Talks & Walks Calendar

October 26 Saturday – 1 to 3 pm

North Haven Gardens, 7700 Northaven Rd, Dallas, TX 75230

A breathless and breathtaking photo-filled tour of 25 top nature spaces in North Texas from Amy Martin’s popular Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth (Timber Press).

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.

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.

In honor of Native Plant Month, Martin will precede the talk with a few minutes of her favorite native plants from the book’s field guide and share which of the 25 places in the book’s hiking adventure section has the richest diversity of native plants.

Photo of wildflowers in Oak Point Nature Preserve in Plano by Carol Clark.

Prairie walk with Blackland Prairie chapter of Native Prairies Association of Texas

Sunday, October 27th, 2 to 5 pm

Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve
Park on Acorn Dr near Abbotsford. Google maps marker: https://maps.app.goo.gl/baStRsuYoJYDbH5DA

Please register so we can notify of any changes: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/npatblacklandchapter/1387694

A native prairie remnant in the middle of Plano? Come experience the Blackland Prairie of Oak Point Park & Nature Preserve and recreate the walk in that adventure chapter of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth. (Book info: https://Wild-DFW.com/)

We’ll wander off trail through a prairie section east of Los Rios Blvd., take a paved trail underneath the thoroughfare, and connect with Old Morton Vale Rd (closed to traffic). Then we’ll meander along a cute low wooden fence to explore a prairie remnant and prairie restoration that Carol Clark and Collin County NPSOT prevented from being developed into a concert facility, and cross Los Rios to return.

Wear long pants and sturdy shoes as it will be off trail and dirt trail. Sun visor or hat suggested as there’s no shade. Pack plenty of water. Bug spray or sulfur for chiggers is prudent. No bathroom facilities along the route. iNaturalist observations appreciated.

Photo by Carol Clark.

The Trinity River: The Watery Tie that Binds North Texas
talk and river walk
Saturday November 2 at 1 to 2:30 pm

John Bunker Sands Wetland Center
655 Martin Ln, Combine, TX 75159
https://wetlandcenter.com/

Talk followed (hopefully) by special walk for a rare opportunity to see the East Fork, by permission of the North Texas Municipal Water District. OR talk followed by a saunter on the boardwalks.

<> The Trinity River: The Watery Tie that Binds North Texas <>

There is only one river in North Texas: the Trinity. Once rejected and forgotten, paid attention to only when it floods, the Trinity is transforming from a place of refuse to refuge. First, a short romp through our river follies, like when the West Fork was called River of Death and the insane attempts to turn the Trinity into a barge canal to the Gulf. Then we’ll take a tour of the Trinity’s four forks—Clear, East, Elm, and West—exploring each one’s unique characteristics, plus the nature preserves and attractions they are home to. This riverine network is home to the Trinity River Paddling Trail, a National Park Service recreation trail with over 120 miles of floating fun.

Photo of the Trinity River in the Great Trinity Forest by Daniel Koglin.

Friends of Piedmont Ridge Workdays!

Mark your calendars please:
Oct 6 Sun.
Nov 3 Sun.
Both from 1:30 to 4 pm

Meet in the parking lot at 2725 N Jim Miller Rd, Dallas TX 75217, a few blocks south of Scyene by the baseball field.

Please register so we can notify you of last-minute changes: https://volunteersignup.org/99ETT

For Oct 6 Sun, we’ll be getting the trail ready for the onslaught of fall foliage hikers. We’ve finalized the beautification agreement with Dallas Parks & Recreation (yay Kristi!), so we’re cleared to cut. So bring loppers and we’ll widen the Lacywood and Scyene Overlook Trail, and begin the privet clearing process around trees we’ve identified as exceptional. We’ll also test out the temporary wayfinding signs and make sure they make sense to everyone. Bring trash sacks for litter picking.

Nov 3 Sun will be more of the same, with the added bonus of enjoying fall foliage as we do.

Trail maintenance support provided by Trinity Coalition: https://trinitycoalition.org/

Message us your email address to be added to the Friends of Piedmont Ridge email list.

Friends of Piedmont Ridge (White Rock Bluffs) Facebook page coming soon!

Monday, November 4, 2024 — 10 am to noon

AARP 3880 Casa Linda Dallas

Casa View Assembly of God

9949 Ferguson Road, Dallas, TX 75228

Wild DFW: The Nature We Call Home

Blending poetic passages from the book Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth with her own profound experiences, and illustrated with the book’s astounding photographs, Amy Martin will inspire about the nature we call home and how it helped her heal from a near-fatal spinal injury. The passion of the prairie, the nurturing bottomland forest, the elusive Trinity River, the soaring escarpments, and the survivor Eastern Cross Timbers, Amy will bring insight into how to appreciate and explore our North Texas nature.

