January 2026 Announcements

Contact the Society: springcreekforestpreservation@gmail.com

Kimley-Horn started the environmental and drainage assessment and the sub-consultant, SCI, began the topographic survey.

Assessment of how the maintenance of the sewer line project through the Preserve and greenbelt has begun. The assessors pledged to access the creek with as little damage as possible using drones and cameras where possible. The Society feels they will follow through with this pledge as best they can. Below is one photo showing the difficulty they will have getting through woody debris. They hope to finish the assessment in late January or early February, barring weather and other delays. Then the actual work will begin.

We must remember that there is still likely a lot of harm that will have to be done. Because of that potential harm caused by sewer in the creek, please advocate for the POOP Project every chance you get. Let’s get the Pipeline Out Of the Preserve!

Photo: Man-hole in Spring Creek, by Kimley-Horn, December 2025

For many years, Henry and Judy Aschner have maintained our beautiful, well-established wildscape garden at 1787 Holford, but they have recently moved to Santa Fe. Now, our wildscape is looking for a new caretaker.

Do you like to surround yourself – as little as once a month – with native plants and pollinators? Do you like to get your hands in the dirt…and to share your knowledge of gardening (or learn more, with the guidance of Preservation Society members?) If so, we’d love to work with you.

All supplies are provided, and work can be done on your own schedule. This activity counts as volunteer hours for North Texas Master Naturalists. For more information, please contact Dana Wilson, danawilson59@yahoo.com.

Wildscape at 1787 Holford

Start the New Year Right Nature Walk

Date: Thursday, January 1, 2026
Time: Walks start every 10 or 15 minutes from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
LOCATION CHANGE TO: 1770 Holford Dr.

Start your new year with a refreshing walk in the Preserve. Note that these are definitely walks, not hikes. Come at your convenience between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Small-group walks leave every 10 or 15 minutes from 9 until 10:30 a.m.

Your walk leader will be one of a team of folks who know their way around this wonderful section of our Preserve. The trails leading from 1770 Holford take us through the area originally set aside for Preserve. After walking a few yards into the forest, it is hard to believe that civilization is just a few steps away.

Note – dress for the weather and note that it might be muddy on the trails.

Speaker Series –
Mela Singleton – Your Wild Neighbors
Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89187002517?pwd=Ujc1UTEyVjNNbDhUUFJYMjFCV2lNdz09

Meeting ID: 891 8700 2517
Passcode: 212786

Your Wild Neighbors is a fun and interesting look at the wildlife most often seen in the DFW area. Mela’s presentation is full of anecdotes from wildlife rehabbers, and it highlights facts specific to different species. She will briefly discuss why certain species thrive in an urban environment. She will also explain why the practice of trapping and relocating animals is no longer approved by wildlife experts. And she will discuss some do-it-yourself exclusion techniques and other recommended procedures to keep them away from your house.

Mela has dedicated more than 20 years to animal welfare and the stewardship of local wildlife. She is the owner of 911 Wildlife and the founder and board chair of the North Texas Wildlife Center. Mela collaborates with numerous animal welfare organizations and shelters, and serves on the Wildlife Rehabilitators Committee for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. She focuses on bringing awareness to the spaces where people and wildlife intersect.

Photo – Opossum

Work Session – Trail Maintenance

Date: Saturday, January 10, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: 1770 Holford

We will groom the BelAir trail to make it smooth going for walkers and we will remove the invasive Amur honeysuckle bushes. We break into teams, and each team has a knowledgeable leader.

For last-minute information, especially if the weather is questionable, check our website or Facebook page for updates, including dates and locations which may change because of conditions. We don’t want anyone working in the forest or on the prairie if there is a chance of lightning strikes.

• Safety Information: Each work session begins with a safety briefing.
• BRING WATER and bug repellent.
• Close-toed shoes are mandatory. Heavy work gloves, long pants, and protective eyewear are recommended for your protection from poison ivy and thorns.
• If you have them, bring loppers and/or small tree saws. (No power tools.)
• All participants and the parents of minors must sign our Liability Waiver.
• Youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult; no drop off/pick up of those under 18.
• For Master Naturalists, this may count as Volunteer Hours on the Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest project.

Why is it called the Bel Air trail – The car was somehow driven into the forest long before if was declared a preserve. Over the years, it rusted and animals nested in it. At some point, someone decided to help it out with a bit of paint. Off and on it has been multi-colored, pink, and lately, green.

Guided Bird Walks with Reba Collins
Dates: Saturday, January 17, 2026, and Sunday, January 18, 2026
Time: 8:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Location: 1787 Holford, Garland, TX.

Walk with Reba Collins, certified birder and world traveler, to see what birds spend the winter in Spring Creek Forest. Come for a morning walk and learn to identify some of our wintering birds.

Reservations required: Limited to 10 people for each walk. Contact Reba at rcollins20@verizon.net to reserve a spot.

Dress for the weather. If it has been raining, rain boots may be appropriate. Bring binoculars.

Photo: Cedar Waxwing visits Dallas in the winter

Partners in Preservation:
A Volunteer Garland and Preservation Society Special Event

Date: Sunday, January 18, 2026
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. (arrive early to sign in and pick up gloves and supplies).
Location: 1787 Holford Road
Note: Registration required – see below

Long ago, there was a home on the west end of Spring Creek Forest Preserve, and the homeowners used the forest as a dump for tin cans and car parts… ☹ Join the Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest Preserve and Volunteer Garland for a special hands-on stewardship experience at Spring Creek Forest Preserve to recover this area.

