The Piney Woods is a temperate coniferous forest terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles (141,000 km) of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. Historically the most dense part of this forest region was the Big Thicket though the lumber industry dramatically reduced the forest concentration in this area and throughout the Piney Woods during the 19th and 20th centuries. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers the Piney Woods to be one of the critically endangered ecoregions of the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines most of this ecoregion as the South Central Plains.
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Piney Woods in the context of East Texas
31°52′N 94°55′W / 31.867°N 94.917°W
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast, Southeast, and Deep East Texas. Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods ecoregion. East Texas can sometimes be defined only as the Piney Woods. At the fringes, towards Central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.
Piney Woods in the context of Paris, Texas
Paris is a city in and the county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020.
Piney Woods in the context of Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport (/ˈɡʌlfˌpɔːrt/ GUHLF-port) is a port city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, and its co-county seat. It had a population of 72,926 at the 2020 census, making it the second-most populous city in Mississippi after Jackson. The Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area had a population of 416,259. Gulfport lies along the Gulf Coast of the United States in southern Mississippi, taking its name from its port on the Gulf Coast on the Mississippi Sound.
Gulfport emerged from two earlier settlements, Mississippi City and Handsboro. Founded in 1887 by William H. Hardy as a terminus for the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad, the city was further developed by Philadelphia oil tycoon Joseph T. Jones, who funded the railroad, harbor, and channel dredging. The city was officially incorporated in 1898. By the early 20th century, Gulfport had become the largest lumber export city in the United States, though this faded with the depletion of Mississippi's Piney Woods. The city transitioned into tourism through its white beaches, grand hotels, and significant casino gaming operations.
Piney Woods in the context of Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. Its population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home to Sam Houston State University, Texas State Prison, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Huntsville State Park, and HEARTS Veterans Museum of Texas.
The city served as the residence of Sam Houston, the first and third president of the Republic of Texas, who later represented the state in the U.S. Senate. He is recognized in Huntsville by the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, a statue on Interstate 45, and Sam Houston State University, located in central Huntsville.