We are meeting at Gus Engeling WMA to botanize and explore for rare plants. This date corresponds with blooming times for the rare Calopogon oklahomensis and should produce a suite of other unique sandyland and boggy flora. Bring a lunch with you.
Meet at the Small Acreage Demonstration entrance in the middle of the WMA. More details upon registration.
Register on the website link below.
Alongside the Earthx2024 Congress of Conferences, EarthX will host North Texas Day at Earthx2024. This day-long symposium will focus on North Texas issues and solutions with some of the region’s top thought leaders. These curated panel discussions, presentations and interviews will cover topics from building more sustainable and resilient infrastructure, to increasing parks and greenspaces, to providing more equity into the planning of each project.
Speakers include Michael Morris and presentations from regional organizations such as DFW Airport who for the first time will reveal newsworthy information about the cutting-edge sustainability being planned for their new Terminal F project.
Free. Register online.
Why is North Texas an epic ecotone and how is that special? What is the Great Trinity Forest the easternmost example of? How do tilted layers of bedrock shape our three ecoregions, foster a plethora of soil types, and lead to our plant and wildlife diversity? From the ancient inland ocean and melting ice caps that forged North Texas, to the goliath creeks and many forks of the Trinity, get clear on how water shapes our local landscape.
Discover places to experience these tenets firsthand. Enjoy astounding photography by skilled naturalists of hardwood bottomland forests and Eastern Cross Timbers, soaring limestone escarpments, lush wetlands, and rare remnants of Blackland and Fort Worth Prairies. Get to know a diverse community of volunteers working for nature.
Get your rock nerd on! From the geology/paleontology chapter of Amy Martin’s Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth.
Possible Full Moon walk afterward at Getzendaner Park in Waxahachie.
Celebrate Earth Day with us and American Forests! We will be hosting a webinar to introduce you to the the tree equity scoring tool. Tree Equity Score measures how well the critical benefits of urban tree canopy are reaching those who need them most. The score establishes an equity-first standard to guide investment in communities living on low incomes, communities of color and all those disproportionately affected by extreme heat, pollution and other environmental hazards. Tree Equity Score Analyzer is a more comprehensive tool that supports human-centered, deep-dive decision-making for urban tree plantings.
Attendees will gain a basic understanding of the functionality and potential use cases for Tree Equity Score National Explorer and the Dallas Tree Equity Score Analyzer (TESA), gain familiarity with the data they can access through TESA, and understand how they can use TESA for their own projects and needs.
Register on the link below.
Landowners with interest in protecting their own properties through conservation easements can learn about the process of protecting your land for future generations. Panel discussion with representatives from Western Landowners Alliance, Texas Agricultural Land Trust, Texas Land Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, Living Lands Trust and Native Prairies Association of Texas. A barbeque lunch will be provided.
he 13th Annual UT Dallas Earth Fair will feature informational booths and interactive activities from student organizations, campus departments and community partners. More than 400 students and community members participated in last year's UT Dallas Earth Fair to learn about alternative energy options, organic gardening, habitat restoration, local food production, waste reduction and more.
Info: sustainability@utdallas.edu.
Social gathering and guest speaker Chris Worst from the Texas Trees Foundation.
Join Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Master Naturalists, the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, and many others in a fun challenge to see which city can document the most species during April 26 - April 29. It is easy to participate by joining an event or making observations on your own using the iNaturalist app.
With the iNaturalist app, you just take a picture of a plant or animal, and the community will help identify which species it is. Any observation in the greater metropolitan area of Dallas/Fort Worth will count during the four day challenge. You can participate by exploring the life in your backyard, in your local park, or on a field trip with your local naturalist group. You can also help with IDs for other people's observations to increase our species count, come to a bioblitz, or even hold your own event.
Come out to participate as the Texas Survival School hosts the man himself....Mr Foraging Texas, Mark "Merriwether" Vordenbruggen, PhD. Come ready to do some walking. These are great classes and a fabulous opportunity to learn a lot in a short amount of time.
Employees, customers, clients and members of the community are all welcome. Spread the word and invite your family and friends to participate.
Accepted items:
• Old bills
• Old checks
• Letterhead
• Brochures
• File folders
• Post-its
• Paper
• Newspaper
• Envelopes
• Photos
• Dated bank statements
• Credit card offers
• Old tax information
No box limit. Shredding ends when truck is full.
Free.
Enjoy long-distance hikes through fascinating large preserves and parks — without leaving DFW. Dallas Sierra Club joins with Amy Martin, author of 
Wild DFW, to offer quarterly hikes on trails as wild as North Texas has to offer. Explore these places with naturalists and others that know them the best.
First up: Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area [lee-lah]. We’ll hike every trail there and one not open to the public. Scrappy Eastern Cross Timbers to lush bottomland forest, river and off-river marshes, open meadows and prairies, riverside and old river channels.
Points-of-interest naturalist mini-breaks: insect-home installation, waterbird fishing melee at dam outlet, 1800s cabin and farmstead. Lunch break at bird blind on Bittern Marsh.
We hope these hikes will help Dallas and surroundings develop a mindset of embracing its nature with a deep sense of pride. From that will arise more trails and greater land preservation.
Donations for hike leader thank-you gifts and park/preserve donations appreciated.
Wild DFWs available for purchase.
Attend a compelling presentation with amazing footage of coyotes presented by wildlife conservation photographers Karin and Roberto Saucedo. They have spent the last eight years documenting coyote behavior in North Texas for research and education. Learn about coyote behaviors, challenges, myths,and how we can live in harmony with them.
Free.
Joshua Byrne of the Fort Worth Zoo has been passionate about insects since before he could talk, and once he was able to, it was all he talked about. He has kept and studied invertebrates privately for over 20 years, as well as professionally through the Iowa State Insect Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, and currently the Fort Worth Zoo. He has a bachelor’s degree in animal ecology from Iowa State University, but was extremely happy to move to Texas where the weather is warmer and the insects are bigger!
Join us for this fun free family event to learn about our native prairie and wildlife. There will be a variety of walks, speakers, and fun kid activities. Stay tuned for a list and schedule of tours and speakers.
Presented by Native Plant Society of Texas Dallas Chapter, North Texas Master Naturalists, and the Native Prairies Association of Texas Blackland Chapter.
Have you taken photos of trips or avian life forms in your neighborhood? Want to share them with your fellow FWAS Members? It's that time of year again to go through your folders and find those gems. Forward your photos to Jim Jones. Include a list of photos with a description of the subject, including when and where taken. Remember to reduce the file size to below 3 MB. Videos are also welcome!
You can email the photos in batches to jim_jones@fwas.org or upload them to cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) to share with Jim, which is the best way to get your files to him. Deadline for submissions is May 2, 2024.
