Trinity River

Chapters:

• River of Dreams & Schemes
• Trinity River Barge Canal: The Plan to Destroy a River
• Trinity River Barge Canal: Opposition Arises
• Trinity River Barge Canal: David vs Goliath
• Trinity River Barge Canal: An Epic Fight Ensues
• The Trinity Blooms Again: Texas Buckeyes
• Perils for the Trinity
• Potential of the Trinity

The Trinity Blooms Again: Texas Buckeyes

This chapter underwritten by Trinity Coalition. “opening doors to the Upper Trinity River and its surrounding parks and natural ecosystems”

Ned’s Attention Returns to the Great Trinity Forest

nce freed of its levees, the Trinity River sprawls into the 6000-acre Great Trinity Forest, the largest urban bottomland hardwood forest in the nation. The name arose in Ned’s environmental colleagues’ discussions during the Trinity barge canal fight. It’s hard to get people to care about a nameless thing. He knew also that the forest needed a mascot, a compelling plant or animal the public could relate to.

(TBA – Click for a Great Trinity Forest synopsis with graphics.)

Bur oak in autumn by Daniel Koglin.

Some naturalists and native plant aficionados drew Ned’s attention to a lovely grove of Texas buckeyes (Aesculus glabra var. arguta) growing along the Trinity’s east banks in the forest near the Bonton+Ideal communities, on Dallas Parks and Recreation land called Rochester Park, now William Blair Jr. Park.

Massive bur oaks anchored the slippery floodplain forest, while the wide spreading boughs of Shumard red oaks rendered dappled shape. Towering green ash and cedar elm forged another level of filtered sunlight.

A few acres of Texas buckeyes flourished beneath them, protected from harsh southern sunlight, buffeted from winds by a miasma of boughs, nurtured by regular inundations of river flood water, anchored into limestone beneath a thick layer of alluvial soil—in an area few thought they would.

A mascot! A pretty flowering mascot.

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.” ~ Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

With very little access, the Great Trinity Forest remained mysterious. During the early ‘70s Trinity barge canal fight, some plotted to turn the land around the White Rock Creek–Trinity River confluence—the heart of the forest—into an immense turning basin and port for warehouse-sized barges. [TBA – See Trinity Barge Canal section.]

“Tale of the Swale” lyrics by Bill Oliver.

In the late 1970’s, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) plans called for a swale that would convey floodwaters away from pricey downtown real estate. That path would approximately follow the old proposed barge canal path, eradicating numerous Great Trinity Forest trees.

Into the fray waded Ned and Genie’s new Dallas-based conservation organization Texas Committee on Natural Resources (TCONR, tee-con-er)—the first of many rivers it would defend. Retired as of 1970 and aided by Genie, Ned threw considerable effort into making TCONR a progressive powerhouse.

Ned marshaled his legal arguments and lined up his science against the swale. But Ned knew his forest defense needed more than intellect. People needed to experience the forest.

Hikes, he thought! All through the ‘70s and ‘80s, hikes with Ned were a bonafide Big Deal. Everyone loved them, from US congressmen to little kids. Here was a way to help people experience what they almost lost —and might lose again. It might even push forward his dream of a Trinity state park.

This section dedicated to the Texas Buckeye

Like its famed Ohio cousin, the Texas buckeye (Aesculus glabra var. arguta) enjoys a little sun but can flourish in the shade of larger, taller trees. It’s more compact and heat tolerant than its relative, rarely topping 30 feet. The epitome of grace, its slender branches arch and turn in search of light, lilting in the lightest breeze and forming a rounded canopy. The serrated palmate leaves comprise seven or more leaflets emerging from a central point that dance on the end of long thin stems. In the South, it prefers areas with plentiful water such as riparian corridors. Its spectacular spires of golden-white flowers are lightly aromatic and draw legions of admirers. The March blooms are a boon to early pollinators, and the leaves serve as a larval host for the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. The spikey, round seed husks pop open in fall to reveal slightly toxic, glossy, deep-brown mast with a pale spot, making them evoke a buck’s eye. A member of the horse chestnut family, its botanical name, Aesculus, refers to the Greek god of medicine, Aesculapius. Photo by Kristi Kerr Leonard.

