INTERPRETIVE GUIDE LOSTTHE CLAIRE BOYER BASTROP PINES AND WELCOME TO THE LOST PINES THE LOST PINES Citizens of Bastrop ARE IN YOUR HANDS O F , THE and Smithville rec- BUESCHER HOME OF ognized early on While enjoying Bastrop and Buescher State Parks, please that this land was

STATE PARKS BASTROP AND TPWD/JOHN CHANDLER remember everything you see in the parks is protected. worth protecting. Artifacts, rocks, animals, and plants (even pine cones) are all BUESCHER Even before Bastrop part of the region’s rich natural and cultural heritage. Help us keep these parks a special place for everyone. STATE PARKS. State Park existed, THE UNIQUE a local hunting and • Preserve the integrity of the historic CCC structures by fishing club laid the foundation for recreation in the Lost SETTING OF using them with respect. They are part of our heritage! Pines. Bastrop and Smithville, plus local landowners, • Hike only on designated trails and stay out of closed areas. BOTH PARKS provided the land that became Bastrop and Buescher • Leave no trace. Keep your parks clean by picking up EVOKES A SENSE OF MYSTERY, AS THE State Parks. In the 1930s, the Buescher (pronounced your trash. “Bisher”) family donated 636 acres for the park. Since its ISOLATED FOREST OF LOBLOLLY PINES • Preserve the parks for future generations and leave plants, dedication in 1937, Bastrop State Park has grown to over animals, and rocks where you find them. SEEMS OUT OF PLACE. WHILE GREATLY 6,600 acres of rolling hills while Buescher complements • Get involved by joining the Friends of the Lost Pines State IMPACTED BY A 2011 WILDFIRE, this preserve with about 1,000 acres. Parks, a volunteer organization committed to supporting BASTROP STATE PARK IS RECOVERING Long ago, Native American groups passed through here these two parks. WITH POCKETS OF LOBLOLLY PINES and relied on game animals, plants, stones for tools, and Bastrop State Park • Box 518, Bastrop, TX 78602 SEEN THROUGHOUT THE PARK. water. A convenient river crossing made Bastrop County (512) 321-2101 • www.tpwd.texas.gov/bastrop a likely place for early European settlement as well. The BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURES SUCH AS vital Spanish travel route known as El Camino Real de los • PO Box 75, Smithville, TX 78957 HISTORIC STONE CABINS AND (512) 237-2241 • www.tpwd.texas.gov/buescher Tejas traversed the area and contributed to the coloniza- BRIDGES BUILT BY THE CCC tion of Texas. DOT THE LANDSCAPE. STUNNING The natural resources of the area were important to CRAFTSMANSHIP BRINGS THESE regional development. Timber harvest of loblolly pines fueled construction in Austin and San Antonio. The HISTORIC TREASURES TO LIFE. town of Bastrop, known as Mina when established in © 2019 TPWD. PWD BR P4505-043P (7/19) In accordance with Texas State Depository Law, this publication is available at the Texas State Publications Clearinghouse and/or Texas Depository Libraries. 1832, is one of the oldest towns in Texas. Bastrop timber

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 was exported as far as northern Mexico. (TTY) at (512) 389-8915 or by Relay Texas at 7-1-1 or (800) 735-2989 or by email at [email protected]. If you believe you have been discrimi- nated against by TPWD, please contact TPWD, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office for Diversity and Workforce Management, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041.

