Pine Resin in the Blood

The southern oak-pine forests that cover the rugged mountains and broad valleys of southeastern Oklahoma host tremendous ecological diversity. However, the forests of the region have been reshaped over centuries of conflicts over land rights and a series of extractive natural resources industries. The area also has a tumultuous cultural history, including the forced resettlement by Native American tribes from the Southeast and the arrival of white settlers looking for land and opportunity.

The region’s history created this complex mix of land ownership and economic interests that characterize the region today. It includes federal and state land management agencies; members of the Choctaw Nation; and private landowners who range from long-time residents and absentee second homeowners to a timber company that manages large tracts of forest for commercial timber production. In addition, a burgeoning tourist industry has created a boom in vacation cabin development near the town of Hochatown (which means “river town”, derived from the Choctaw word for river, “hvcha”), which is located in McCurtain County.

People visit McCurtain County for recreation and to experience the abundant wildlife. The waters of Broken Bow Lake provide ample fishing opportunities. The McCurtain County Wilderness Area, Beavers Bend State Park, and the Ouachita National Forest — the oldest and largest national forest in the southern U.S. — are known for their hiking and wildlife.

But the mix of land ownerships complicates wildfire risk mitigation for local, state, federal, and tribal officials. Many tourists are unfamiliar with wildfire risks, and the scattered network of roads and lack of contact information makes it difficult to reach them. Local officials say the forests in and around Hochatown are primed for a spark that could ignite a major catastrophic wildfire. See the interactive map below for more information about these areas of interest in McCurtain County.

Ecologically, Oklahoma is a crossroads where species and landscapes of the Southeast transition into those of the Southwest. Southeastern Oklahoma marks the westernmost range extent for a number of native tree species such as shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, and bald cypress. As part of the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain ecoregion, an area that spans southern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, northeastern Texas, and northern Louisiana, the pine-dominated forests around Hochatown experience high rainfall and contain rich soil. These conditions support an abundance of ecological and biological diversity — including bison, elk, a rich freshwater mussel community, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, and the rare leopard darter. Carolina parakeets, which are now extinct, once lived here as well.

In the early 1800s, the U.S. assumed control of the land that later became Oklahoma. The Caddo and Osage tribes were ancestral to the region. Native people from the Wichita, Plains Apache, and Quapaw tribes had occupied this area since the Spanish and French colonial period. Before the Native American removals in the 1820s and 1830s, the Chickasaws, Choctaws, and other tribes from the Southeast would travel to the area to hunt bison, deer, and bear.¹

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which would result in the forced removal of 60,000 Native Americans from the Five Civilized Tribes from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.² Among them were the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, who signed treaties ceding their lands in present-day Mississippi to the U.S government in exchange for land in Indian Territory to what would become southeastern Oklahoma. The Chickasaws eventually moved further west, leaving the Choctaws as the predominant tribe in the Hochatown area.³,⁴ See A Timeline of Native American Relocation to Southeastern Oklahoma for more detailed information.

During the Civil War, many Native Americans had to choose sides—decisions that would greatly impact their future land holdings. Because the Confederacy offered protection from attacks by the Plains Indians, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws signed treaties of alliance with the Confederacy, and many tribal members served as officers or enlisted men.

When the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, the U.S. government negotiated new treaties with the tribes to punish them for siding with the Confederacy during the war. The tribes were informed that they had forfeited their rights and land claims under the old treaties when they joined the Confederacy. In 1866, the Choctaws and Chickasaws signed a joint treaty with the U.S. government that included several concessions. First, they had to agree to abolish slavery (which had already ended outside of Indian Territory the previous year) and give these newly emancipated people (often referred to as  freedmen and freedwomen ) tribal rights. Freedmen and freedwomen were given the choice of being adopted into their nations or being removed by the federal government and settled elsewhere. The Choctaws and Chickasaws chose to give freedmen and freedwomen tribal citizenship, but not until 1883. They also had to agree to give up land for rights-of-way for railroad construction through Indian Territory and establish an intertribal council. And finally, they had to cede the western portion of their land to the federal government for $300,000.⁵

The land allotments imposed by the federal government on tribes through the  Dawes Act of 1887  and the  Curtis Act of 1898  divided treaty-based reservation land into individual tracts for family farms, with the remainder of the former tribal land opened to settlers.⁶,⁷ Each tribal member received 40-160 acres of land as an allotment, based on age and family status.⁸ This resulted in land fractionation across multiple generations.⁹

Because of the allotments, 90 million acres of tribal land were taken from the Choctaws (see footnote 6). By the 21st century, over 99 percent of Choctaw lands had been taken.¹⁰ The surge in white settlers after the Civil War and the loss of tribal land resulted in changes in the composition of residents in the area. In the 1830s, 96 percent of people in the area were Choctaws. By 1890, only 25 percent of residents were Choctaws, and nearly 65 percent were white.¹¹