Texas Buckeye Walks: Saving the Forest

ed forged his way to the grove, carving a new path each time, adhering to his belief that established trails altered wildlife behavior. As with every new adventure, his wife and daughters came along. Others followed Ned, as they always did. Soon, it was a thing.

“He came home breathless at what he had discovered. He made me and mama go back with him. Jumping over ravines, lots of mud. It was an adventure.” ~ Eileen Fritz McKee, daughter

The ‘80s was the decade of the annual buckeye walks. Occurring in a bottomland forest during the rainy season, mud was guaranteed. As with all things Ned, it hit the headlines, and at times hundreds would come.

“There was no trail and it was always muddy. He wanted to share what he’d found and people follow that passion. No matter the mud.” ~ Eileen Fritz McKee, daughter

Old bur oak in the Bonton Woods by Amy Martin.

Walkers experienced the twilight serenity from the shade of scattered towering cottonwoods, significant Shumard oaks, and small groves of massive pecans left by the diary that cleared most of the forest to operate here. Surrounding them were cedar elms, American elms, and green ash—their seeds brought in by wind during the mid-1900s—slender trunked and racing to catch up.

Eileen described what walkers would behold at trail’s end: an ivory cloud of creamy Texas buckeyes blossoms hovering in the dappled shade of giant hardwoods, emanating a gentle, sweet aroma. The emerald leaves of inland sea oats and Virginia wildrye swaying in the river breeze.

Photo of golden groundsel by Derek Ramsey from WIkiCommons.

And the wildflowers—golden groundsels’ startlingly yellow blossoms and ground-hugging Missouri violets with sweet-tasing purple flowers. About them a dance of early butterflies and tiny native bees. The narrow river channel, bound by modest banks, coursed silent and visible through the forest. Along the banks, bois d’arcs and bur oaks reigned.

How could anyone experiencing this not love it, felt Ned.

Walking with Ned

or hikers seeking the walks, the drive was unfamiliar, on winding bumpy roads through a part of town that few had ventured. The destination: the African-American community of Bonton+Ideal. Once all the way to the low end of Bexar Street, there was Ned and Genie, waiting.

Genie and Ned Fritz at the picnic pavilion of the Ned and Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trail. Photo by Bud Melton.

The walk’s mud factor was legendary, which was part of the fun. It was wet and dirty, a balm to the inner child. The blooms lasted just a few weeks. Rain or shine, you had to go. Ned forged a new path each season. Early walkers created the trail with their feet, stamping down lush greenery.

It was muggy and buggy, as much slosh as walk. In warm years, chiggers, ticks, and mosquitos were already abundant. Few newbies thought to wear rugged attire. But the trees, oh the trees, gobsmackingly beautiful trees. And a tall red-headed man, exhorting them to set aside all apprehension and follow him into the forest. It was an adventure, an unforgettable one. People came with friends who returned the next year with more friends.

Ned convinced media people, pads and cameras in hand, to join the fray. Each came away converted, caught up in Ned’s passion. This wild forest, these rare blooming trees. To see the Trinity up close instead of from a bridge. Unimaginable that it was in Dallas, so close to downtown.

Jim Flood: Carrying on the Tradition

n March 1996, when Ned was 80, one walk attendee was Jim Flood, a passionate naturalist longing for the peace of nature in an urban world. Ned respected Jim’s deep knowledge of plants in general and the Great Trinity Forest in particular. They both found peace in the forest.

“The experience was magical and transformative. Ned recruited me to help with subsequent annual Buckeye Walks: marking a route to the buckeyes before the annual event and helping with guiding folks to the buckeyes on the designated day of the walk.” ~ Jim Flood

“That annual walk, the Texas Buckeye Walk, became an annual event and saved the forest,” wrote Flood.

Ned in his happy place: the buckeye grove. Photographer unknown.

The Buckeye walks fueled support for the Great Trinity Forest and the river. Intense pressure from Ned, TCONR, and river activists converged with other USACE considerations. Engineers morphed the swale into the Upper and Lower Chain of Wetlands on the other side of the Trinity. Associated with the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, the wetlands stretch from south of Corinth to east of I-45.

