November 18, 2021 – Texas A&M Forest Service urges all Texans, and especially outdoor enthusiasts, to help reduce the spread of oak wilt and wood borers by taking preventative measures and being cautious when collecting and purchasing firewood. As Texans travel for hunting or camping trips, they may unknowingly be bringing deadly, invasive pests and diseases along through firewood.

July 19, 2021 — Texas A&M Forest Service is now accepting grant applications for the State Fire Assistance for Mitigation – Plains Prescribed Fire Grant through August 15, 2021. The grant will provide $74,514 in total funding for prescribed burns.

June 30, 2021 — As Texans make plans to celebrate the Fourth of July with picnics, grilling, camping or fireworks, Texas A&M Forest Service encourages everyone to be careful with any outdoor activity that may cause a spark.

Ratcliff Lake

March 7, 2021 – Troy Grice of Groveton, Texas, was indicted on February 25, 2021, by a grand jury in Jasper County on the charge of Timber Purchase as Trustee with Intent to Defraud. Grice is charged with defrauding a Jasper County landowner of between $20,000 and $100,000 worth of timber – a felony of the third degree.

Timber theft can take a variety of forms – from harvesting timber without the landowner’s knowledge or consent, to entering into a formal agreement, harvesting a landowners timber, and then not paying them the full purchase price.