Spring Creek Forest Preserve

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Spring Creek Forest Preserve is a protected greenspace managed by the City of Garland, saving this Blackland Prairie remnant from the development that has swallowed up the surrounding area. The primary topographic feature here is Spring Creek, which soon after meets Rowlett Creek and empties into Lake Ray Hubbard. The waterway is lined with buckeyes, juniper, and oaks, and this forest of native trees dominate the park. There is a clearing in a central area consisting of a few acres of shallow, limestone soils that support an abundance of native perennials, some of which were in bloom when I visited back in early May.

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Cedar Ridge Preserve

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Cedar Ridge Preserve is a 600 acre tract of land just southwest of downtown Dallas, adjacent to Cedar Hill State Park. The preserve is maintained by Audubon Dallas, including the 9 miles of trails among the hilly terrain of juniper and oak forest. 

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Clymer Meadow

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Clymer Meadow Preserve is a collection of properties owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy of Texas and with the partnership of surrounding private land owners. Its value is rooted in its ties to the Blackland Prairie, a prairie of dark, rich soil that runs 300 miles from south to north Texas, roughly following the Interstate 35 corridor. This temperate grassland is home to many flora and fauna that is critical to the adequate operation of this valued ecosystem. Only 1% of this prairie still exists in its original form, and great efforts are being made to preserve what is remaining. 

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Ennis Bluebonnet Trails

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One of Texas' most notable wildflowers, and the state flower, is Lupinus texensis, or Texas Bluebonnet, and there is a festival centered around this flower over one weekend in April each year in Ennis, Texas, a community about 30 miles south of Dallas.

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