North Tucker Woods Trail at The Pineywoods Native Plant Center in Historic Nacogdoches
The Pineywoods Native Plant Center is a project of the Stephen F. Austin University Schools of Foresty and Agriculture and the Mast Arboretum created to promote the research, study, and conservation of natural plant and wildlife of the East Texas area. Located north of the S.F.A.S.U. campus on a 39 acre estate, the Pineywoods Native Plant Center consists of the Forest Research Institute and associated Horticultural facilities; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Demonstration Gardens; and the Tucker Woods Trail extending eastward to the banks of Lanana Creek and divided into named pathways representing six major pineywoods ecosystems.
The Forest Resources Institute occupies the historic Tucker Blount House designed by Raiford Stripling, built by Thomas Hampton in the late 1930's, and renovated in 1977 to accommodate offices and spaces for presentations and conferences and for the Pineywoods Native Plant Center research staff.
In 2000 the Pineywoods Native Plant Center began affiliation with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Demonstration gardens representing a unique collection of native East Texas plants divided into 3 plant communities---dry uplands, mesic slopes, and streamside habitat were established in the scenic woodland area in front of the Tucker Woods Research Center.
The North and South Tucker Woods Trail extends from Raguet Street to the banks of Lanana Creek and is connected by paths in a park-like setting where
visitors may view most of the creek bottom trees of East Texas including hickory, sweetgum, red oak, bald cypress, American elder and Ash. Over 105
species of birds have been spotted in the woodlands of the Tucker Woods Trail and and its connecting pathways.