Texas State Parks is a division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. BASTROP AND BUESCHER STATE PARKS ROOSEVELT’S FOREST ARMY GROWING THE “LOST PINES” ARE NOT LOST FROM THE GROUND Before the 2011 wildfire, loblolly pines covered most of Bastrop An Uncertain Future State Park. Because this pine pocket was separated from the , the magine being In 1933 Pineywoods by over 100 miles, this area is known as Bastrop and Buescher state National Park 20 years old and the “Lost Pines.” How did they get here? Pollen records show parks lie within the ecological Service (NPS), without enough that pines have persisted in this area for over 18,000 years. They region known as the Post Oak I the CCC and were probably once connected to the Pineywoods Savannah. The seasonally RACHEL ROMMEL money to buy your the Texas region. Over time, the climate became drier and moist, sandy soils provide criti- next meal. This was State Parks the region covered by pines shrank. The local PINEY- cal habitat for the endangered reality for many young Board (now sandy soils provided conditions for these WOODS . While historic habitat loss due to inten- men in the early 1930s LOST the Texas “Lost Pines” to survive. In fact, the pines PINES sive agriculture severely reduced the Houston toad’s during the Great Parks and have become genetically unique, having adapted range in Texas, the 2011 wildfire dealt a devastating blow Depression. President Wildlife to 30% less rainfall than loblollies from East Texas by reducing their habitat even more. TPWD/JOHN CHANDLER Franklin D. Roosevelt Department) and adjacent states. The Lost Pines loblollies represent the westernmost stand of loblolly pine trees in the United States. Recovery Efforts created a public works organization known as the Civilian joined forces to design and construct buildings and facilities in Conservation Corps (CCC) in an effort to put young men many Texas parks. The architect of Bastrop State Park, Wildfire! You don’t have to look far to Arthur Fehr, followed design principles see that the loblolly pines are to work, to conserve the nation’s natural resources, create In 2011, Texas had the warmest summer for any U.S. state that suggested harmony with the surrounding landscape of making a comeback at Bastrop public recreational areas, and to help boost the economy. since 1895 – it was even warmer than the Dust Bowl years rolling hills and pine forests and use of native materials for State Park. Even though the of the 1930s! Bastrop had three months of 100°-plus days, In 1933 companies #1805 and #1811 arrived at Bastrop wildfire damaged over 90% of construction. The stone cabins at Bastrop appear to grow out drying the area. On September 4, high winds from Tropical and Buescher State Parks to transform the over-cut pine of the ground like a natural outcrop. The same non-intrusive Storm Lee knocked brittle, drought-stressed trees into power the park, only 30% was heavily forest into a scenic wonder by seeding, transplanting design elements were followed for dams, culverts, bridges and lines, igniting the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. burned. Recovery and manage- and clearing the tangle of brush and fallen timber. These fences. Similar design concepts can be seen in other parks The fiery monster burned for days, devouring 32,400 acres in ment of the ecosystem will be an active and ongoing recruits enrolled for a six-month period and were paid around the nation. Bastrop’s refectory is a showplace of CCC Bastrop County, killing two people and destroying 1,696 process for years to come. One tool TPWD is using to help the $30 per month, with $25 of the monthly wage being sent craftsmanship. Cedar, oak, walnut and pine indigenous to the houses and commercial structures. landscape recover is prescribed back home to the CCC worker’s family. park and red sandstone quarried nearby come together in an Hundreds of defenders, including more than 140 Texas Parks fire. Low-intensity prescribed attractive stone structure featuring carved mantles, roof beams and Wildlife Department employees, commercial partners and fire will clear out the dead fuel, and handmade furniture. firefighters from all over the country, battled the blaze. The keep the growth of oak trees in wildfire affected over 90% of Bastrop State Park. But because of the firefighters’ efforts, only check, and allow a new pine In 1997, Bastrop State forest to flourish. Park was awarded the roofs of two CCC overlook National Historic structures burned. The Lost Pines Today Landmark status, due The 2011 wildfire came close largely to the enduring to Buescher State Park but While it will take decades for significant stands of craftsmanship and skirted the park boundary. Just loblolly pines to regrow, you will see exciting changes landscape work done a few years later in 2015, the each time you visit. This living laboratory is regularly in the park by the CCC. Hidden Pines fire burned the visited by students and scientists as they study fire’s It is one of only seven effects on birds, mammals and vegetation. You can CCC parks in the nation northern section of Buescher with this recognition. State Park, further impacting make your own discoveries by visiting the park and the Lost Pines ecosystem. seeing how the landscape changes over time.