September 3, 2024 was a big day for Dallas County Parks & Open Space (DCOS). During the regular meeting of the Dallas County Commissioners Court, the Dallas County Open Space Master Plan, two years in the making, was officially accepted by the commissioners. The previous plan was created over 30 years ago. Lenny Hughes of Halff Associates,...
Excerpted from the Dallas Morning News, August 5, 2024 Urban wildlife comes alive as Dallas-Fort Worth goes to sleep By Jordan Chapman As urban sprawl continues, animals that once roamed in the daylight have been forced to come out at night, researchers say. Photo: Sam Kieschnick, of the Texas Department of Wildlife, points out the...
Anne Weary grew up living in what was then a very rural part of Garland. Her father owned quite a bit of land along Holford Road between Arapaho Road and what is now George Bush Tollway. She rode her horse, they had a few cattle, and their historic house had been built in 1936. She loved to draw the creek, forest and prairie adjacent to their...
Date: Saturday, February 24, 2024 Time 1:00 – 1:45 p.m. Location: 1770 Holford Road This event was a first-of-its-kind distinction. Representatives from the Old-Growth Forest Network (OGFN) officially inducted the Spring Creek Forest Preserve into the national network which celebrates our oldest protected and publicly accessible forests. In the...
Texas Master Naturalists Share Their Talents with Spring Creek Forest Preserve On November 4, 2023, Spring Creek Forest Preserve in Garland received the gift of 25 energetic North Texas Master Naturalists. Each volunteer gave three hours of volunteering to remove woody trees and shrubs encroaching on the beautiful limestone prairie, remove...
New Book by Amy Martin – Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth Natural history, ecology, and geography of North Texas… a field guide to over 100 species of flora and fauna… and 25 eye-opening hiking adventures. Over 350 color photos and 40 detailed maps in a gorgeously laid out book. Spring Creek is featured! Spring Creek...
Read about our Preserve in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine Steve Walker, a local writer and our geocaching friend, wrote an article on Anne Weary and Spring Creek Forest and Park Preserve in the June 2023 issue of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. The TPWD staff did a photo shoot with Steve and Anne at the Preserve, and the article...
Have you ever wondered why? According to the creators of the Spring Creek Forest Preserve Master Development Plan that was written in 1992, the Preserve is a unique old-growth bottomland hardwood community. It should be protected because there are very few old-growth forests remaining in North Central Texas and because of its plant diversity. The...
On October 18, 2022, at the Garland City Council meeting, the city of Garland’s Environmental and Community Advisory Board (ECAB) recognized Society president David Parrish for his environmental work in the Garland community. David was presented with a well-earned Special Recognition Award. David wears many hats – he is our Society president, a...
Honorary Lifetime Memberships Ginny Wilcox and Fay Danahy were awarded Honorary Lifetime Memberships at our March meeting. These two ladies were there at the beginning of the Society in 1989. They kept the Society going through several years when interest had ebbed. But they kept at it and found others who were interested and then found some...
On February 1, 2022, Tom Frey was the guest for our Speaker Series. Tom has been associated with our Preserve since before it was designated Preserve. He was a landscape architect with the Garland Parks Department, working for GPD Director Jim Stone, all during the time in the 1980s when the area was being evaluated. He worked with many people...
City of Garland Fire Department helps Society remove a rusting car In February 2016, the Society spearheaded the removal of a long-abandoned, rusting Subaru which had been hiding in plain sight in the Preserve behind the Curtis Culwell Center. Then-Mayor Doug Athas, who is now on the Society Trail Monitoring Team, approved a request made by...