About Texas Treetrails

 An Introduction to Texas Tree Trails

The Texas Tree Trails organization is a cooperative effort between the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Texas Historic Tree Coalition, the Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council and the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council.

Expanded Mission

The mission of the Texas Tree Trails program is to find, locate, recognize, measure, photograph and present the importance of these botanical, historical and cultural treasures and to preserve their presence for future generations. We plan to accomplish this by presenting this data on a web site with "virtual tours", highlighted by promotions and publications as we gather data on all significant trees in or near the DFW area. Our aim is to educate the public by showcasing various types of area significant trees plus development of "tree trails" within the program region.

The program adequately addresses a plan for "health care of our regional tree inventory" by instilling the idea of "acknowledgement and adoption" by our citizens to provide for the current and future integrity of significant trees. Once the concept is adequately realized, we plan to expand its boundaries by encouraging participation from all larger cities within the state. As an educational group, we hope to instill in the public a sense of pride and ownership in our region's natural treasures by building a steadily growing, knowledgeable and an informed grassroots force dedicated to preserve and protect our trees. 

A Brief History

The Texas Tree Trails programs was conceived and developed by active members of the Texas Historic Tree Coalition (TXHTC) [editors note: then called the DHTC]. The Texas Tree Trails concept was born to address issues of unchecked tree removal and flagrant code violation in the fast and furious business and private home development throughout the Metroplex. The bulldozer is no respecter of trees. i.e.,We have documentation showing that a National Champion Little Walnut was uprooted and bulldozed under; not for construction purposes, but as a convenience purely from ignorance for what it was. Other documented Regional Champ-ions have been lost to the developer's blade, but then again others have been saved - but at a price.

A few of the TXHTC founders, the watch-dogs of our champion and historic trees, have faithfully given of their time and service over the past years to empower a volunteer force to assist them with this effort.

The Texas Historic Tree Coalition began by raising money and laying the ground work for Historic Tree Trails within the Dallas Fort Worth area late in 2001. A grassroots effort was developed to present to the public and civic leaders our area's treasures in such a manner that shows their vulnerability, their worth, and their value as ecological and "eco-tourism" assets to our community. The National Park Service began to show an interest as did the Texas A&M Forest Service.

The Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council (TBUFC) joined forces with a membership expertise as arborists, taxonomists and plant pathologists with an additional volunteer base. The Texas Forest Service came on board as well. With TBUFC and the Texas Forest Service became involved and added dimensions of distinction and recognition to the project, sharing the stewardship of there Big Tree Registry program as well as supporting the combined groups with a TFS grant. This association is believed to be the first time that local citizen action groups, local scientific subject matter experts and a state agency have come together in a program to solve common problems in Texas.

In the Fall of 2003 we began measuring and cataloging trees as Texas Tree Trails.

In 2005-2006 Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council came on-line with a large, aggressive workforce. They have made a significant impact on Texas Tree Trails and greatly enhance our future and the future of North Texas trees with the rapt engagement they apply to council tasks. The region is large and comprises the Western portion of North Central Texas. The CTUFC region is in the TFS supervisory range of State Forester Courtney Blevins, a hard working member of Texas Tree Trails and long time champion for our effort. To contact Courtney, See our Contacts page. Courtney and Doug Pierson with a handful of volunteers have been keeping this thing going through hell and white water and are now ready to chart the course to Infinity and Beyond!

Updated March 2015

Texas Tree Trails PowerPoint Slide Show

Everything Is Bigger in Texas  (Large file 18.8 Mb)

Benefits

The following are the results of a brainstorming session where many potential and real benefits and results of the Texas Tree Trails program, for individuals and for the region,  were discussed. They are not in any particular order.

• Recognizes and promotes "our area's arborilogical treasures".

• Gathers important information on "our area's treasures" relating to our history and individual tree characteristics that grow in our area. (A history or tree enthusiasts dream!)

• Encourages diversity in "our area's treasures" (and forests), by educating the public about many overlooked plant materials, which are suitable to the area, but in which little information presently exists. By expanding our knowledge, we encourage a diversity of tree species within our forest cover, which is critical to the condition and health of our forest cover. By encouraging species diversity, we also encourage diversity in wildlife habitat.

• Encourages the proper care and maintenance of "our area's treasures" through the education programs.

• Allows public accessibility to "our area's treasures" through a web site and "virtual tours".

• Allows for classifying and mapping "our area's treasures" and integrating them into a tree trail system.

• Allows the public to view "our area's treasures" by computer for trees without accessibility or where permission to enter a property may be required (or denied).

• Encourages widespread support for "our area's treasures" due to the limited available controversy involved.

•  Encourages the participation of a wide variety of groups and individuals who have an interest in "our area's treasures". For example, the Audubon Society may wish to have a tree trail relating to birds, historians would have the "historic tree trail", or wildlife interests may have a tree trail relating to a species of wildlife, etc.

• Encourages eco-tourism by recognizing, documenting, and promoting "our area's treasures". Think how nice it would be to visit another city and be able to visit a historic, champion, or other significant trees. We can't promote them if we don't recognize and document their existence.

• Encourages the preservation of "our area's treasures". This may help reduce further loss of these assets.

• Encourages others around the state (and beyond) to duplicate our efforts and recognize "their area's treasures".

• May result in the publication of materials related to "our area's treasures" or ”state-wide treasures”.

• Signifies the public's awareness of "our area's treasures".

• Encourages the education of the many benefits of trees that are associated with "our area's treasures".

• Promotes the "Green" psychological and sociological impact of forested areas and urban trees in our cities. Promotes a greater degree of wellness for our citizens.

• Could be a tax deduction for time and monetary donations toward "our area's treasures", if structured accordingly. Also, could be counted as volunteer hours for many local organizations such as Master Naturalist, Master Gardeners, etc. (TBUFC and TXHTC are both 503c organizations.)