News Release

Presidents' Day Volunteer Planting Event

Volunteers of all ages can lend a hand and plant native plants.

NPS Photo / Scott Sharaga

News Release Date: February 1, 2023

Contact: Megan Urban, 409-951-6700

KOUNTZE, Texas — Big Thicket National Preserve is looking for volunteers on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 20th, for the final winter volunteer planting event. Resource managers are hoping volunteers will be able to plant a mixture of native grasses and longleaf pine seedlings as the park continues to restore native longleaf pine forest.

To sign up for the event, volunteers can sign up on volunteer.gov or call the Big Thicket Visitor Center at 409-951-6700 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. seven days a week. Once registered, volunteers will receive the location of the event and volunteer paperwork to be filled out before their arrival.

-NPS-

Big Thicket National Preserve is located in Southeast Texas, near the city of Beaumont and 75 miles northeast of Houston. The preserve consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 113,000 acres. The Big Thicket, often referred to as a “biological crossroads,” is a transition zone between four distinct vegetation types: the moist eastern hardwood forest, the southwestern desert, the southeastern swamp, and the central prairies. Species from all of these different vegetation types come together in the thicket, exhibiting a variety of vegetation and wildlife that has received global interest.