Management Practices
Managing for Endangered and Rare Species
© John Ingram
© John Ingram
Project Outline
Spatial Context for Historic Accounts: �Major Ecological Regions
Need to determine where each observer was with respect to the Balcones Escarpment – i.e., was the observer on the Blackland Prairie or in the Hill Country (hilly portions of the Edwards Plateau, Llano Uplift, and Cross Timbers)
Major Historic Events: 1700-1800
1716-1789 Spain establishes networks of missions and presidios, including the Alamo in 1718. Expeditions include daily records of observations.
“…we…travelled upstream with a desire to ford [the Guadalupe River] or reach its source. We travelled about three leagues of very rugged land owing to the heavy woods and many rocks; and at the end of the three leagues two soldiers left for upstream to reconnoiter the land. They said that it could not be traveled because it is more wooded and contains more rocks….The woods consist of oaks and junipers….” --Fray Francisco Céliz, 1719
“…going past the Balcones [Escarpment], we arrived at the river they call Alarcón [Guadalupe River]. This [travel] was an effort because of the many hills and rocks, the many arroyos formed by the hills, and some thickets that contain valuable cedar and oak timbers.”
-- Bernardo de Miranda, 1756
Major Historic Events: 1800-1850
1810-1821 Mexican War for Independence
1835-1836 Texas Revolution
Texas begins issuing land grants to immigrants
1837-1838 Village of Waterloo (present-day Austin) is founded
William Barton settles at Barton Springs
1839 Capitol relocated from Houston to Austin
1845 Texas is incorporated into the United States
“Immediately before us appeared as an extensive lawn with a beautiful green sward, slightly tinged with the various flowers which decked its surface. Not a shrub or bush obstructed the monotony except the towering Live Oak…. Further to the west appeared the skirting timber thickening the further it receded and rising gradually so that mile after mile of the dark boding forest rose to our view …” -- J.W. Benedict, 1839
“The cedars here are not the stunted shrub-like plants found in the Northern States of the Union, but are stately trees with straight trunks, seldom more than twenty to twenty-five feet in height and one and one-half feet thick. They have a uniformly spreading crown….”
– F. Roemer, 1849
“This cedar forest is a treasure to the colonists of New Braunfels, since the wood was preferred above all others on account of its durability when used in building houses and fences.”
Ashe juniper tree in New Braunfels listed as a “champion” tree in the National Register of Big Trees.
44 ft tall, 3.7 ft diameter.
Major Historic Events: 1850-1900
1854 Two Indian reservations established in West-Central Texas
1859 Indians on the Texas reservations moved to reservations in Oklahoma
1861-1865 Civil War
1868 First patent granted for barbed wire
1871 First train arrives in Austin
1872 Yellowstone established as first national park
1875 Last free band of Comanches surrenders and moves to Fort Sill Reservation in Oklahoma
1878 Huston-Tillotson opens
1883 UT Austin opens
1888 Completion of Texas State Capitol
1889 Survey reports 25 bison remaining in the Texas panhandle
1893 Completion of first Colorado River dam
1894 Oil discovered in Texas
1900 Last records of passenger pigeons in Texas. U.S. wild bison population drops to fewer than 40 animals.
>1900 Continued expansion of livestock industries on the Edwards Plateau
“We rode [from Austin] to the Brushy Creek, 20 miles [near Cedar Park], and encamped for the night. Our road was for about 14 miles of the way over a rich rolling prairie and for about six miles through a heavy cedar brake. Cedar is the main reliance for rail timber in this section, the live oak being too gnarled for such purposes.” -- A. S. Johnston, 1855
“I have visited Austin for the first time…The surrounding country is quite beautiful…dark, steep, cedar-covered mountains rise about five miles north of the city.” -- V. Bracht, 1849
“The country on [Barton] creek presents an extensive range of cedar hills and is much broken.”
– J. De Cordova, 1858
“Beyond [San Marcos] our road approached closely the hill-range, which is made up of spurs coming down from mountains North. They are well wooded with cedar and live-oak.”
