Texas Woman Brings Back Native Pine and Wild Turkeys

When Holly Henderson's father fell ill in 2016, she traded her photography career in New York City for something unexpected: managing 3,000 acres of Texas timberland her great-grandfather bought in 1932.

Nine years later, Pine Island in Angelina County has become a wildlife paradise. Turkey, white-tailed deer, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and alligator snapping turtles now thrive across the property, alongside herons, egrets, wood storks, and ducks.

The transformation didn't happen by accident. Holly learned everything she could from her father during his final years, including his passion for one critical goal: bringing back native longleaf pine trees that had been replaced with faster-growing loblolly pines decades ago.

In 2019, Holly partnered with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service to make it happen. Through their Environmental Quality Incentives Program, she funded prescribed burns, invasive species removal, and replanting efforts that are reshaping the forest.

The prescribed burns were game-changing. By clearing dense understory growth, the fires help native grasses return and create open spaces where wildlife can flourish.

"We're seeing regrowth, not dying trees, and the land is opening up because there's less competition," said NRCS District Conservationist Callie Pratt. The burns also control invasive Chinese tallow and yaupon holly that spread rapidly and choke out native plants.

The work paid off in ways that would have made Holly's father proud. With help from the National Wild Turkey Federation, she reintroduced nearly 90 Eastern wild turkeys to land where they'd been hunted to extinction.

The open pine savannas created by prescribed burns gave the turkeys exactly what they needed to survive. Watching them thrive honors her father's legacy in the most fitting way possible.

The Ripple Effect

Holly's work reaches far beyond her family's property lines. By restoring longleaf pine habitat, she's helping bring back an entire ecosystem that once covered 90 million acres across the South but has shrunk to just 3 percent of its original range.

The changes benefit countless species that depend on these forests. Red-cockaded woodpeckers, an endangered species, need mature longleaf pines to nest, and the restored grasslands support quail, deer, and turkey populations that had dwindled.

Her story is already inspiring other landowners in East Texas to consider similar conservation practices. NRCS Resource Team Leader Justin Parks says the partnership shows what's possible when working land can also be healing land.

Holly manages Pine Island with her two sisters and extended family, balancing timber production with environmental stewardship. The land still includes oil and gas production and a hunting club that's operated for over 90 years, proving conservation and commerce can coexist.

For Holly, it's about more than sustainable forestry: it's about honoring four generations of family resilience and creating something that will inspire the next four generations too.