The Great Trinity Forest is a forested

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

located on the southern outskirts of the heavily urbanized area of southern

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and it is recognized as one of the largest urban forests in the United States.

Description

The park is part of the larger Trinity River Project, which when complete will be one of the largest urban parks in the world at in size. The Great Trinity Forest portion of the project consists of , primarily in the area of the Trinity River as it traverses Dallas County just south of

Downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

. In 1983, the Texas Legislature designated 900 acres of the area to be the Trinity River State Park, however, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department later said the department had no funding to own and operate such a park. In 1997, the Dallas City Council adopted the Great Trinity Forest Management Plan. In 2019, the City Council adopted a resolution protecting the forest and its some 6,000 acres; the resolution states Dallas' Park and Recreation Department should play a role in conserving and managing the area.

Nature

The Great Trinity Forest urban park is located within the Texas Blackland Prairies

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

Habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s within it include

bottomland hardwood forest Bottomland forest is woodland on lowland alluvial floodplains or lower terraces of rivers and streams. Bottomland forest is very rare in Europe. The bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous and evergreen hardwood forest found in broad low ...

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, open water ponds,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s, and the Trinity River itself. The area includes old growth hardwoods, as well as invasive trees like the Chinese privet. Documented wildlife include swamp rabbit, feral hog, barred owl, coyote, white-tailed deer, striped skunk, armadillo, yellow-crowned night heron, wild turkey, bobcat and Cooper's hawk. The southeast portion of a 50-mile hike-and-bike loop around Dallas — known as The Loop — runs through the Great Trinity Forest. The loop project joins 11 separate trails for form a loop around the city and is expected to be fully completed by 2027. The Trinity River Trail links the Trinity River Audubon Center, Texas Horse Park, Trinity Forest Golf Club and Joppa Preserve.

Features

The Great Trinity Forest includes the remnants of a lock and dam system at McCommas Bluff. The structure was built in 1909 as part of an overarching plan to make the Trinity River navigable by steamboat from the Gulf of Mexico. An abandoned structure known as the Lock Keeper's House sat at the site and was recognized as a Texas Historic Landmark but was destroyed by fire in 2023.

References

External links

* Parks in Dallas Trinity River (Texas) Forests of Texas {{Texas-protected-area-stub