Project Nearing Completion
After working here in Orange, Tx six days a week since the beginning of December of '06, and travelling back to Katy where I live every week to spend one day with my wife and family, after all the cold and rain of January turning the dirt roads of this project into quagmires of sticky mud and frost driven sleet down my neck- after watching the foliage and fawna of this swampy paradise rejuvenate in the spring, watching the critters scurrying out of our way as we passed too and fro endlessly, and watching these rustic outbuildings take shape in the wild swampland and thick forest, I'm not pleased to be here as this state's lethal summer heats up and digs in, bearing down on us it's brutal intensity- and yet, as this project makes it's slow way around the bend inching closer to completion- I am pleased as hell to be a part of it's creation, and a part of it's completion.

This is the legacy of Lutcher Stark, of whom I have only heard bits about, but I know he wanted this parcel of land to stay wild, and aside from these six buildings we've planted in the backwoods it remains a sanctuary for the species that populated it when he was a kid brought here by his father to prospect for oil. And though they never drilled for the stuff here, it was found nearby, his father made his fortune off of it and passed his talent on to Lutcher, who continued in success- and in conservation. Obviously, Lutcher was convinced that there was a fragile beauty about this land that would be spoiled forever if oil exploration was allowed to commence here...and he forbit it.

And though the end of Lutcher's life was marred by controversy, his wishes were carried out by his last wife, Nelda- this parcel of land, now known as The Shangri La, would remain a wildlife sanctuary forever. When Nelda died, a board of directors took over the upkeep, and when funds meant to update the educational infrastructure were made available, this parcel of land took on a major facelift:

Onsite is now a world-class outdoor school comprised of a cluster of new buildings to welcome visitors to the property, modern amenities there: a theatre, a static display telling the Shangri La Story, Administration offices, a bookstore, a cafe and a transportation building housing multi-passenger atv's to spirit the visitors to the outbuildings. Of the six rustic outbuildings we've built, there are two classrooms, a bird blind overlooking a large lake where egrets have nested since before men came here, a boathouse on the bayou where a large pontoon boat is docked, and two large buildings where visitors can study the natural beauty with modern efficiency: An expo building where lectures and displays may be given and a climate-controlled laboratory complete with 21st century technology designed to accompany this location in it's effort to reach out to the youth in our society that may visit here, to reach them and allow them to see what most of us never do- what I have gradually come to understand as I've worked here these past seven months- that this place is a rare example of the intricate balance that takes place in this world apart from mankind, actually, I believe, in spite of mankind. A balance of species not in conflict with each other, but in symbiosis, each living in concert with each other, in perpetuity.

Make it a point, to travel here from wherever you are, to East Texas, here in swamp country.
It's in the town of Orange, just a stone's throw from the Texas/Louisiana state line, along Adam's bayou.

It's the Shangri La.  ¶ 6:22 PM 0 comments