Not only a new look, but we also finally have online payment for membership or donation with credit or debit cards, or your PayPal account. Or, you can still download a membership form and send a check.

Many thanks to former executive committee member Becky Sans for all the hours she spent organizing and updating information before we were ready to hire the website design and development company, Xeara, owned by Lynn Stanphill. (See Xeara.com) Mr. Stanphill is teaching several of us volunteers how to do the editing on the site so the Society can save money by doing its own site maintenance.

January 2024
Start-Your-New-Year-Right Nature Walk –
Date: Monday January 1, 2024
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Location: Halff Park at Ranger Drive

Start your new year with a refreshing walk in the Preserve. Your walk leader will be one of several folks who know their way around this wonderful section of our Preserve. The trail leading from Halff Park takes us through some of the biggest trees in the Preserve. This is also the most wild section. After walking a few yards into the forest, it is hard to believe that civilization is just a few steps away.

____________________Speaker Series –
Amy Martin, Author of Wild DFW
Date: Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom

Amy’s presentation, Wild DFW: Never See North Texas Nature the Same Way Again, is a photo-filled tour of 25 top nature spaces in North Texas from Amy Martin’s book Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (Timber Press).

Author and naturalist Amy Martin nearly died four years ago from a severely broken neck. She learned to walk again by hiking natural trails. Those hikes are an integral part of Wild DFW. Hear her inspiring story woven with rhapsodic passages from the book. Learn how a little knowledge about natural history and ecology can transform your perception of North Texas nature.

Astounding color photos bring alive peak experiences from the 25 featured hiking adventures through hardwood bottomland forests and Eastern Cross Timbers, soaring limestone escarpments, lush wetlands, and rare remnants of Blackland and Fort Worth Prairies. Get to know a diverse community of volunteers working for nature.

A journalist and writer for over 40 years, Amy Martin is the author of several nature books. She is currently senior features writer for Green Source DFW. Martin sits on the Dallas County Open Space’s Trails and Preserves Program board and serves as state social media director for Native Prairies Association of Texas. For twelve years, she managed wildlife habitat rehabilitation on a private nature preserve in northeast Texas, including converting fifteen acres of pasture into tallgrass prairie. She is a certified Texas Master Naturalist with the North Texas chapter. Find her writings at Moonlady.com.
Meet Amy in person on our 4th Sunday Nature Walk. Amy is the walk leader. See below.

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Special Events –
Bird Walks with Reba
Dates: Saturday, January 13 and Sunday, January 14
Location: 1787 Holford Road
Time: 8:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Reservations required: Limited to 10 people for each walk. Contact Reba at rcollins20@verizon.net to reserve a spot.

Do you want to learn what birds spend the winter in Spring Creek Forest? Come for a morning walk and learn to identify some of our wintering birds. Reba recently returned from a “bucket list” trip to India to see the incredible birds in that part of the world. Ask her about the leech boots they got to wear!

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

Cedar Waxwing – A favorite bird that comes to Dallas for the winter

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Monthly Work Session
Date: January 13, 2024
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: Halff Park at Ranger Drive
Trail maintenance is due on the trails that lead from Halff Park. You might be lopping back overgrowth, toting off downed tree limbs, weed-whacking back grasses from the trail. Of course, picking up any trash you might see.

We break into teams and each team has a knowledgeable volunteer, so you know exactly what to do.
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:

• BRING WATER and insect repellant.
• 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.

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4th Sunday Walk – Amy Martin
A Walk in the Wilds of Garland
Date: January 28, 2024
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Halff Park at Ranger drive 

Amy Martin leads us from Halff Park down the Ranger Trail. Our own Spring Creek Forest Preserve is the first adventure described in Amy Martin’s book Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (Timber Press). It is indeed an honor to be included this wonderful collection of nature walk stories. It also helps to bring new people to the Preserve. Sometimes folks live nearby but have never heard of Spring Creek Forest Preserve. Newcomers are always surprised to learn this special area has been here all along.

Amy will have books for sale at the walk on the 28^th. Also, people that already own books can bring them to be autographed.

February 2024

Speaker Series –
Carol Garrison – Aquatic Macro Invertebrates
Date: Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom

Riparian areas like Spring Creek Forest Preserve are hosts to an amazing variety of aquatic macro invertebrates.  Join Carol as she introduces you to the smaller residents of this habitat and their amazing diversity of adaptations uniquely suited for the aquatic environment.

Carol is a 3rd generation native Texan and has been a North Texas Master Naturalist since 2015.  She recently moved to Georgia and is an environmental educator and nature center docent at the Fayette Environmental Education Center, a project of the Southern Conservation Trust.  She is a certified Bat Ambassador with Bat Conservation International and a Certified Interpretive Guide through the National Association of Interpreters. Carol is the winner of the 2023 Excellence in Environmental Excellence award from the Texas Association for Environmental Education.  When she’s not working, she is exploring all the nature areas in Southern Georgia and making observations for iNaturalist along the way. She surpassed 10K observations last year!

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Monthly Work Session
Date: February 10, 2024
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: 1770 Holford
We will work on the Trout Lily Trail so it will look great for our 31^st annual Trout Lily Walk that comes up on February 25.

We break into teams and each team has a knowledgeable volunteer, so you know exactly what to do.
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.

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Spring Creek Preserve induction in the national network of Old Growth Forests
Date: February 24, 2024
Time 1:00 – 1:45 p.m.
Location: 1770 Holford
The Society is so honored that our Preserve has been selected to be a part of the national Old-Growth Forest Network. This is the only national network in the U.S. of protected, old-growth, native forests where people of all generations can experience biodiversity and the beauty of nature.

The Network goal is to locate and designate at least one protected forest in every county in the United States that can sustain a native forest. They estimate that to be approximately 2,370 out of 3,140 total counties. To achieve this aim they work to identify forests for the Network, ensure their protection, and inform people of the forest locations. We are building not only a network of forests, but also an alliance of people who care about forests.

 
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Special Event for Members Only–
Walk the Trout Lily Trail with Tom Frey
Date: February 24, 2024
Time 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: 1770 Holford

Tom will lead current Society members through the Trout lily fields, down to the creek, and up to the meadow. He always has new information about our Preserve and its ecology as you walk through our fabulous Preserve with him.

4^th Sunday Nature Walk –
The 31^st Annual Trout Lily Walk
Date: Sunday, February 25, 2024
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: 1770 Holford

Yes, Tom Frey, regionally acclaimed naturalist and Society mentor, will be with us again for the 30th 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.

We hope to see you there!