Good news! The small park I frequent is doubling in size! :) Thanks, iNat!

iNaturalist may not be the sole reason for a purchase of land, but I think it adds some powerful fuel to an argument for the preservation of wild spaces!

In the far east side of Fort Worth, my home city, there's a park that I enjoy visiting called Cobblestone Trail Park. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=163142
It's relatively small -- about 25 acres, but the wild part of the park includes some really neat intact post oak forest. Recently, there was some interest from developers to...well... develop the 24 acres to the east. The City of Fort Worth purchased this land on Monday and will extend the area of the park! I can't wait to explore this section of extended post oak forest.

I wrote a letter to city council not for the advice of purchase but just to inform of the species that reside in the current area. So far, over 400 species that we've documented seek out this park as a refuge: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=163142&view=species
I know it was a lot of neighborhood interest and letters to keep this area wild, but I'm so grateful to have a tool like iNat to show others how important wild spaces are, and how much we seek out these areas to engage with nature. :)

If you find yourself on the east side of Fort Worth, you should visit this park! There is a trail on the north east side that takes you into the forest some more. :) I think it's similar to what the early settlers experienced, if just on a minute scale:

“I shall not easily forget the mortal toil, and the vexations of flesh and spirit, that we underwent occasionally, in our wanderings through the Cross Timber. It was like struggling through forests of cast iron,” Washington Irving writes in 1832
https://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/cross-timbers-ancient-forest-americas-crossroads/

In the midst of bad news of 2020, here's something that I'm celebrating. :)

Posted on 03 de dezembro de 2020, 04:28 AM by sambiology sambiology

Comentários

This is wonderful news! :)

Publicado por galactic_bug_man mais de 3 anos antes

Great news and super work on your part!

Publicado por pattypasztor mais de 3 anos antes

Good news! Great! I appreciate you sharing and doing the good work!

Publicado por twylabirdjean mais de 3 anos antes

Good news indeed!! Congratulations to everyone's who's efforts made this save possible!

Publicado por entomike mais de 3 anos antes

Wow, this is fantastic news! Was this facilitated by Fort Worth's new Open Space program? @mustardlypig

Publicado por troutlily57 mais de 3 anos antes

your diligence in documenting nature has paid off in unexpected ways!

Publicado por texslm mais de 3 anos antes

great news Sam!

Publicado por bouteloua mais de 3 anos antes

That’s great news!

Publicado por dorothy12 mais de 3 anos antes

Great news! Those small places are so important for people and plants and wildlife!

Publicado por jcochran706 mais de 3 anos antes

Definitely something to celebrate! Thanks for sharing the victory, Sam. Yay!

Publicado por kathrynwells333 mais de 3 anos antes

That is great news! Thanks for your tireless efforts to inform and inspire citizen scientists!

Publicado por vadalton mais de 3 anos antes

Good news Sam and kudos to Ft. Worth for recognizing the value in preserving our wildspaces. Looking like better things are yet to come to Cobblestone Trail Park.

Publicado por tomshaughnessy mais de 3 anos antes

That’s great!

Publicado por observerjosh mais de 3 anos antes

Congratulations, Sam! No doubt you were instrumental in making this happen.

Publicado por amzapp mais de 3 anos antes

Great news, Sam! Congratulations to you, the community & iNaturalist....a formidable team!

Publicado por postoak mais de 3 anos antes

Yay! Good news, Sam. Nice to hear of a small pro-conservation win!

Publicado por alisonnorthup mais de 3 anos antes

Sam was this purchase done by Parks Dept or Open Space? I can testify that reminding the city about the wonders of Tandy Hills helped them purchase Broadcast Hill.

Publicado por donyoung mais de 3 anos antes

Woo hoo!

Publicado por tiwane mais de 3 anos antes

Hooray! Doing a happy dance!

Publicado por connlindajo mais de 3 anos antes

Nice. Not far from my old stomping grounds of Richland Hills.

Publicado por billdodd mais de 3 anos antes

Wow! That's wonderful! Thank you for advocating the preservation of open spaces provides habitat for wildlife!

Publicado por pufferchung mais de 3 anos antes

Yeah! It is really exciting! Although, this definitely wasn't just me -- the whole neighborhood association had a letter-writing campaign, and there was some great energy coming from lots of folks to get this land. $750,000 for 24 acres... https://fortworthgov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4700112&GUID=445BF086-172B-40A2-8A3C-37CF5A061CAD
I think that it was more of a Parks purchase than the open space committee, but I'm not totally sure. Major victory for all of the critters that live here -- loads and loads of post oaks.

If you do come and visit, recognize that it's not a massive park or anything -- but it does give that really unique picture of the historic cross timbers post oak forest. :)

Publicado por sambiology mais de 3 anos antes

I will have to go and check out this place sometime. I have not been to a lot of Parks in Fort Worth but I am working my way around. This sounds like a very interesting place to go and walk around and take pictures and observe wildlife.

Publicado por galactic_bug_man mais de 3 anos antes

I finally looked it up on the map & am even more impressed & delighted that 1) FW salvaged some of the EXT woodlands in that area after so much has been lost. 2) It's close to me & I'm looking forward to exploring! Any possibilities for connectivity to Trinity River corridor to the north?

Publicado por postoak mais de 3 anos antes

Yes, this is super exciting! The City of Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department (PARD) put forth the funds to purchase this property. It was reviewed by the Open Space program but turned out to be a better fit for PARD to purchase as it is adjacent to an existing park. It is super (& super effective) when citizens speak up in support of something. We now see evidence of this via Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area speaking up & raising funds for the purchase of Broadcast Hill. Now this park; another property off Boat Club Road, & the Friends of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge. There's a lot going on to save some great places in Fort Worth! And citizen support via speaking up, writing letters, contributing financially when possible go a long way to successful acquisition!

Publicado por mustardlypig mais de 3 anos antes

I hadn't heard anything about this, but so glad it has happened! To Sam's point about neighborhood support, this is the video portion of the City Council discussion of the purchase.
http://fortworthgov.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=4095&meta_id=452898

Publicado por apcorboy mais de 3 anos antes

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