By 1999, the buckeyes walks were Flood’s responsibility. He broadened them to appreciate the forest in all seasons and joined with the Dallas Sierra Club—a group deeply entwined with Ned—to offer weekly walks. North Texas Master Naturalists took trail maintenance on as a project.

Soft-surface buckeye trail through the Bonton Woods by Amy Martin.

Heady times for the forest. A main trailhead sign and way-finding signs on trails were installed. Fiberglass trail markers as well, a big boon when understory grasses grow high and the trail disappears. Flood and volunteers removed years’ worth of flagging from Ned’s annual trails. A trail organically arose, a meandering path through a grove of immense pecans and past precious native swamp privet. Once up onto a rolling set of rises created by an over-banking river, the splendid Texas buckeyes ensconced themselves in a riparian forest ruled by a 100+ year-old bur oak, now named Ned.

“Ned Fritz was certainly an inspiration that led me to take on a fifteen-year project called the Texas Buckeye Trail,” wrote Flood.

“Without Ned Fritz and the efforts of TCONR to preserve a gem in the Trinity River bottomland, I probably would not have known and grown to love what is now known as the Great Trinity Forest. Yet, the primary inspiration was the forest itself and those understory trees known as the Texas buckeyes.”

By fate’s fortune, Ned passed away before the city paved a stretch of the buckeye leading to the river—not the buckeyes—cutting a 30-foot-wide swath of forest. As if to compensate, additional soft-surface trail expansion brought in loops, extensions, and crossovers. See map below.

Paved buckeye trail by Daniel Koglin.

Completed in June 2009, the paved path ended in a loop overlook—lovely while it lasted. Black clay banks are notorious for sloughing. By 2018, the overlook was collapsing into the river. Now barricaded to hikers, riverbank mud is slowly absorbing the fallen concrete slab pieces.

As author Dave Marquis reminds, “The river always wins.”

Various factors brought Jim’s buckeye leadership to a conclusion after the spring 2015 walks. A megaflood in late spring 2015 left much of the Great Trinity Forest underwater for months. Said Flood, “It transformed the forest in a way in which I had never seen in my 20 years of learning about and loving this hardwood bottomland forest.”

Ned & Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trail: Honoring a Legacy

here are the public tributes to Ned and Genie Fritz for all they did to preserve nature in their home base of Dallas? A sign, a plaque, anything?

Nope.

In 2018, Groundwork Dallas (now known as Greenspace Dallas) began beating the publicity drums to rename the trail to the Ned and Genie Fritz Trail.

It was an idea whose time had come. But even great ideas can take years to become real. Fate was on the idea’s side.

Dallas City Council member Sandy Greyson, a colleague of Genie for many years through the League of Women Voters, stepped into action.

“I was asked by many long-time admirers of Ned and Genie Fritz to rename the trail. I crafted a resolution to add their names to the Texas Buckeye Trail to note them as its founders. I was an admirer, too, and happy to do so.“ ~ Sandy Greyson

Among her many tasks in this quest, Becky Rader—who served on the Dallas Park and Recreation Board and Dallas Environmental Health Commission, and known for her pioneering work with the prairie remnants at White Rock Lake—rustled up letters of support:

The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment (then led by old Fritz pal Andrew Sansom).
North Texas Master Naturalists (who named Genie an Honorary Master Naturalist in 2013).
Texas Conservation Alliance (founded by the Fritzes under another name).
Texas Land Conservancy (founded by the Fritzes under another name).
Groundwork Dallas (now Greenspace Dallas).

But it took a village:

Activists tossing in considerable weight included former TCONR director Annie Melton and her husband, long-time Ned associate Bud Melton; river advocate Richard Grayson; Great Trinity Forest activist Ben Sandifer; and many more.
Members of Ned’s former Dallas-focused eco group, Save Open Space, and the Dallas League of Women Voters where Genie was legendary, contributed their significant lobbying power.
Journalist and Ned admirer Robert Wilnosky of The Dallas Morning News and Tim Rogers of D Magazine published pieces exhorting the name change.

