The NFF and National Forests and Grasslands in Texas are signing a new Stewardship Agreement to advance landscape restoration activities across the Caddo and Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) National Grasslands near Dallas. The agreement is the first NFF Stewardship Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service in the Southern Region (Region 8). Through the new agreement, the NFF will work closely with staff from the Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands to advance forest restoration, rangeland health improvements, and watershed restoration.
The NFF looks forward to advancing projects to restore this important place. As stated in the agreement, “tools for ecological restoration in the area have been limited in the past…much of the area is in degraded ecological condition. Former prairies have been encroached upon by aggressive hardwoods and Eastern red cedar. Former savannas have been succeeded by dense woodlands and forests. Forage productivity and conservation of vegetation and wildlife have declined as a result. Streams and connected floodplain ecosystems are mostly in degraded conditions due to historic farming practices, channel incision, and sediment loss.”
Map of National Forests and Grasslands in Texas.
In 2023 and 2024, the NFF will work with the Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands to restore Cottonwood Creek upstream of Cottonwood Lake and Little Cottonwood Lake on the LBJ National Grassland in Wise County. The project will focus on improving 29 miles of mapped streams as well as unmapped ephemeral streams and areas of erosion concern. The Upper Cottonwood Creek Watershed includes all upstream reaches of Cottonwood Creek above Cottonwood Lake, as well as all upstream reaches of Little Cottonwood Creek above Little Cottonwood Lake. Grapevine city residents receive approximately 30% of their drinking water from Lake Grapevine.
The NFF has worked with the U.S. Forest Service through Stewardship Agreements for years. In Forest Service Regions 2, 3, 4, and 5, we have Stewardship Agreements in place to facilitate a variety of hazardous fuels reduction and watershed health improvements across the Western U.S. in places like the Tahoe National Forest, Northern Arizona Forests, and Colorado’s Western Slope. The new Stewardship Agreement between the NFF and the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas signals to the NFF’s future growth in the Southern U.S. and the exciting opportunities ahead to improve forest, rangeland, and watershed health in Texas.
Cover photo by Debra Lawrence.
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