News Release

Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend of Service

Date: January 14, 2020
Contact: Jason Ginder, 409-951-6700

Join us for a weekend of service! Big Thicket National Preserve invites you to participate in two volunteer opportunities during the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the MLK day of service, celebrating the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy. Seen as a “day on, not a day off’ this federal holiday is designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.

 

On Saturday, January 18th, join park staff at Baby Galvez launch area for our monthly “flash-mob” clean up. The Baby Galvez launch area is located outside of Silsbee, Texas, off of Lindsey Road. Volunteers will meet at 10 am to start with a short safety briefing before the start of the event. The clean-up will finish at Noon. Volunteers are encouraged to wear long pants, closed-toe shoes and long sleeves. Preserve staff will supply trash bags, trash grabbers and plastic gloves.

 

Then on Monday, January 20th, join us and over 100 volunteers for the 10th annual longleaf pine tree planting event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Together with our partners from the National Parks Conservation Association and the Big Thicket Natural Heritage Trust, we’ll be planting 10,000 longleaf pine seedlings as part of an on-going forest restoration project in the preserve. This full day volunteer event will take place in Polk County, at 9:30 am in the preserve’s Big Sandy Creek Unit, just north of Dallardsville, Texas.

 

To register as a volunteer for either of these events, please contact Megan Urban, Volunteer Program Manager at 409-951-6725.

 

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.

 

For general information about Big Thicket National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/bith or call the preserve visitor center at 409-951-6700. Visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/BigThicketNPS, Twitter www.twitter.com/BigThicketNPS, and Instagram www.instagram.com/BigThicketNPS.