Browse > Home / Beautification, Community / Carving out a plan for Dogwood Canyon

Carving out a plan for Dogwood Canyon

December 27, 2005

By HERB BOOTH / The Dallas Morning News

The city of Cedar Hill and Audubon Dallas are letting nature take its course, and so far, the path they’re on is a bright one.

The two groups – in cooperation with Audubon Texas and National Audubon Society – are collaborating to purchase about 300 acres that will make up Dogwood Canyon. Audubon currently has about 180 of the 300 acres bought, and a $2 million education center should be finished in about two years.

The society is in the middle of a campaign goal of $4 million for land acquisition, $2 million for an education center and trails and $1.5 million to establish an endowment.

About $6 million has been raised so far. Included in that amount is a $1 million challenge grant for which society officials said they need about $225,000 more.

Dogwood Canyon – named for the flowering dogwood trees that grow there – started with a 40-acre donation by David and Kim Hurt.

“We bought the land so our son would have a place to go out and play,” Mr. Hurt said. “But once we started discovering what was here, we had to share it. This is a very special place. There is nowhere else in the country where there is this kind of setting in an urban setting. We’re 15 minutes from downtown.”

Since that donation, Cedar Hill gave land, and the Audubon Society is purchasing the rest of the land.

Dogwood Canyon is the latest hunk of land in southwest Dallas County to be accumulated for public use. The canyon is sandwiched between Northwood University and the Cedar Hill Ninth Grade Center, the 110-acre Cedar Mountain Preserve and the 2,000-acre Cedar Hill State Park, which forms the southern border for Joe Pool Lake. Just across FM1382 from the state park is the 630-acre Cedar Ridge Preserve, formerly the Dallas Nature Center.

The thousands of acres are reminiscent of the Texas Hill Country. Rugged outcroppings along a limestone escarpment rise from the Cedar Hill and Dallas land. Audubon officials said the escarpment runs throughout Dallas, but nowhere is it more prevalent than in Cedar Hill.

“It is unique from a land standpoint,” said Susan Houston, regional director of stewardship for Audubon Texas.

Cedar Hill Mayor Rob Franke said the Dogwood Canyon project represents what’s important to the city.

“We’ve spent a lot of time reinforcing what ‘distinctive character’ means,” Mr. Franke said. “Preservation is more than an obligation to the city, but it’s really a commitment to the entire metroplex. It is what Central Park is to New York.”

The mayor, Cedar Hill school district and Audubon Society officials are excited by the education center – the society’s first in Texas – that should be finished in the fall of 2008.

Cedar Hill Superintendent Jim Gibson said the district is looking forward to being partners with the Audubon Society and Northwood University.

“You know we’re neighbors,” said Dr. Gibson, noting that one of Dogwood Canyon’s borders would touch properties belonging to the school district and the university.

Ivy Taylor, a fourth-grade teacher at Lakeridge Elementary in Cedar Hill ISD, said if Dogwood Canyon is anything like Cedar Ridge Preserve, students certainly would benefit.

“We haven’t been to [Dogwood Canyon] yet,” Ms. Taylor said. “But the Audubon Society does a wonderful job at the preserve.”

Anne Brown, the state deputy director of the National Audubon Society, said the group has been taking Cedar Hill and Dallas teachers and students on tours through Cedar Ridge Preserve, but Dogwood Canyon will make an even more impressive classroom.

When finished, the 5,000- to 7,000-square-foot facility – which will be on FM1382 to provide for better exposure – also will feature a children’s discovery garden. It will educate the 6-and-under crowd on what not to touch in the woods and common elements people see when in the thick of nature.

Ms. Houston said the center would help students in preparing for the science portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

“But it’s not just about test scores,” Ms. Houston said. “Teaching kids science through outdoor experiences is many times better than the classroom.”

Ms. Brown said that in addition to enhancing education, the center would be visitor-friendly and concentrate on some research.

For researchers and common birders, there is a lot to study. Mr. Hurt said he has spotted the golden-cheeked warbler. He said Dogwood Canyon would be the eastern edge of the range for that creature. Until this population of golden-cheeked warblers was found in 2001, the last known Dallas County nesting was 45 years ago.

Audubon officials said the canyon also is the only place in North America where the black-chinned hummingbird is seen. Orioles, tanagers, warblers, hummingbirds and others feed on the lush vegetation – a Dogwood Canyon staple.

Mr. Hurt said the dogwoods also are a rarity. Usually reserved for the environs of the Deep South, dogwoods in a Texas Hill Country-like setting are unusual.

“They really shouldn’t be here,” said Mr. Hurt, who added that the dogwoods bloom the first three weeks in April.

“They’re probably relics from one of the last ice ages.”

E-mail hbooth@dallasnews.com.

Similar Posts

Comments