Talks & Walks Calendar

A Deep Dive into North Texas Ecotone & its Natural Wonders

Sunday, January 25 – 3 to 4:15 pm
arrive at 2:30 pm

Location: North Haven Gardens https://nhg.com/
7700 Northaven Rd, Dallas, TX 75230
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1bPAZTAujqtqWgqEA

Greater Dallas Organic Gardening Club
https://www.gdogc.org/

Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (https://Wild-DFW.com), will make you curious about what’s beneath your feet. Why is North Texas an epic ecotone? What is the Great Trinity Forest the easternmost example of? How do tilted layers of bedrock shape our three ecoregions, foster a plethora of soil types, and lead to our plant and wildlife diversity. And why did they tilt?

Learn of places to experience these tenets firsthand from the book’s 25 hiking adventures. Enjoy astounding photography by skilled naturalists of 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. Follow Wild DFW on Facebook and Instagram.

Photo by Vijay Tanwar that shows where Austin Chalk meets Eagle Ford Shale.

A Life in Moonlight

Nov. 2 Sunday — 11 am to noon

Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
1111 Cordell St., Denton TX 76201

Become swept away by the Moonlady and enthralled by the magic of the Moon in this purely poetic talk. Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (wild-dfw.com), will share her relationship with the Moon and expound on the nature of moonlight and the art of living with lunar phases, and how we owe our existence to tides and the nature of synchrony. Learn to live in tune with the Moon.

Part of the Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship service on Sunday. Open to all faith traditions or those of none at all. All are welcome. Also online; see website for link.

Amy Martin has been deeply tied to nature, on Earth and above, since a toddler. She writes about nature in books (Wild DFW, Itchy Business, Speaking of Mother Earth) and for GreenSourceDFW (greensourcedfw.org), and volunteers extensively to aid urban nature in its healing. She recommends a good howl at the Moon on a regular basis. Better than therapy. Which is why she’s called the Moonlady (moonlady.com).

Wild Lands of Denton County

Feb 4 Wed – 7 to 8:30 pm

The REC of Grapevine: 1175 Municipal Way, Grapevine, Texas, 76051

Denton County is home to three of the five largest—ranging from 2600 to 3700 acres— nature parks and preserves in North Texas: Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center (Denton), Ray Roberts Lake State Park (Pilot Point), and Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area, called LLELA. That’s bragging rights!

Get to know them all—rich bottomland woods, wide open prairies, upland forests, wetlands, river and creek riparian corridors, and more—in this talk.

Speaking for Keep Grapevine Beautiful as part of their commitment toward environmental stewardship.

Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth, will share excerpts and photos from those chapters in the book, woven with the dramatic story of recovering from a traumatically broken neck by walking dirt trails at these and other locations.

Photo of Bittern Marsh at LLELA by Daniel Koglin.

Piedmont Ridge Trout Lily & Winter Tree ID Walk w Bob Richie & Amy Martin

Feb 21 Sat – 10 am to 1 pm, please arrive at 9:45 am

Scyene and Lacywood Overlook Trailheads

2725 N Jim Miller Rd, Dallas, TX 75227

Attendance limited. Sign-up here: https://volunteersignup.org/HP9QK

A $5 and up donation appreciated and will go toward trail signage. Please pay in advance by Venmo (@D-Smith-35) or Zelle (2147972475).

Take an amble at the leisurely speed of botany to the Lacywood Overlook to take in an epic view of downtown Dallas. Along the way, learn from naturalist Bob Richie how to identify trees solely from their bark and branching structure. You will appreciate the beauty of trees on a new level. Amy will relay the geologic history of Piedmont Ridge.

A short jaunt through the (albeit brushy) Renda Meadow will bring more trees and winter-active herbaceous plants to learn about. Then through the Comanche Lodgepole Woods of eastern red cedars to the Scyene Overlook and its views all the way to Cedar Hill, with the hopes of finding tiny trout lilies on the rocky slopes. Amy will relay the Native American and pioneer history of Piedmont Ridge.

Bob Richie is a Dallas native who raises bees, chickens, rabbits, cats and dogs. He likes birds, plants, bugs, fish, herps, fungi, kayaking, fly fishing, anthropology, archaeology, etc. An amateur naturalist since an early age, he has spent much of his life outdoors.

Amy Martin is the author of @Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (Wild-DFW.com). Piedmont Ridge is a chapter in the book. Amy is a co-founder of @Friends of Piedmont Ridge and a new nonprofit, @Friends of the Forest Dallas.

Amy Martin is the author of @Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (Wild-DFW.com). Piedmont Ridge is a chapter in the book. Amy is a co-founder of @Friends of Piedmont Ridge and a new nonprofit, @Friends of the Forest Dallas. Hill, with the hopes of finding tiny trout lilies on the rocky slopes. Amy will relay the Native American and pioneer history of Piedmont Ridge.

Wear long pants and sturdy closed-toe shoes.

Never See North Texas Nature the Same Way Again

Rockwall Butterfly Brigade
https://www.facebook.com/RockwallButterflyBrigade/

March 3 Tues – 6:30 probably, exact TBA

location TBA, private residence

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: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth. 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.

Wild DFW is Martin’s way of facilitating others to find the healing power of nature and the natural wonder she felt as a child. Get to know a diverse community of volunteers working for nature.

Photo of Sunset Cove at Ray Roberts Lake State Park by Denise Thompson.

13 Things You Need to Know About the Poison Oak and Ivy Rash

Sept 24 Thur – 11:30 am to 1 pm

Myers Park & Event Center 
7117 Co Rd 166, McKinney, TX 75071

In this subversively funny talk, Amy Martin, author of Itchy Business: How to Treat the Poison Ivy and Poison Oak Rash, Prevent Exposure and Eradicate the Plant, shares her deep knowledge of poison oak and ivy gleaned from 12 years working in wildlife habitat management. Facts such as that soap is terrible for removing urushiol from the skin and the poison oak and ivy barrier creams that actually work.

You’ll learn how humans are the only animal allergic to poison oak and ivy, and why your immunity to poison oak and ivy can change at any time. Understand that the rash is an allergy to be managed, not a poison to be extracted, and how you respond to its allergen depends on a number of factors. Discover the herbs that are far better treating the rash than jewelweed and effective topical minerals like Milk of Magnesia. Afterwards, share your story of rash woe. It’s an entertaining talk that will leave you itching for more.