This volunteer opportunity includes conservation work followed by a guided walk through the woods along Spring Creek. It’s also a unique chance to meet and work alongside members of Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest and the Volunteer Garland team and learn more about ongoing preservation efforts.

Volunteers will clear and bag a pile of old rusted cans and other trash, remove invasive plant species from three nearby locations within the same area, and conclude the event with a guided walk through the woods along Spring Creek. All activities will be supervised, and tools/instructions will be provided.

Close-toe shoes and long pants are mandatory, dress for the weather. Youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult; no drop off/pick up of those under 18.

Details: Registration required at https://www.volunteergarland.org/need/detail/?need_id=1180049.
Questions?: danawilson59@yahoo.com

Photo – gas can

Photo – food cans

4th Sunday Nature Walk –
Dana Wilson – shows us how to
Identify trees in Winter

Date: Sunday, January 25, 2026
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: 1770 Holford Rd.

Dana is known throughout north Texas for her expertise in identifying plants and she works tirelessly to inform folks about the treasures we have in the region. She worked for the National Audubon Society for the openings of Trinity River Audubon (Dallas) and Dogwood Canyon Audubon (Cedar Hill). Her long-time love of plants keeps her busy instructing volunteers on how to gather seed and cuttings from our own native plants to help with the regrowth of the Halff Park area when the sewer project is completed.

She is a member of the North Texas Master Naturalists (class of 2001), the Native Plant Society of Texas, and she has been on the boards of our Preservation Society and Texas Discovery Gardens.

Tree – Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum alligator bark, by Vince Hale

Speaker Series –
Meghan Cassidy – Spiders! We Love ‘Em

Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom

Naturalist, photographer, and arachnid advocate Meghan Cassidy will discuss our amazing spiders and why they are so important to our ecosystem. This will be a fascinating presentation, and we hope you will join us.

Meghan is known throughout DFW for her expertise on arachnids.

Photo by T. Strombeck

Work Session –
Manage woody encroachment on the prairie.

Date: Saturday, February 14, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: 1787 Holford

When you have a smallish prairie, like ours, and it skirts a healthy creek and has heavy rain from time to time, the riparian forest along the edge of the creek is robust enough to want to expand into the prairie. Since we want our prairie to stay prairie, several times a year we lop back the encroaching trees and other woody species. Come and help us!

We break into teams, and each team has a knowledgeable leader.

4th Sunday Nature Walk –
33rd Annual Trout Lily Walk with Tom Frey

Date: Sunday, February 22, 2026
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: 1770 Holford Rd.

Yes, Tom Frey, a regionally acclaimed naturalist, will be with us again for the 33rd year.

Stroll on our trails to find Tom at the Trout lily field. Trout lilies are one of the first plants to flower in the spring. The tiny flowers are only in bloom from about mid-February through mid-March. Then, they disappear until next year.

Come any time between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. When you arrive, volunteers at the pavilion will welcome you and give you introductory information. Then, we will send you along the clearly marked trail to the Trout lily field. Tom Frey, our adviser, mentor, and friend will be at the Trout lily field. After you have seen the lilies and talked to Tom, you will walk along to the next marked spot, where we will have another knowledgeable naturalist that will tell you about the significance of that area of the Preserve. The volunteer naturalists will be at several stations along the trail from 2:00 until the last walkers go through.

This format helps solve the problem of so many folks in line on the walk that they can’t hear the information. It also allows folks to go at their own pace rather than having to follow a group. We hope to see you there!

Thanks to volunteer Danny Starnes, we have two new pages on our website.

Chronological Conservation –
Fixed-Point Photography Stations for Environmental Analysis

See the photos on our website: https://springcreekforest.org/chronological-conservation/

Fixed Point Photography Stations, created by Andrew Owen Troop 57-B Garland for his Eagle Scout project, provide photographic images of a single point in the landscape to observe the change of the environment over time – changes such as receding riverbanks, wildflower fields through the seasons, or tree lines pushing into the prairie. Images can be used to create time lapse videos and analyze changes to the landscape.

There are three photo stations in our Preserve. At each station, you can put your camera phone on the prop horizontally, take your photo, and then load it to the Society site using the QR code on the post. Two locations are at 1770 Holford – the Bluebird Prairie and Creek View stations; and one location at 1787 Holford – the Limestone Prairie station.

Notes: Each uploaded image is reviewed for approved content, so there may be a few days delay before posting. All images submitted to the fixed-point photo collection site are submitted free of copyright, claim, or other reservation, and are explicitly granted by the photographer to be used for educational and data collection purposes on the site.

Speaker Series – Videos posted to website

You now have access to view our speaker presentations any time you want to see them. Maybe you loved it and want to review some of the details, or perhaps you could not join the Zoom on that Tuesday evening.

Just go to this page on our website to watch them at your convenience. Or on the site, they are located at Events, Speaker Series Videos

https://springcreekforest.org/speaker-series-videos/

We were saddened to learn of the sudden passing of long-time Society member and volunteer Frank Bly on Nov. 28, 2025. You may have seen Frank (or his little royal blue pickup) at the Preserve, where he walked the trails almost every day. Frank was a quiet force for good, picking up trash and alerting Preservation Society Executive Committee about hazards on the walking trails.

Frank became involved at Spring Creek through his wife Maureen, another long-time Preservation Society volunteer and former Society president. We send thoughts of comfort and appreciation to Maureen and the Bly family for sharing this treasure with Spring Creek Preserve.

Frank’s obituary is published on Legacy.com by Chamberland Funerals & Cremations.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/frank-bly-obituary?id=60186094

The Executive Committee usually meets once a month. The meetings are open to the public. For information, please contact us at springcreekforestpreservation@gmail.com.