ENVIRONMENT
Ferrell’s Bridge Reservoir is located in the northwestern part of the Gulf Coastal Plain (Fenneman, 1938: 109-110), which is characterized topographically by rounded hills sculptured from the superficial clays and sands of the region. The subsoil—a sandy clay in various shades of yellow, orange, and red—is capped by a thin mantle of gray sand which evidently derived by differential erosion from the sandy clay. The exposed geological formations recognized in the general region are clays and sands of the Eocene Claiborne group (Sellards et al., 1958: 606-666).
The reservoir is situated in the Austroriparian Biotic Province (Blair, 1950: 93-117). The uplands are thickly timbered, principally with pines, while the stream valleys sustain heavy stands of mixed hardwoods (oaks, cypress, gum, walnut, hickory, holly, and others) in addition to some pines. All the virgin forests were completely timbered out years ago. Bear and panther, which were formerly common, have long since disappeared from the area, but a large population of deer, raccoon, opossum, fox, rabbit, beaver, and other small mammals survives to the present day. The streams abound with several varieties of fish.
The climate is relatively humid, the annual rainfall at the Gilmer station averaging 43.5 inches (U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Climatological Data, Texas, V. 63, No. 13: 361). The mean annual temperature for Upshur County is 65 degrees (Ibid.: 357).