​​Pineywoods Environmental Research Lab

What is PERL? 

The Pineywoods Environmental Research Laboratory (PERL) is a biological field station, founded in 2001, owned by Sam Houston State University (SHSU) and operated by the College of Science & Engineering Technology, Department of Biological Sciences. The mission of PERL is to serve as the institutional leader in ecology education, stewardship, research, and environmental sustainability for the East Texas Pineywoods.

In addition to our role in supporting research and education, PERL is building legacy archives of data, specimens, and accumulated knowledge. Such legacies will contribute to the framework for documenting and understanding the nature and pace of ecosystem, regional, and global changes in environmental conditions; ecological processes; and biodiversity. 

PERL is important because of its close proximity to Houston, population 2.2 million, the largest city in the Southern United States. The urban sprawl is rapidly expanding and will soon touch the southern edge of the Sam Houston National Forest, less than 30 miles from Huntsville. PERL may play a critical role in research related to the sustainability of biotic resources and the quality of human life in this rapidly changing landscape.