History

Simply put, the motto of the Texas Trees Foundation (the “Foundation”) is “The Greening of North Central Texas.” Renamed in 2003 to more accurately reflect its mission, the Foundation sustains a tree planting initiative for neighborhood parkways and medians, schools and other public open spaces, a tree growing facility to assure a healthy supply of trees for the future, and education programs to teach the importance and benefits of maintaining a healthy urban forest.

The Foundation received its Certification of Incorporation from the State of Texas in April 1982. Originally named The Dallas Parks Foundation, its founders established the organization as a resource to support the existing Dallas park system. In 1989, the mission of the Foundation was expanded to focus on the planting of trees in public open space. The tree planting activity of the Foundation has grown from providing several hundred trees per year to providing thousands of trees each year, all on public property.

In 1988, the Foundation merged with Treescape/Dallas, Inc. a project that had been funded by the Dallas Junior League and the Central Dallas Association. In doing so, the Foundation gained an even greater ability to impact urban landscape projects. Treescape's successful history of attracting and utilizing volunteers and in-kind donations of services and products provided the model currently followed by the Foundation, enabling it to implement its programs in a cost-effective manner.

TREEmendous Projects

Development Of The Katy Trail

Another opportunity for the Foundation, offered by the Union-Pacific Railroad, was the development of the KATY Trail. The Foundation secured the donation of a 3.7-mile section of the MKT line for the Dallas County to be used to form the KATY Trail. The plan called for the former railway to become a hike-and-bike trail connecting a number of neighborhood parks from north of downtown to Airline Drive at North Central Expressway. Landscape architecture students from the University of Texas at Arlington assisted in creating a master plan concept for the KATY Trail. The conceptual master plan won a student design competition by the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Trees For Texas Program

With an emphasis on tree planting, the Foundation created a new program called TREES FOR DALLAS, (now TREES FOR TEXAS). Fina Corporation provided initial funding for the program. Working with neighborhood groups, schools, churches, other non-profit organizations and municipalities, the Foundation provides and/or plants trees on public property throughout the North Central Texas region. Any qualifying organization or group can participate in the program. Since its inception the Foundation has completed hundreds of tree planting projects, resulting in the planting of over 139,000 trees.

Highway Beautification

Following the merger, the Foundation's first major project was initiated as a joint effort with the Texas Department of Transportation, Dallas District. The Dallas Parks Foundation facilitated the planting of 570 trees along the access roads of Woodall Rodgers Freeway from North Central Expressway to Stemmons Freeway. The Foundation secured the funding for and managed the installation of the trees. The total cost exceeded $200,000 in plant and irrigation materials.

In a joint effort with Texas DOT, more than 3780 trees have been planted along the Woodall Rodgers Freeway between North Central Expressway & Stemmons; at the interchange between Highway 75 & Woodall Rodgers Freeway and at the interchange of I-30 & Highway 80. Groundbreaking on this project occurred in January 2006. It will also serve as a carbon sequestration model for improved air quality, as well as a beautification project on freeway property owned and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Neighborhood Beautification

Through the TREES FOR TEXAS program, the Foundation acted as facilitator for a master plan for Dallas' Oak Lawn neighborhood. With the assistance of teams of design professionals, the Foundation prepared and published plans to encourage consistency in streetscape design in the Oak Lawn district. Additionally, the Foundation transplanted over 80 trees from the City Place construction area to sites throughout Dallas, including the Dallas Convention Center, Zonta Park triangle, Griffin Street medians, and North Dallas High School.

Bachman Lake

When Joe’s Creek, a tribute of Bachman Lake in North Dallas was scheduled to become a concrete box culvert in the early 1950’s a group of area women organized to save the creek. In 1991, the next generation of residents joined to improve and beautify the creek. Neighborhood leaders approved a landscape development plan produced by the Foundation staff and, from 1991 to 1996, volunteers planted over 400 trees along a 3/4-mile strip of the creek. Families from around the area adopted trees and provide care and water on a weekly basis. The Foundation also assisted the neighborhood association in securing funding through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for an Urban Wildlife Enhancement Project. The efforts of the neighbors along Joe’s Creek have inspired additional projects both up and down stream.

Love Field Gateway Project

In 1994 the Foundation received funding from the Texas Forest Service and the Small Business Administration for a tree-planting project at Love Field Airport in Dallas. The funds were matched with a previous grant from Southwest Airlines and 140 trees were planted at the corner of Mockingbird, and Denton Drives near the south end of the west runway. Known as the Love Field Gateway Project, the tree planting represented the culmination of several years of planning by the Urban Design Task Force, made up of architects, landscape architects and planners from around the area. The Foundation secured pro bono design services from Lambert’s Landscape Company and provided contract administration services for the Dallas Aviation Department.