The term “Little Dixie" was given to southeastern Oklahoma because of its close social, cultural, and political connections to the American South. The southern character of the region began to emerge in the mid-1830s with the arrival of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, who adopted aspects of southern culture, including slavery. After the Civil War, white settlers surged westward, particularly from the American South. They brought with them southern expressions, fried foods, and the Southern Baptist religion, further solidifying the region’s ties to the South.¹²

The Choctaw Nation lands were very attractive to outsiders due to the rich farmland and extensive timber, coal, stone, and natural gas deposits found there. Before the Civil War, Choctaw citizens used timber to construct homes and fences, and as fuel for heating and cooking. In the late 1800s, small sawmills began to appear with lumber mill towns forming around them. In 1873, four sawmills were operating in the Choctaw Nation. In that year alone, they produced three million board feet of lumber.¹³

Railroad development lagged behind the rest of the country, and it wasn’t until the early 1870s that railroads began to enter Indian Territory. Timber from the Ouachita Mountains was first used to construct the railroad before being shipped to neighboring states and territories.¹⁴

The railroad boom and associated timber industry reached the Hochatown area at the turn of the century, beginning the long-term ties between the residents and timber production. Between 1897 and 1907, a dense network of railroad branches was built across Oklahoma, growing to 6,572 miles by 1920.¹⁵

”Everything was lumber down here. There’s not a single town in McCurtain County that wasn’t touched by timber.”¹⁶ —Ken Sivard, President of the McCurtain County Historical Society

The allotment process opened lands for private interests, enabling corporations to purchase timberlands. Brothers Hans and Herman Dierks, the founders of the Choctaw Lumber Company, arrived in 1906 after building successful lumber businesses in Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota. The brothers built a railroad spur (a short branch line from the main track to reach industrial areas) into southeastern Oklahoma and shortly after founded Broken Bow as a mill town. They owned multiple lumber companies. During the Great Depression, they consolidated into a single company, Dierks Lumber and Coal Company.¹⁷

In 1919, there were 56 sawmills in Oklahoma and 95 by 1929. By 1937, the three Dierks’ sawmills and their 69 portable mills produced 60 percent of the lumber in Oklahoma. In 1954, the company became Dierks Forests, Inc., which included roughly 1.8 million acres of timberland across Oklahoma and Arkansas. Weyerhaeuser Company bought out all the Dierks holdings in 1969 (see footnote 17).

Although few Choctaws worked directly for Weyerhaeuser, many worked part-time in timber-related industries, including work for independent contractors who hired crews to harvest and maintain Weyerhaeuser’s extensive forest reserves.

“They get pine resin in their blood and they can’t get away from it.” —Tom Lowry, Senior Director of Natural Resources for the Choctaw Nation

Hochatown was once a booming timber town bordering what is today the Ouachita National Forest. On the east side of the Mountain Fork River, it was first settled by a Choctaw family in the 1830s. It evolved over time from a small community of Choctaws to an economic center focused on timber as white settlers and businesses in the timber and railroad industry expanded to the region. By 1894, Hochatown had a post office, and a railroad spur was built in the early 1900s to connect it to Eagletown for log transport.

Hochatown was a thriving timber town for several decades largely due to the Dierks’ Choctaw Lumber Company until the lumber supply dwindled and the Great Depression took its toll, causing Hochatown to shift to moonshine production. The post office shut down in 1963, with most residents leaving by 1966.¹⁸,¹⁹

The original Hochatown now lies at the bottom of Broken Bow Lake, a prime tourist attraction that attracts visitors from Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Tulsa. The lake was formed in 1970 when the federal government flooded old Hochatown and built a dam to supply hydroelectric power.²⁰ Though many of the old Hochatown landmarks are at the bottom of the lake, some were relocated, including the church and cemetery. Modern-day Hochatown sits one mile west of the lake. The town has seen multiple booms and busts, but the natural beauty of the area has remained a constant.

With the risk of wildfire and the need to replenish the forests depleted by the timber industry, the state stepped in to help. Oklahoma's state forestry agency, the Oklahoma Forestry Commission, was established in 1925 to educate citizens about managing and protecting the state's forests and to stop the wildfires that burned the countryside each year. Many forests were decimated by harvesting without plans for regeneration or by frequent wildfires that prevented small trees from establishing.²¹

By the 1930s, less than 200,000 acres of old-growth forest remained in eastern Oklahoma. Reforestation and improved management have expanded the forest land during the past 20 years. Today, the USDA Forest Service estimates there are currently more than 7.5 million acres of forest (covering all land ownership types), about 58 percent of the original acreage. The state’s forestry program is now called the Oklahoma Forestry Services.²²

 President Roosevelt - Licensed photo by   Library of Congress /Wikimedia |  Ouachita Forest sepia - Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry photo  | USDA Forest Service map |  Talimena Drive - Licensed photo by Alex Butterfield/Flickr  |  Sunrise over Broken Bow Lake - Licensed photo by MiloandMePhotography/Shutterstock 

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is currently the third largest federally recognized tribe with a  tribal jurisdictional area  covering 10.5 counties and over six million acres in southeastern Oklahoma. There are over 223,000 enrolled members with more than 40,000 of these members living within the Choctaw Nation’s jurisdiction.²⁵