Proclamation excerpts:

“WHEREAS, Dallas residents Ned and Genie Fritz formed environmental protection partnerships, which has led to a wealth of conservation successes; and

WHEREAS, Ned and Genie Fritz are known for bringing non-structural approaches to floodplain management to national prominence, leading to protection of an exceptional urban forest within the Trinity River floodplain; and

WHEREAS, Ned and Genie Fritz’ efforts stopped a proposal to build the Trinity River Barge Canal, which would have negatively impacted Dallas’ Great Trinity Forest…

WHEREAS, Ned and Genie Fritz were instrumental in the protection of Dallas’ Great Trinity Forest, including creation and preservation of the Texas Buckeye Trail and the City Council desires to recognize them for their outstanding work.”

~ Dallas City Council proclamation

“I submitted the resolution through the council’s Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee. It was approved by the committee and then by the full council as part of a Great Trinity Forest resolution in June of 2019.“ ~ Sandy Greyson

The Dallas City Council vote was unanimous in favor. Yet two decades earlier Ned was roundly criticized by Dallas mayors and some council members for his efforts to thwart the Trinity barge canal and other river devastations!

“Few couples have contributed so much of their lives to conservation in Texas. Permanent recognition of their lasting impact on our environment and quality of life is long overdue.” ~ Andrew Sansom, Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

Genie Fritz, seated next to daughter Eileen Fritz McKee, surrounded by supporters. Photo courtesy of Texas Conservation Alliance.

The ceremony at Dallas City Hall was a grand event full of celebration. TCA chairman Mack Turner came in from East Texas. Genie received a standing ovation, which brought her to tears. She and her daughter, Eileen Fritz McKee, thanked the supporters for their diligent efforts. Many attendees shared stories of how walks with Ned on the buckeye trail and others changed their lives.

“This is a red-letter day. A big thanks goes to Councilwoman Sandy Greyson for offering the resolution, and to Becky Rader and Ben Sandifer, who worked closely with the council to make the resolution a success.” ~ Richard Grayson, long-time TCA member

The Privet Problem: Naturalists Restoring the Trail

“The aggressive and unforgiving non-native evergreen Ligustrum has continued an unrelenting spread into parks, forests, backyards, and just about every parcel of land in north central Texas that isn’t mowed or paved. It is taking over the Great Trinity Forest.” ~ Jim Flood, naturalist

ut a threat lurked in the forest.

Chinese privet (Ligustrium sinese) is in the top tier of imported landscape plants that get loose in natural areas and cause ecological havoc. Rain and floodwaters carry away its lightweight berries by the millions. After the 2015 flood, the buckeye grove’s privet infestation exploded. Flood debris littered the forest floor and finding the trail was challenging. Attention to the buckeyes waned.

Privet tunnel photo by Amy Martin.

Kristi Kerr shared a pew with Genie Fritz at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, where Genie had been an influential activist and Ned once sang in the choir. Jean Ann Powers, the church’s Director of Pastoral Care, came to Kerr in 2020 with great concern about the trail condition.

Kerr, a North Texas Master Naturalist, felt compelled to act. She formed a team and labored through COVID-19 to obtain a beautification agreement with the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, enabling the volunteers to do forest restoration work. Regular workdays began, with tools and other costs covered by Trinity Coalition.

The initial task was to widen the trail slightly. Not enough people were using the trails to keep them clear. The summer understory grew so lush that the narrow trail was nearly impossible to find, causing hikers to get lost and call 911.

Kerr, working with Amy Martin on wordage and Teresa Patterson, and Scooter Smith on graphics, developed a trailhead sign plus wayfinding signs for the trail. Approved by Dallas Parks & Recreation and paid for by Trinity Coalition, the signs encouraged people to try out the trails and greatly aided in keeping hikers oriented.

Then the team started tackling the privet. The Texas buckeyes were grasping for light, water, and nutrients amid a thick swarm of privet. Buckeye blooms were hard to see amid all the privet—heartbreaking!

Rescuing the entire grove was too much for volunteers to tackle, so the restoration team focused on liberating larger buckeyes from privet and clearing it from trail sections so hikers didn’t need to flail through its branches. Volunteers were able in places to only create a tunnel through shrubs over 10 feet tall, it was so thick. Cut privet was scattered in the forest to decompose.

Volunteers cut privet hoping that park department professionals will revisit and treat the trunks to prevent re-sprouting. Otherwise, the shrub responds by sending up a multitude of trunks. But at least lopping prevents berry production for a few years.

