KOUNTZE — A newcomer to the area might be unaware of the natural wonders of Southeast Texas. Even someone who has spent their entire life here may forget the opportunties available to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and commune with nature.

The Big Thicket National Preserve is such a place — full of natural wonders and nestled among the pines north of Kountze.

Matt Fagan, a national park ranger and chief of interpretation and education at the Big Thicket Visitors’ Center, said it’s the diversity of the Big Thicket’s ecological system that makes it so special.

“It was set aside for its biodiversity,” Fagan said. “For instance, at the Turkey Creek Trail, you can find a slope forest and then a cypress slope. If you go down only a little a drop in elevation, you find plants in sandy land like ocotillo that’s found only in the desert. There are more species of plants than anywhere else in North America. We’re the biological crossroads of North America.”

Fagan said the biodiversity can be attributed to glaciation from thousands of years ago that pushed seeds, vegetation and pollen from the eastern forest, the plains, desert and Gulf Coast in one special location.

In addition to the plant life, the preserve is also home to squirrels, rabbits, deer, bobcats and an occasional cougar. Fagan said even the once vacant black bears are making a comeback. Alligators sometime make their way up the creeks as well. Other aquatic life include a variety of fish, turtles and snakes and a multitude of birds roost in the forest.

“You can hear owls calling at night. There are few places left where you can go out in the woods and not hear the sound of a human being and hear the sounds of nature,” Fagan said. “You can see lightning bugs free of human-made lights. Some bats, too.”

Among the unique flora and fauna, some of the most interesting to Fagan are pitcher plants.

Pitcher plants are insect-eating plants that use a cylindrical pistil and a trapdoor-like mechanism on top — similar to a Venus’s-flytrap. The flytrap, however, is the only insect-eating plant not in the park among the pitcher plants, Bladderwort Sundue and butterwort.

Slash pines dominate the landscape. Yet, the slash pines are not native to the area as the original longleaf pines they replaced. Fagan said at the turn-of-the-century at the height of the timber industry, loggers replaced the hewn-down longleaf with the slash pines because they could be replenished more quickly. There are a few longleaf left in the preserve with more being replanted.

Among the trails and units one may visit include the Beech Creek Unit, the Hickory Creek Savannah Unit and the Big Sandy Creek Unit.

The Kirby Nature Trail along Turkey Creek leads 15 miles north-south and across Village Creek’s floodplain with a variety of plants. The Beech Creek Unit near Jasper features beech, magnolia and loblolly pine on a one-mile loop trail.

Big Sandy near the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation features 5.4-mile Woodlands Trail loop through the sloping forest to the creek. The Beaver Slide Trail, a 1.5-mile loop, winds around a series of ponds formed by old beaver dams. Horse and all-terrain bicycle riding are permitted on the 18-mile Big Sandy Creek Trail.

Other outdoor activities include nature study including birding; naturalist activities such as guided hiking, talks, canoe trips and educational field experiences. Small watercraft may be launched at locations along the Neches River, Pine Island Bayou, and along Village and Turkey creeks. Fishing is allowed in all waters. A Texas fishing license is required and state laws apply.

Backcountry camping is allowed by permit in certain parts of the preserve. There are picnic sites in many of the units and visitors may swim in the quiet areas of the Neches River, away from strong currents. The Lakeview Sandbar area in the Beaumont Unit is a popular spot. Hunting and trapping are allowed in specific areas at certain dates and times.