Many Native American tribes from eastern Oklahoma are eagerly waiting to see the implications of the landmark 2020  McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court case , which decided that much of eastern Oklahoma remains Native American land. It could have widespread effects on land and government proceedings at the local, state, and federal level, including whether the Choctaw Nation becomes a formal reservation in the future.²⁶

Tourism has become the main economic industry in the area due to the beautiful scenery and recreation opportunities on Broken Bow Lake, the McCurtain County Wilderness Area, Beavers Bend State Park, and the surrounding Ouachita National Forest. In the last couple of decades, private landowners have built homes, luxury cabins, roads, and other infrastructure bordering the national forest. Hochatown has become a popular location for families and friends to gather for occasions such as holiday and wedding celebrations, and summer vacations.

Weyerhaeuser has helped drive the growth by selling large tracts of land to developers who built luxury rental cabins. The number of rental cabins in the area has grown from around 500 to more than 1,500 in the past 10 years. Today, about 80 percent of the structures are weekend rental cabins spread out over roughly 25,000 acres.²⁷ This has led to increased wildfire risk in areas where forests and structures intermingle, known as the wildland-urban interface.

The booming cabin rental industry has not only transformed the local economy, but also shifted much of the land ownership from long-time residents to developers and second homeowners who do not live in the area.

The beauty and recreation opportunities provided by Broken Bow Lake and the Ouachita National Forest have made the Hochatown area a prime tourist destination, but the lack of visitors’ wildfire awareness, combined with the roads and infrastructure of cabins in the region, create a challenge for the tribal, state, and federal entities responsible for managing fire in the Hochatown area.

With the fast growth in rental cabins and tourism in the Hochatown area over the last 15-20 years, there is now a need to not only educate residents of the area about wildfire risk but also inform tourists in short-term rentals that they are staying in a high wildfire risk area. The need for an efficient local response system to notify people in the area during a wildfire has become paramount. Contacting short-term renters is a major logistical challenge for local fire suppression crews because renter contact information may not be readily available. Another challenge is that many of the rental properties have no clear address, making it difficult for fire crews to locate the properties in the event of a wildfire. The long history of tribal and federal land rights issues in the area also makes determining jurisdiction in responding to fires a complex issue.

”The Ouachita National Forest is largely made up of southern yellow pines, which are full of turpentine and may explode during wildfires. So, it’s not really a matter of if we will have wildfires again in the Hochatown area, but when. And now what makes the situation more difficult is that we don’t just have timberland, we also have cabins.” —Jona Tucker, Environmental Planner, Ouachita National Forest

Historically the lands now part of the Ouachita National Forest burned every three to seven years, but with the increase in structures on private lands near the forest, suppression of fire has been necessary to protect citizens and their property.²⁸

Fire suppression has resulted in excessive accumulations of vegetation, which has created fuel for potential wildfires and increased the risk of damage to resources. Fuel loads need to be reduced to decrease the costs and risks associated with fighting wildfires, to slow pest outbreaks in overly dense forests, and to keep forests healthy.

Southeastern Oklahoma has a rich history spanning multiple centuries, including diverse groups attracted to the area’s natural beauty and resources. In more recent years, traditional industries, such as timber and moonshine production, have given way to a burgeoning tourism industry and luxury cabin development. These changes present a complicated scenario for local officials working together to manage the forests and protect residents and tourists from potential wildfires. With proper forest planning and management, local officials hope to ensure that residents and tourists can enjoy the area’s unrivaled natural beauty and recreation while also reducing wildfire risk.

Annie Hermansen-Baez (USDA FS Southern Research Station) was the executive editor of the story map, managing the writing, editing, and production.

Susan Longest, Ph. D. (science writer) developed the literature review and was the main author of the story map text. 

Raghu Consbruck (Eight Eyes,  eighteyes.com ) provided the graphic design, layout, and map development.

Rob Brooks (University of Georgia), Tania Lopez (University of Puerto Rico), Becky Dobbs, Ph. D., Shawna Reid, and Kerry Dooley (USDA FS Southern Research Station) helped with GIS data and story map guidance.

Jennifer Moore Myers, Sarah Farmer, Becky Dobbs, Ph. D., and Cassandra Johnson, Ph. D. (USDA FS Southern Research Station) provided editorial reviews of the story map text. 

Jona Tucker, Alex Schwartz, Robert Bastarache, Kris Wilson, Tracy Farley, and Patti Turpin from the Ouachita National Forest provided historical background related to the national forest and Hochatown region. 

Bruce Hoagland, Ph. D. (University of Oklahoma, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability) provided information about the different forest types in the Ouachita National Forest.

Tom Lowry, Megan Baker, and Ian Thompson, Ph. D. from the Choctaw Nation provided background information about the history of the Choctaws, the logging industry, and wildland fire in the region.

Taylor Stein, PhD (University of Florida, School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences ) provided logistical support for the project and editorial reviews of the story map.