Piedmont Ridge: Hike North Texas with Dallas Sierra Club & Wild DFW

Nov 9 Sat – 9:30 am to 2 pm

2725 N Jim Miller Rd Dallas TX 75217 (softball field parking lot) Google maps

Enjoy long-distance hikes through fascinating large preserves and parks — without leaving DFW. Dallas Sierra Club joins with Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth, to offer quarterly hikes on trails as wild as North Texas has to offer. Explore these places with naturalists and others that know them the best. 

First up: Piedmont Ridge, part of the Dallas parks system and the northernmost section of the Great Trinity Forest. Best place to experience fall foliage in Dallas. We’ll hike every trail there. Two sections of soaring limestone escarpment with unique upland woods (Scyene/Lacywood Overlook Trails and Piedmont Ridge Trail), connected by a long stretch of lush bottomland forest (JJ Beeman Trail). About 5 miles.

Points-of-interest naturalist mini-breaks: 4 overlooks that afford views of the Great Trinity Forest (in autumn colors!), downtown and across the county to Cedar Hill… historic Comanche eastern red cedar lodgepole woods… historic settlers’ black walnut grove… ridgetop Blackland Prairie.

We hope these hikes will help Dallas and surroundings develop a mindset of embracing its nature with a deep sense of pride. From that will arise more trails and greater land preservation. You don’t have to travel far for great nature.

Donations for hike leader thank-you gifts and park/preserve donations appreciated: TBA. 

Wild DFWs available for purchase. Book info.

Hike North Texas Specifics

• Typical hike length: 4 to 7 miles. Options for additional miles provided. 
• Typical hike time: 4 to 5 hours.

This will be unfettered nature, so keep in mind: 

• Terrain will frequently be rugged with some elevation changes. 
• Trails narrow will always be dirt and usually narrow, but with some easy sections.  
• While we’ll go at a good pace, there will be stops for exceptional naturalist points of interest. 

Come prepared: 

• Wear closed-toed shoes and long pants. 
• Pack multiple water bottles (24 oz. recommended.
• Bring a bag lunch, snack bars and such for our mid-way break. 

Holland Trail hike with Outdoor Explorer Texas

Nov 16 Sat – 10 am to 12:30 pm

park along the road behind the golf course just west of 5940 Elam Rd, Dallas, TX 75217

Ready to get rugged? Holland Trail is one of the Go Wild hikes in Wild DFW. The access from Elam Rd to the Trinity River can be quite overgrown, but we’ll bring loppers. Then there’s a little bushwhacking to find a small riverside trail that leads to the end of the Holland Trail. This equestrian trail emanates from the Texas Horse Ranch and ends at a lovely large forest pond. From there it’s usually wide and mowed. But if it’s not too wet we’ll take a narrow footpath to the Trinity-White Rock Creek confluence—the heart of the Great Trinity Forest. Then we’ll continue on the spur, reconnect with the Holland Trail and take it to Bryan’s Slough.

Wear long pants, long-sleeved shirt or overshirt, and very sturdy hiking boots. A change of shoes and a towel for the rid home is advised. Use lots of bug repellent. Bring a compass and make sure your phone is fully charged with a back-up battery. Best to have a GPS system like Gaia on your phone or at the very least Google Maps.

Lawyer and activist Ned Fritz was responsible for three of Texas most important nature groups, a savior of East Texas forests by establishing five wilderness areas and the Big Thicket National Preserve, and the leader who kept the Trinity River from being straightened and turned into an industrial barge canal.

He was also the first in the state, and possibly the nation, to garner huge news headlines in defense of native plants. For this he was given the Charles Leonard Weddle Memorial Award in 2000 from Native Plant Society of Texas.

Ned and Genie Fritz had purchased land off Bachman Creek in 1952 and built a home. He kept the yard wild like a prairie. But as the street gentrified, not all neighbors approved. In 1970, the city weed inspector was called and called and called. Each time, Ned beat it back on technicalities. The city threatened to take him to court. What a mistake that was. The trial, called Great Weed War, gained nationwide press. Learn how he won.

Presented by the team creating Ned Fritz Legacy, a biographical website about Ned.

Texas Woman’s University, Ann Stuart Science Complex (ASSC) Room 259. Park along Old Main Circle (employee parking) on the west side of the building or in any other nearby lot.

More about the host: Trinity Forks chapter Native Plant Society of Texas  

Trinity Forks

The Nature We Call Home 

Grace United Methodist Church, 4105 Junius St, Dallas, TX  75246

March 7 Friday – 7 pm, socializing at 6:30 pm

Enjoy an intimate talk by Amy Martin that blends poetic passages from the book Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth with her own profound experiences. All of it  illustrated with the book’s astounding photographs. 

Amy will inspire about the nature we call home. The passion of the prairie the nurturing bottomland forest the elusive Trinity River the soaring escarpments and the survivor Eastern Cross Timbers — she will bring insight into how to mindfully appreciate and adventurously explore our North Texas nature.