New Texas A&M Forest Service office breaks ground in Nacogdoches

A new Texas A&M Forest Service regional office is under construction at 428 NE Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches after the agency broke ground on July 1, 2026.

The planned facility is intended to provide more room for wildfire response, incident management, equipment and personnel staging, forest stewardship, landowner assistance and community outreach. The agency says construction is expected to take about 12 months. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation project record lists December 16, 2026, as the completion date, but that date is not a guaranteed public opening date.

A larger base for a regional response team

The new building is planned as a 3,774-square-foot, single-story facility with offices, a training room and a conference room. The Texas A&M Forest Service says the project includes a $1.8 million investment from the Permanent University Fund through the Texas A&M University System.

TDLR separately lists an estimated project cost of $1.5 million and identifies the work as publicly funded new construction. The records do not present those figures as identical: the agency describes $1.8 million as its Permanent University Fund investment, while TDLR reports the estimated cost recorded for the project.

The facility is intended to provide a permanent base for personnel and resources serving Nacogdoches and the wider East Texas region. The Forest Service says it will support emergency operations while also serving as a regional hub for forest stewardship, landowner assistance and community outreach.

Replacing an office that no longer fits the work

The current Nacogdoches office was established in 1977. Texas A&M Forest Service officials say the agency has outgrown the site.

KTRE/KBTX reported that the current office houses 10 employees, including foresters, coordinators and resource specialists. The report said the existing location has limited space for a modern wildfire-response operation and is near two hazardous intersections that make it difficult for large equipment to enter and leave. It also reported that the current site will eventually be affected by a new interstate.

According to KTRE/KBTX, the new 10-acre site could allow the agency to add two or three employees and create room to surge personnel and resources when wildfire risk is high. Those staffing and access details come from the local television report, and the new site has not yet opened.

Nacogdoches County response history

The Forest Service says it responded to 102 wildfires in Nacogdoches County from 2021 through 2025. Those fires burned 1,174 acres, while agency efforts saved 78 structures valued at approximately $14 million.

Those figures provide local context for the project, but they do not mean every fire required the same level of Forest Service deployment. The agency’s documented work also includes helping landowners manage forests, training communities and fire departments, and educating residents about wildfire prevention.

What residents should watch next

For Nacogdoches residents, the immediate change is construction rather than a completed service upgrade. The new office has not yet been shown to improve response times, reduce fire damage or guarantee additional equipment.

Its practical effects will become clearer after the building is finished, staffed and operating. For now, the project represents a public investment in local and regional emergency-response capacity, with a TDLR-listed completion date of December 16, 2026, and an agency expectation of roughly 12 months of construction.

Sources

• Texas A&M Forest Service project announcement
• TDLR project record TABS2026012266
• KTRE/KBTX local report