By: Kristen Tyson, M. A.
Texas, a state whose landscape is just as diverse as the
people who live in it, has seen many changes over the years. Changes in people
groups, weather patterns, geographic boundaries and native life have shaped
Texas into its current way of life. Early settlers knew Texas to be a land of
harsh habitats and lush resources, all within a few miles. What changes has
Texas endured once people began to tame the land and influence its native plant
and animal groups? Are these changes positively or negatively affecting the
state’s natural way of life?
Mountains of the Trans-Pecos Ecoregion, Texas.
That question stirred the heart of a young naturalist born
in the mid-1800s by the name of Clinton Hart Merriam. Although Merriam was a
native New Yorker, he exhibited a passion for understanding the world of flora
and fauna and pursued that passion until his death, leaving a legacy that would
continue into the next century. Like any naturalist, Merriam knew that he
couldn’t make a decent living collecting and journaling about the natural
world, so he worked as a doctor to support his interests. Soon young Merriam
began founding organizations that would later be backed by Congress to study
bird species across the United States, under the premise that birds had an
important economic impact on agriculture (Schmidly 2002). This guise continued
for several years, allowing Merriam and his band of volunteers and other
naturalists to study the “geographic distribution of species and [do]
biological survey work (Schmidly 2002).”
By 1890, a Bureau of Biological Survey was established where field
investigators could study mammals, birds, insects and other species and their
distribution areas.
However, as the American frontier morphed from open lands to
crop fields, farmers and ranchers began to demand that actual economic impacts
on their economy be taken into account. The early 1900s saw a shift toward the
study and control of predators on the landscape and the bureau shifted from
“survey-oriented research to active management of wildlife resources and their
habitats (Schmidly 2002).” This change in research led to Merriam’s retirement,
but his contribution and survey methods had already made their mark on other
young naturalists.
So what does this have to do with Texas? Early in his
career, Merriam was adamant about creating a “nationwide biological survey”
(Schmidly 2002), but because of congressional backing, he could only study
states that would be affected on the agricultural front. Texas was ripe with
crops being destroyed by certain nuisance wildlife. “Merriam’s conviction that
an understanding of the taxonomy and distribution of mammals was basic to
providing solutions to economic problems of agriculture was the impetus for a
program of basic research on mammalian systematics that continues to this day
(Schmidly 2002).” Texas was the perfect research playground. Abundant
eco-regions, plant and animal life and varying soils, plus the fact that the
great state includes deserts and mountains, forests, grasslands, and brushlands
and tropical habitats made it the perfect test tube for Merriam’s study.
A quick look at early Texas history could tell you that
native peoples were pushed off the land as fast as the native bison could go
nearly extinct. Settlers were ready to domesticate Texas and were not
interested in keeping the state native, a mistake they would come to regret too
little too late. Immigrants from other states were invited to come claim their
little piece of Texas and railroads etched their trails across the plains. This
shift from solitude to abundant population growth had a lasting effect on the
land. “This dramatic rise in population affected natural resources in many
ways, as the state’s prairies, rangelands, forests, and wildlife resources were
exploited or depleted by farming, ranching, lumber production, predator
control, and hunting (Schmidly 2002).” From the mid-1800s to early 1900s, Texas
already displayed dramatic changes that Merriam could not risk losing before it
was too late. Survey workers began in earnest and documented every plant and
animal species they could find, in every season of Texas. Detailed journals,
collected specimens and photographs were taken from every corner of the state.
The survey men covered the state from sun-up to sun-down,
facing adverse conditions from frost, floods, excruciating heat, and personal
contact with Texas snakes. Over two
thousand days were logged between 1889 and 1905 by the men who traversed the
ten eco-regions of Texas. At the conclusion of the survey a Biological Survey of Texas was
published. “The information gleaned from the botanical reports and plant
collections made during the survey appeared in a number of early publications
and the vegetation and plant communities in Texas [and the] specimens obtained…
have been used in… publications about Texas natural history (Schmidly
2002).”
Part of Merriam’s passion for understanding birds and
mammals and their distribution patterns was his conclusion that there were Life
Zones that influenced the movement and dispersion of native animals. “Merriam
believed that the distribution of species was determined by differences in
temperature and humidity, with temperature during the breeding season being the
most crucial factor (Schmidly 2002).” He distinguished four life zone belts
across earth, with Texas occupying all of them in some part. This, he believed,
was the reason Texas had such distinct and varying species and further
validated his distribution pattern theory.
However, many saw Merriam’s theory as invalid and “too simplistic
(Schmidly 2002).” Nevertheless, Merriam’s contribution to the study of Texas’
plants and animals has proven invaluable, especially considering the drastic
changes over the century from what Merriam’s men witnessed to what Texas is
today.
Which leads me to ask, would the survey men recognize Texas
today? Using their detailed journals, photographs and specimens, would these
pioneers find the state to be the same or would there be anything to mark the
regions as different? Short of geographic variations and the obvious changes in
soil and climate types, is Texas still the thriving land of diverse plant and
animal species that attracted Merriam in the first place? And if no is the
answer, what can we do to return Texas to its former glory?
Schmidly, D. J. 2002.
Texas Natural History: A Century of Change. Texas Tech University Press. Lubbock, Texas, U.S.A.