Location
Claude Alford McLeod
Topics
Description
Dr. Claude McLeod, a biology professor at Sam Houston State University, was a student of the Big Thicket who worked to identify the long-elusive contents and boundaries of the Thicket. He characterized it as a pine-hardwood association, with a rich understory of shrubs and vines, tied together by a particular combination of soil and moisture. His research demarked an “Upper” and “Lower” Thicket, covering 1.5 million acres, extending over 9 counties of southeast Texas, and later leading to the “String of Pearls” layout of the National Preserve created in 1974.
Location Notes
Perhaps the Lake Oolooteka site just west of Sam Houston State’s campus would provide a public, natural place for a marker.
Audio/Transcript
Bibliography
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Claude A. McLeod, The Big Thicket of East Texas: Its History, Location, and Description (Huntsville: Sam Houston Press, 1967).