Lance Rosier

A long-time resident of Saratoga, Lance Rosier was a timber cruiser, surveyor guide, and self-taught naturalist, deeply familiar with the Big Thicket. He worked for decades to protect the Thicket. He guided, taught, and lobbied a variety of visitors to the area, including scientists, politicians, and advocates, in collaboration with the East Texas Big Thicket Association (1929-1957), and its successor, the Big Thicket Association, that grew up in the mid-1960s. Although Rosier died in 1970, shortly before the 1974 creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve, his contributions are recognized by the naming of the Lance Rosier Unit, an area that includes the site of his birth.