Upland Island Wilderness is one of five designated

wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

managed by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

. The wilderness is located in Angelina and

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

Counties and is part of

Angelina National Forest Angelina National Forest is a United States National Forest, one of four located in the piney woods region of Texas. The Angelina National Forest is located in East Texas in parts of San Augustine, Angelina, Jasper and Nacogdoches counties. ...

. The area was named by conservationist Edward C. Fritz, who led the effort to designate wilderness areas in East Texas in 1984.

Ecosystems

The wilderness contains a diverse range of ecosystems, from park-like upland forests of

longleaf pine The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

and

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

bogs with wild azaleas and orchids to bottomland hardwood forests and palmetto flats along the

Neches River The Neches River () begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, ...

Maintenance

The primitive landscape has been relatively untouched, and the Forest Service has managed to keep the area natural with the help of regulations and prohibited activities. It is their effort to keep the designated land clean and natural.

References

External links

Angelina National Forest
USDA Forest Service - National Forests & Grasslands in Texas Wilderness areas of Texas Protected areas of Angelina County, Texas Protected areas established in 1984 1984 establishments in Texas {{texas-protected-area-stub