My Favorite Map: The Natural Heritage Map of Texas, 1986
By James Harkins, Manager of Public Services, Archives and Records, Texas General Land Office
As a map lover, I have a lot of favorite maps. In fact, my favorite map probably changes every time I look at a new one. Sometimes that makes things difficult when working with the General Land Office’s collection of over 45,000 maps on a day-to-day basis, but that is a good problem to have if you are in my position. There is one map, however, that will always be among the most special to me. I’m referring to The Natural Heritage Map of Texas, which was released by the General Land Office in 1986. At the time, Commissioner Garry Mauro said that this map was made to “…encourage the preservation of rare and vulnerable Texas wildlife and plants now threatened with extinction.” The Natural Heritage Map of Texas is my favorite map — this month.
I was three years old when this map was released. When I was at Moore Elementary (home of the fighting Armadillos!) in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, I specifically remembered this map because it was huge! The Natural Heritage Map of Texas is 4-feet by 4-feet, and it hung in the school cafeteria, to the left of the stage where so many school assemblies had occurred. The map is colorful, big, and filled with animals. To be honest, at the time, the animals are what drew my attention, but the map always stuck in my mind because it was the first large wall map I had ever seen. More than anything, though, there was an ocelot in my face, and in the face of every other elementary student in the building who walked up to look at this map. At the time, I thought an ocelot was kind of like a mix between a house cat and a lion or a tiger, and a lion or tiger was really cool. I was hooked! I would always look at the ocelot, as well as the other animals, and the map, and think about what it all meant.
Several years later, after not seeing any maps that weren’t generated by MapQuest, or any other number of online tools, I walked into the Texas General Land Office for an interview for an internship position. Guess what was hanging in the hallway leading to my future boss’ office? Go on. Guess. If you guessed The Natural Heritage Map of Texas, you would be correct! Trying not to get distracted by the sudden and unexpected trip down memory lane that the map represented, I took its presence as a sign that I might be a good fit for the GLO and that the agency might be a good fit for me. That seems to be the case up to this point, eleven years later.
This magnificently colored, oversized commemorative map of Texas was created to document the natural heritage of Texas and to encourage the preservation of rare and vulnerable Texas wildlife and plants. The map itself shows each of the 254 counties in Texas, along with their major cities and county seats, as well as natural features such as rivers, mountains, and forests. Endangered flora and fauna are illustrated and listed along the borders.
Upon taking office, each land commissioner is expected to release a map of Texas, a tradition that has been in place since the 1950s. For three decades and five land commissioners, essentially the same map was issued with minimal variation and updates. Then, in 1986, Commissioner Garry Mauro released The Natural Heritage Map of Texas to educate the public about the environment and encourage proper planning to preserve the environment, so that we can “leave a rich and diverse inheritance for those who come after us.” This map started a new trend for subsequent land commissioners, each of whom would issue a map that reflected an issue that was important to their respective administrations.
Today, visitors to the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records, when entering the Map Vault, will see The Natural Heritage Map of Texas hanging on the side of a gigantic map cabinet, welcoming tour-goers. This map is among the first things visible when entering the vault. Perhaps, in a way, that is so the ocelot that is prominently featured can somehow protect the map vault from those that might do harm, and maybe inspire younger visitors to the General Land Office to develop their own love of maps and history.
