Big Thicket National Preserve
Start your visit at the Visitor Center
Your first stop at Big Thicket National Preserve should be the visitor center. Here, we will assist you with orientation to the many units of the Preserve and the surrounding region. The facility is located seven miles north of Kountze, Texas, in Hardin County on U.S. Highway 69 at the junction of FM 420. The visitor center is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Christmas and New Year's Day. Watch for the road signs directing you to the building. The street address is - 6102 FM 420, Kountze, Texas 77625, phone - 409-951-6725.
The visitor center offers you many opportunities to discover a wide array of facts regarding the rich diversity of resources found in the Preserve. You can view an orientation film, browse the exhibits, put your "hands on things" in the Discovery Room, or select a few books from our broad selection of sales items. Tired - just set back and rest in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch!
Currently exhibiting:
"The Big Thicket in the 1930's and 40's Through the Lens of Larry Jean Fisher," a set of 40 black and white historical photographs.
"Experience Your America," The National Park Service's interactive traveling exhibit is currently on display.
Note: The above exhibits are temporary in nature. By mid summer 2002, the permanent natural and cultural history exhibits should be installed in the exhibit room and available for public viewing, knowledge, and enjoyment.
The Discovery Room:
Features the interactive interpretive exhibit Discovery Station, addressing Wildland and Prescribed Fire in Big Thicket National Preserve and nationally. A "Hands on" attitude is important as you visit the boundless Discovery Room - take a look in the microscope at a feather or insect wing, see how a river ecosystem functions, read about the resources management activities Preserve staff are involved with, and learn more about the diversity of the Big Thicket.
Theater Programs:
Big Thicket: America's First National Preserve, our new orientation program. Great photography featuring vignettes of the rich cultural history coupled with glimpses into the natural world including why the park service uses prescribed fire as a management tool, 16 minutes.
Users Guide to the Big Thicket, you are guided by a National Park Ranger Naturalist on a personal trip to several of the ecosystems found in the Preserve, 26 minutes.