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Trying to follow this. So far, I think the consensus is the NAWAC has failed to shoot Teddy Roosevelt? OTOH, there is a good possibility wood apes in S.E. OK are the remnant population of loggers who clear-cut themselves out of a job? Not sure which it is.

Not to belabor a point, nor derail a thread, but I feel like I need to correct information presented in this thread. I just spent the last few hours pouring over the logging history of Oklahoma and the Ouachita National Forest. According to the facts that I found, of the original 13 million acres of forested lands in Oklahoma (as recorded in 1804), 8 million acres remained in forest cover by the time the National Forest preserve was established in 1908. Commercial logging in OK began in 1880, but didn't enter many areas until 1898. In fact, the Indian Territories (including Area X) are described in 1898 as "vast unharvested timberlands." Logging in those areas didn't start until 1907. By 1908, the Forest Preserve that would become the Ouachita National Forest was established and protecting lands from over harvest. I further found that only certain trees were ever harvested (mainly pine), leaving plenty of unmerchantable trees standing. This is hardly the view that every single tree in OK was cut down and no habitat was available in the 1800s to the 1900s.

Once this species is proven to science? I'll join you with bells on.