The Trinity River narrowly escaped its fate as a straightened and confined barge canal, channelized from east Fort Worth to the Gulf. A young Republican congressman, Alan Steelman, took big risks opposing the boondoggle project backed by every political power in the state. Tom Keener was one of his volunteers. When newcomer Steelman won a major congressional seat out from under canal backer and political powerhouse Earl Cabell, everything changed.
Ned Fritz, a staunch Democrat and famed environmentalist, led the activists' efforts by forming a highly unusual coalition, Citizens Organization for a Sound Trinity, consisting of environmentalists and naturalists who considered the project to be ecological devastation, fiscal conservative Republicans who opposed the $1 billion price tag (in '70s dollars!), and people of color whose historic communities would be destroyed by the canal. Amy Martin, Ned's biographer at Ned Fritz Legacy, will present their story.
The evening will begin with an overview of the Trinity ecology by Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth on Timber Press.
7:30 to 8:30 PM: Discussion with Alan Steelman and Amy Martin, moderated by Tom Keener of the Allen Public Library.
8:30 to 9:30: Screening of the KERA documentary about the Trinity barge canal fight, Living With The Trinity.
Talk available on Zoom: https://actv.org/CablecastPublicSite/watch-now?site=1
Lights Out Texas is a campaign to turn off lights at night between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. during spring and fall wildbird migrations to help protect nocturnally migrating birds.