Lancaster Rebirth

In the mid-1990s, Lancaster, Texas was the scene of a violent tornado that wiped out several hundred homes and devastated the downtown area. Following the disaster, the Foundation joined other groups as a member of the Lancaster ReBirth Committee. During 1994 and the first half of 1995, the Foundation facilitated a plan of action that called for a redesign of the Lancaster Central Business District (CBD), the replacement of thousands of mature native trees and the development of a greenbelt located within walking distance of downtown. The Foundation solicited the assistance of area landscape architects to serve on a task force for the CBD. A design was produced and presented to the Lancaster City Council. The landscape architecture students at the University of Texas at Arlington completed a master plan for the greenbelt area and the Foundation provided over 2,000 trees to stricken residents. The planting project culminated in a citywide celebration including an outdoor concert hosted by Willie Nelson.

Nancy’s Garden

The Foundation initiated two significant projects that helped establish it as a leader in park and open space development. The death of Nancy Dillard Lyon, a long time trustee and dedicated champion of the urban forest, prompted the consideration of the development of a park created in her memory. A fund raising effort led by Trustees secured over $140,000 from individuals, local foundations and the Texas Forest Service. The garden is a model for the xeriscape concept of landscape planting. Nancy’s Garden is the only public park facility in Dallas where native plant materials are used exclusively. The garden was completed in 1994 and was dedicated to the citizens of Dallas in August 1996.

Pioneer Plaza

Pioneer Plaza, became the new icon of Dallas, in. The Plaza, located in front of the Dallas Convention Center, depicts a cattle drive featuring three cowboys and a herd of forty longhorn steer. Cast in monumental scale (larger than life size) the Plaza has become the second most visited tourist attraction in the downtown area. Only Dealey Plaza, the site of the Kennedy assassination, attracts more visitors each year. The Plaza is situated on a 4.2-acre site, which was donated by the City of Dallas to construct this magnificent open space. Under the direction of Trustees and Project Co-Chairs, Jim Lake (deceased), Diane Scovell and Jack Beckman, $4.8 million in private funds were raised from individuals and local businesses. The design of Pioneer Plaza was begun in 1992 with site work beginning late that same year. The Plaza is a work in progress, and additional steer will be added, as appropriate, to complete the herd. Maintenance of the facility became the responsibility of the Dallas Convention Center late in 1996.

Urban Tree Farm Projects

In 2002 TXU Energy provided over $143,000 in funding plus an additional $44,000 in 2003 and over 360 volunteers to create the nation’s largest-known urban tree farm. The four-acre TXU Energy Urban Tree Farm at Richland College (“TXU-UTF”) features state-of-the-art production and irrigation technology with the capacity to produce over 7,000 ten-gallon trees per planting season. Trees are offered to the public through the TREES FOR TEXAS program.

Production at the TXU-UTF is limited to 7,000 ten-gallon trees due to space, water demand and water main capacity. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the community and enable the Foundation to reach its objective of self-sufficiency as a non-profit, a new urban tree farm facility was needed. After an extensive search, the Foundation found what it believed to be the ideal location. In January 2005 the facilities department at Texas Instruments granted the Foundation permission to use a ten-acre remote parking lot located on the southwest corner of IH-635 and TI Boulevard for its new growing facility. The site is ideally suited for above-ground growing of the larger, twenty-gallon trees. It is covered with asphalt, drains well, is in close proximity to water and is fenced and secure.

On March 4, 2006, with more then 280 volunteers, staff, donors and visiting dignitaries in attendance, the grand opening ceremony was held for the new $350,000 growing facility. Important funding support has been provided by Texas Instruments (space and water), TXU Energy ($100,000), Esurance ($50,000), and the Meadows Foundation ($100,000 matching grant). In honor of the historic neighborhood in which the new facility is located, the Foundation has chosen to name the growing center the Hamilton Park Urban Tree Farm (HP-UTF). It is patterned after the TXU-UTF, located less than one mile away. Eventually, the HP-UTF will enable the Foundation to increase the capacity of its urban tree farm program by 8,600 twenty-gallon trees, while maintaining the 7,000 ten-gallon tree capacity at the TXU-UTF at Richland College. The ability to grow and sell 15,600 trees per year will enable the Foundation to become fully self-supporting, in itself a unique achievement for any non-profit organization.

At the HP-UTF, an initial inventory of diverse species will be planted in two-gallon, five-gallon, ten-gallon and twenty-gallon containers and grown until they mature. After the first growing season (March through October), the mature two, five and ten-gallon trees will be transplanted into the next larger container size. The twenty-gallon trees will be distributed to individuals, businesses, service organizations and municipalities that sponsor public tree-planting projects.

The Texas Trees Foundation has a rich history and is positioned to build on the traditions established by its founders and nurtured by its stewardship of the Urban Forest.