Update on damage to the forest –

Folks, of course there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that so many of you came to the City Council work session on July 21. Thank you so much. It was great for the city administration to see how much you love the Preserve and want it to thrive.

The good news is the people at the top of the city government are taking the issue seriously, giving it top priority, and are trying to find the least invasive way forward. In addition to the work session, the Society executive committee has now met twice with Garland Mayor Dylan Hedrick and City Manager Jud Rex, plus Assistant City Managers Crystal Owens and Andy Hesser. They have apologized for the lack of oversight of the contracting company that bludgeoned its way through the woods and for the lack of communication between departments. The meetings have been civilized and rational, with time given for all sides to fully express their outlook on the problem. For more details, read the latest city message posted July 24, 2025, on the Garland “City News” site https://www.garlandtx.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=3603.

The fact is, we must have a clean creek, not only to meet clean water standards but so the creek can nurture and keep alive and healthy the hundreds of species of animals, trees, plants, fish, amphibians, insects and, yes, people that depend on it. Everything about the Preserve started because the creek found its way through this land hundreds of years ago. If it is not clean, the Preserve could eventually die.

Also, fact – we must have a well-maintained, safe sewer line to serve the 40,000 people who look forward to flushing their toilets several times a day. A backed-up sewer times 40,000 would not be good news. Unfortunately, that sewer line is currently in the creek.

And so, the bad news is, we must inspect and repair the sewer line that was placed down the middle of the creek in the 1970s. While we are horrified at the probable destruction of parts of our forest, we all would be just as horrified if our creek were contaminated by a sewer break that then killed the animals and plants relying on it for drinking water.

The bad news is, in the short term for at least the next year or so, depending on the amount of maintenance and repair work that is discovered, big equipment will inevitably be needed at various places along the cliff edge and also down in the creek bed. That is along the full extent of the creek through the Preserve and greenbelt – from Halff Park on the east to Garland Road, through the Preserve at 1770 Holford, through the Preserve at 1787 Holford, and all the way west to Harris Park on Shiloh Road. No one yet knows the extent of the project.

The good news is the work on the utility equipment access roads is at a halt.

Additional good news is an outside company has been hired to fully assess the project and the options for the best ways to complete that work in the least invasive manner. So, we don’t need to chain ourselves to the trees – just yet.

And really good news is that the Society executive committee’s offer to help find the correct plants for the restoration has been welcomed by the city. Did you know that the genetic makeup of a Shumard oak in your yard is NOT the same genetic makeup of the Shumard oaks in the forest? Members of the Preservation Society, along with partners in the Texas Master Naturalist program and Native Plant Society of Texas, will have a chance to collect and propagate seeds from native plants in the area. Therefore, we hope to have genetically correct species ready for habitat restoration when the time comes in a year or so.

That is 5 good news and 2 very major bad news.

Additional Thoughts:
The whole idea of putting a sewer line down the middle of a creek is such a strange juxtaposition – pipe carrying black-water waste is installed in the middle of the local creek which we rely on to provide clean water. Yes, in the 1970s, it made monetary and engineering sense – the creek found the easiest way to flow downhill, so why not use water physics to move waste from one place to the next. What could go wrong?

But today, for our Preserve, we hope that the city will begin working on the feasibility of a new project – the get the Pipeline Out Of the Preserve Project. The name conveniently forms an acronym – the P-O-O-P Project.

When we get the sewer out of there – no inspections, no maintenance. When we get the sewer out of there – no roads or ramps. When we get the sewer out of there – cleaner water and the forest can really begin regrowing. Ask the city to please initiate the new project now so that in 5-10 years our creek will be sewer free. Side note: Yes, it will be very expensive.

Check out our website, springcreekforest.org. We have a new page dedicated to sewer update information. On the menu, go to “All News,” “Sewer Project Update.”

Trail from Halff Park parking lot to the destroyed area. Photo by Vince Hale.

Destruction is far more than 12 feet wide in many places.
Photo by Vince Hale.

Example of sewer manhole in the creek. Photo by Vince Hale.