Tyler

texas parks and wildlife Interpretive Guide to: TYLER STATE PARK THANK YOU FOR VISITING! While enjoying this natural beauty, please remember that everything you see in the park is protected. Artifacts, rocks, plants, and animals (even snakes) are all part of the region’s rich cultural and natural heritage. Help us keep recreational use sustainable for the future and protect these resources by leaving things as you find them. We hope you will visit these CCC-developed parks and other state parks while visiting East Texas: WELCOME TO TYLER STATE PARK, A QUIET RETREAT ON A CLEAR, SPRING-FED LAKE LOCATED IN THE RELAXING FOREST OF EAST TEXAS. TIMELESS CRAFTSMANSHIP IN THE STONEWORK AND WOODEN BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTED BY Bonham State Park 1363 Park Road 24 Bonham, Texas 75418 (903) 583-5022 Daingerfield State Park 455 Park Road 17 Daingerfield, Texas 75638 (903) 645-2921 Caddo Lake State Park 245 Park Road 2 Karnack, Texas 75661 (903) 679-3351 Mission Tejas State Park 120 State Park Road 44 Grapeland, Texas 75844 (936) 687-2394 Visit www.tpwd.texas.gov for more information on these and other Texas state parks and historic sites. THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC) MAKE THE PARK A HISTORIC TREASURE. Proud Sponsor of Texas Parks and Wildlife Programs © 2016 TPWD. PWD BR P4508-039G (7/16) In accordance with Texas State Depository Law, this publication is available at the Texas State Publications Clearinghouse and/or Texas Depository Libraries. TPWD receives funds from the USFWS. TPWD prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, and gender, pursuant to state and federal law. To request an accommodation or obtain information in an alternative format, please contact TPWD on a Text Telephone (TDD) at (512) 389-8915 or by Relay Texas at 7-1-1 or (800) 735-2989. If you believe you have been discriminated against by TPWD, please contact TPWD or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office for Diversity and Workforce Management, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. T Y L E R S T A T E P A R K FOREST DIVERSITY BUILT BY THE BOYS IN GREEN The Great Depression of the 1930s brought hardship to the nation. Many men faced a tough time with few jobs available, no food, no money, and little hope. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 to help preserve the country’s natural resources and restore the nation’s spirits. The CCC provided employment and education for unemployed men while providing labor for conservation projects. Young men ages 17 to 25 who qualified for public assistance enrolled in the CCC. Once enrolled, they received clothing, food, medical care and lodging. Each CCC boy was paid $30 a month, of which $25 was sent home to their families. CCC Company 2888 developed Tyler State Park’s 985 acres between 1935 and 1941. The CC’ers, as they called themselves, constructed roadways and buildings, planted trees, and constructed over 800 check dams for erosion control and an earthen dam for 1937 Master Plan P O.C. Gunn works on the children’s wading pool in the Beauchamp Springs area in the 1930s. Remnants of the pool remain on the interpretive trail. the 64-acre recreational lake. Built to last, the CCC constructed these features with natural materials that blend with the pine forest. On the Whispering Pines Trail, the CCC boys constructed the Beauchamp Springs picnic area with a children’s wading pool, a lily pond, and a rock outcropping to disguise the diversion of the spring to the area. The bathhouse, concession building, dance terrace, boathouse, and caretaker’s house designs are an unusual departure from the typical National Park Service rustic style of most CCC buildings. Instead, these prairiestyle buildings, inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, complement the rolling landscape of the park. Built to last, the CCC used natural materials that blend with the landscape. ositioned where two ecosystems meet, Tyler State Park is home to a mix of plants and animals. Plant communities of the Pineywoods and Post Oak Savannah provide habitat for all kinds of wildlife, including typical East Texas mammals. Throughout the park, you may spot white-tailed deer, raccoons, fox and gray squirrels, gray foxes, coyotes, and opossums. Bird life is as varied and changing as the seasons. Resident bird species like Pileated Woodpeckers (right), Brownheaded Nuthatches, and Pine Warblers are park specialties. In spring, look for vibrant orioles, tanagers, warblers, and vireos as they migrate north. Summer months bring Indigo and Painted Buntings. Winter and fall see the return of sparrows, kinglets, and the tiny Winter Wren. Over 200 species of birds either call Tyler State Park home or pass through during migration seasons. Redbud (below) and flowering dogwood trees wake the forest from its winter slumber with pink and white highlights along the forest edges. Prairie wildflowers like brown-eyed susans, spiderwort, butterfly weed, verbena, yucca, goldenrod, and purple coneflower add color and fragrance to the open forests. Maintaining this diversity sometimes requires the reintroduction of powerful natural elements. Thinning of trees and prescribed fire are tools TPWD uses to bring back the open pine-oak forest with a grassy understory.