Stephen F. Austin State University

Spring Break is a time for many students to "get away from it all" - homework, tests, traffic, ringing phones and the day-to-day responsibilities required of college life.

While some may choose to rest, relax and recharge on sandy beaches, at home with family or on the ski slopes, a group of Stephen F. Austin State University biology students will spend the week slowly winding their way down the Neches River, in the Big Thicket National Preserve.

By day, they will collect specimens of invertebrates and unionid clams. By night, they will set up black lights to attract the insects of the darkness.

They will trap and release small mammals, survey for various beetles and explore the isolated Canyonlands Unit where 100 foot ravines in sandstone are populated with native azaleas, maple, beech and magnolia forest.

The students are all listed as participants on collecting permits and other documentation with the National Parks Service and will benefit from interacting with parks service biologists, according to Dr. William Godwin, SFA biology professor.

As a precursor for this trip, the students ventured into the Big Thicket one recent Saturday and experimented with putting insect traps in trees. They learned what worked and what did not and began planning in advance for this foray into the depths of the forest.

The Big Thicket is diverse, SFA senior Shawn Benedict said.

The "units" within the Big Thicket, designated by scientists for research purposes, include canyons and caves, as well as areas that are moist and sandy.

"There are many various habitats where different animals and insects can be found," Benedict said.

The students are visiting the Big Thicket for their own enrichment, but in the process they are participating in something even bigger.

Along with other students across the state, they are participating in an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory - commonly referred to as ATBI by those in the field.

"The first ATBI was conducted in Great Smoky Mountains National Park," Godwin said.

The Smoky Mountains inventory was initiated in 1998 to benefit "science, stewardship and education," according to Discover Life in America, an informational Web site about the project.

Biodiversity has been a fundamental goal of conservation since the 1980s, when the rainforests started disappearing, the Web site states.

By having an index of the species living in national parks and preserves, scientists have a baseline for future comparisons.

Those who question why a certain animal or plant is useful should consider this summary from the Discover Life in America Web site: "If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent thinking."

The ivory-billed woodpecker has attracted national attention, as a near-extinct species that some researchers believe could be living in the Big Thicket. The SFA students have met and talked to some of the bird?s searchers while deep in the forest of the Beaumont unit.

But the ivory-billed is far from the only endangered animal believed to live in the preserve.
"We'll be looking for American burying beetles, hog-nosed skunks and voles (similar to field mice)," Benedict said.

The week after their Big Thicket trip, the SFA students, along with Godwin and Dr. William Forbes will attend the Big Thicket Conference in Beaumont, where the ATBI project will be discussed in detail.