Buckeye restoration day by Scot Miller.

An area by the river was particularly dense with Texas buckeyes. Trinity Coalition underwrote Trinity Prairie Company Landscaping, a naturalist-led enterprise, to tackle privet there. A sunlight-infused area, now informally named Eileen’s Glen after the Fritzes’ daughter, opened up. Reclaiming the glen will take years, taming trunk re-sprouts and new privet from berries in the soil.

Once the process is complete, it’s hoped the soil’s native-plant seed bank will emerge to provide a glimpse into what the buckeye grove looked like back in the ’80s with wildflowers, native grasses, and groundcover shrubs like coralberry.

Want to jump into this nature healing project? Please visit the Ned & Genie Fritz Restoration Team. Sign up for a restoration day so that you get notified.

Texas Buckeye Walks Resume

fter Jim Flood ceased his Texas Buckeye Walks in 2015, guided hikes became sporadic and scarcely publicized. Convincing people to walk a couple of muddy miles to see barely visible blooms was a hard sell.

But once the Ned & Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trail Restoration’s privet management was well underway, the consensus was clear: the walks had to resume if Ned’s legacy was to endure.

In March 2023, Kristi Kerr kicked them off in a big way — four weekends of walks with a superb lineup of leaders, each with a compelling area of expertise or experience:

Eileen Fritz McKee and sons in front of Ned the bur oak.

Eileen Fritz McKee, daughter of Ned and Genie, and her son Michael McKee, brought delightful insight into the trail’s eponymous couple.
Kristi Kerr and other North Texas Master naturalists inspired attendees with their flora, fauna, and ecology knowledge.
Amy Martin, author of Ned Fritz Legacy, relayed insider tales of Ned’s efforts to preserve the forest and the Trinity.
Bob Ritchie showed how to forage the forest, which Ned liked doing.
Rich Grayson shared his deep bond with Ned over river activism.

Each walk was proceeded by a short talk on Ned and his work with the Great Trinity Forest and Trinity River.

This new approach to the Texas Buckeye Walks paid big dividends:

“About 85 people participated in the walks and 95% of them had NEVER been on the trail before! This is why we present these guided hikes. The walkers were delighted and in deep gratitude. All promised to come back and bring their friends and family.” ~ Kristi Kerr

Hikers emerge from the Buckeye Loop section of the trail. Photo by Amy Martin.

Spring 2023 unfolded with potent fertility. Hikers were graced by the luminous glow of sunlight passing through the young light-green leaves of trees. Blooms bedecked Eve’s necklace trees. Birds high in the canopy filled the air with song as they searched for mates and staked out nesting territory. Reptiles awakened in the warmth.

The walks allowed people to see the monthly restoration workdays in progress. Buckeyes, from a few inches tall to majestic 30-footers, were marked with orange biodegradable tape, with other natives needing preservation receiving yellow tape. Privets that had been cut and were awaiting follow-up treatment were tagged with blue tape.

Texas Buckeye Walks continued in the same fashion in 2024. Sign up here for the walks, which usually reach capacity relatively quickly. The link is suitable for all years.

Explore the buckeye trails on your own, especially on weekdays. Start at the Ned and Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trailhead at 7000 Bexar. Look for the picnic pavilion, cross the small bridge, and scale the levee. The paved section of the trail will be visible below. Along the paved trail, look for two concrete semi-circles with boulders to the left. The soft-surface trails emerge from them. Use Google Maps or a trail GPS like AllTrails or Gaia to track your location.

Hiking tips:

Hiking boots or sturdy tennis shoes are strongly preferred. Please, no sandals, flip-flops, or Crocs.
Being in the lowlands, the trail is muddy after rains. Bring a change of shoes for the ride home and a large towel can be handy.
The trail can be slippery, but a hiking stick can make things easier.
In warm weather, mosquitos can be fierce and chiggers are prevalent in the tall grass. Use bug spray (Repel lemon eucalyptus is excellent) and coat your shoes, pants, and waistband with dusting sulfur (available at nurseries). A post-hike shower for chiggers is a good idea.
Brave volunteers cut poison ivy away from the trails, but in case of accidental exposure, it’s a good idea to wash all exposed skin with Dawn dishwashing detergent when you get home.