“Behind us were the continuous wooded heights, with a thick screen of cedars; before us, very beautiful prairies….” – F.L. Olmstead, 1857
“…the mountains…are covered with cedar, and send clear crystal waters gushing from them….” – J. de Cordova, 1858
“I am getting a little afraid the sheep will take the mountains in four or five years more…. Sheep is mighty hard on the range. You can tell a sheep range before you get in two or three miles of the house, for they keep the grass eaten off plum in the ground….” – E. Burrowes, 1860
“The cedar tie business has contributed largely to the growth and prosperity of the ‘Hill City’ in the last two years, more especially the last twelve months. A gentleman connected with the Central Railroad says that two hundred thousand cedar ties have been shipped from this city during the last two years, and when it is remembered that these ties bring from sixty to ninety cents each, the reader will readily comprehend the vastness of the revenue from this source….”
–Austin Daily Democratic Statesman, September 10, 1874
“The writer knows of no region in which any species of cedar is so uniformly abundant and dominant as is the mountain cedar in the limestone country of Texas… [Mountain cedar] is the most valuable tree of the semiarid hill country of Texas.” –W. Bray, 1904
“Cedar Chopper” Culture
“With the exception of cedar, the hill timber finds a market chiefly as fuel, of which enormous quantities are consumed….Cedar likewise is extensively consumed as fuel and in charcoal burning; but its great value lies in its yield of railway ties, poles, posts, sills, and innumerable other articles which utilize its great durability.” –W. Bray, 1904
“The cedar eradication program was greatly accelerated as a result of the invention of a new type of axe [‘Kerrville Cedar Axe’] especially suited for cutting cedar trees and cedar brush. The cedar axe is a product of the Hill Country in Texas, where armies of cedar choppers have been swinging away for over thirty years. It was invented partly by accident and partly because of a real need for a better tool to do the job.” –G. Hollon, 1946
From Hollon (1946) with permission from Texas State Historical Association
“A deplorable loss of cedar has taken place from brake fires. For half a century these have periodically occurred; areas which have not been burned over are the exception. Every old settler can tell of big fires which burned for days. In July, 1901, a very disastrous fire occurred near Marble Falls, in which about 600 acres of valuable cedar were destroyed”
-- W. Bray, 1904
[Golden-cheeked Warblers] are nowhere abundant, and only to be met with in the thickest cedar brakes, and as these are fast being cut and burnt out, the bird will no doubt become still more rare.” – H.P. Attwater, 1892
© Gil Eckrich
“In addition to the cedar, other species of the hill timber are constantly being drawn upon for fuel and the rough construction material in demand on ranches and farms….[Mountain Spanish oak] is the most common oak in the Edwards Plateau region of Texas…The wood is good for posts and rails. It is much in demand locally for fuel, and all of the sizable trees are being cut.”
–W. Bray, 1904
Topo map, Westbank Peninsula,
circa 1895
Lone Tree Hill
Wild Basin/
Vireo Preserve
(BCP)
Austin
“’North Gorge’ from Lone Tree Hill” described as having “almost impenetrable growth of cedar and mixed timber” and a “deep layer of rich soil.” -- William Bray 1904
“’South Gorge’ at its head under Lone Tree Hill” described as having been cleared of most of the woody vegetation and “denuded of soil down to the rock and adobe.” -- William Bray 1904
Vireo Preserve/Wild Basin (south of Lone Tree Hill), 2017
Reading the Landscape�(Land-Use Legacies)
Old juniper stumps with hatchet marks and burn scars
Forest remnants on Vireo Preserve
Lisa O’Donnell
Senior Biologist
City of Austin
Austin Water
Wildland Conservation Division
Balcones Canyonlands Preserve
lisa.odonnell@austintexas.gov
Link to
Forest Restoration video series
William Willard Ashe�(1872-1932)
1892-1905 – Forester, North Carolina Geological Survey
1905–1932 – U.S. Forest Service
1918-1924 - Secretary of the National Forest Reservation Commission
Any Questions?