Throwing Shade: More Trees at Bachman and a Plan to Keep Them Thriving
Updated: 3 days ago
In May 2024, we were contacted by Texas Trees Foundation regarding their interest in helping with tree plantings at Bachman Lake Park. Texas Trees Foundation is a non-profit that focuses on educating the community about the danger of heat and the benefits of trees. Of course, they take it a step further and actually help with tree plantings to create those benefits. You may recall some news articles last year about the heat island in Dallas? Well, that study was done by Texas Trees Foundation and it showed that Bachman is part of the heat island.
As they explained to us in May, Texas Trees Foundation has had a long-standing agreement with the Parks Department, providing trees and volunteers to plant. They have also been exploring a new program called Neighborwoods to provide irrigation as well. This was a very important point because we had been limited in the past with tree plantings due to broken or non-existent irrigation.
There is a city policy that states that trees cannot be planted without irrigation, so the cost of a tree goes to over $2000 - something we could not afford. Neighborwoods was an answer to our prayers and we quickly engaged Chris McMasters, the City Arborist, to walk the park and identify potential locations for an initial planting. The group agreed that the south shore, close to the excercise stations was ideal. Because the location is adjacent to Love Field, we asked Texas Trees to create a planting design using the trees selected by the Department of Aviation for the Lemmon Ave Trail and then sought the approval of the Department of Aviation before proceeding. Approval was received in September and by the end of the year, Texas Trees had already identified a donor to fund all 38 trees!
On the afternoon of March 8th, 60 EarthX volunteers will be putting the trees in the ground for future generations to enjoy!
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