DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Lance Rosier, out there in Hardin County. Now, the Big Thicket National Preserve — that sprawling, ancient tangle of East Texas wilderness — it didn't save itself. It took people willing to fight for it, against odds that were political, social, and just plain stubborn.
Lance Rosier was one of those people. One of the early ones. Rosier was born in what is now the very Preserve unit that carries his name.
Think about that for a moment. The land he came into this world on eventually became the land that bears his memory. He grew up in Saratoga, right in the heart of the Big Thicket, living with his aunt Mattie Evans at her Vines Hotel.
And that hotel — well, it was the kind of place where roughnecks and drummers and pioneers would settle in and start talking. Young Lance listened. He absorbed every story, every detail, every scrap of knowledge those wandering men carried in with them.
But he didn't just listen inside. He wandered. He spent much of his youth out in those nearby woods, learning the native flora and fauna the way you can only learn something by spending real time with it — quietly, patiently, on its own terms.
After serving in the U.S. Army, Rosier came back to the Thicket and became a timber cruiser, and a guide for surveyors. And word got out.
Authors and journalists wrote numerous stories about this self-taught naturalist who could take scientists, photographers, politicians, students, scholars, and conservationists deep into the Thicket and show them things they'd never have found on their own. He was the bridge between the knowing and the not-yet-knowing. His education never stopped, either.
Scientists he worked with would identify plants for him, and that kept expanding his understanding — habitats, life cycles, medical and industrial uses, the scientific names of species. He was building a living library in his own mind, one trail at a time. And his tours had extras.
The man knew how to tell a story. He'd work in accounts of an encounter with a black panther, and you can bet nobody fell asleep on a Rosier tour. They called him Mr.
Big Thicket. And he earned it. He served as a living bridge between the first East Texas Big Thicket Association — which ran from 1929 to 1957 under the leadership of R.E.
Jackson, another regional conservationist — and the effort to establish the second Big Thicket Association in 1964. He kept the flame of conservation alive between those two organizations when it might easily have gone cold. But here's where the story turns heavy.
Lance Rosier died in 1970. The Big Thicket National Preserve, the dream he had given so much of his life to, the declaration of that unique environmental area as a national park — that came a few years after he was gone. He didn't get to see it.
What he got instead was something quieter, and maybe more lasting. His name on the land he was born on. His legacy living on in the protection and continuing research of the Big Thicket he loved.
And somewhere out in those woods — in the habitats and the life cycles and the species he spent a lifetime learning — Lance Rosier is still very much present.
What the marker says
The Big Thicket National Preserve exists today in large part due to the efforts of a few dedicated individuals who took up the causes of conservation and wildlife preservation against great odds, both political and social. Lance Rosier was one of those early advocates. Rosier was born in what is now the Preserve unit that bears his name. He grew up in Saratoga, in the center of the Big Thicket, living with his aunt Mattie Evans in her Vines Hotel. There, he listened to stories told by roughnecks, drummers and pioneers. He spent much of his youth wandering the nearby woods and learning about the native flora and fauna. After serving in the U.S. Army, he became a timber cruiser, as well as a guide for surveyors. Authors and journalists wrote numerous stories about the self-taught naturalist who provided tours for scientists, photographers, politicians, students, scholars, conservationists and others who sought his expertise. His knowledge grew through work with scientists who identified plants for him, thus expanding his understanding of habitats, life cycles, medical or industrial uses, and scientific names of species of plant life. His tours featured extras, like stories of an encounter with a black panther. Known as "Mr. Big Thicket," Rosier served as a bridge between the first East Texas Big Thicket Association (1929-1957), led by R.E. Jackson, another regional conservationist, and others to establish the second Big Thicket Association in 1964. Unfortunately, Rosier died in 1970, a few years before the realization of his dream to have the unique environmental area declared a national park. Today, his legacy lives on in the protection and continuing research of his beloved Big Thicket. (2005)