By William Holston
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-978582.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Amid efforts to raise awareness about our environment, commentator William Holston urges us not to forget an already dwindling segment of it.
What did Dallas look like before it was a city? Dallas was a part of the twelve million acre Texas Blackland Prairie, an ecosystem which stretched all the way to the Canadian Border. Land now covered with buildings and parking lots, was once an endless sea of grass. And it's disappearing fast. The Blackland Prairie Association of Texas estimates there is only one percent of that blackland prairie left. Why? Beneath the grass and wildflowers was extremely fertile soil. Those prairies were plowed under for cotton. Once a prairie is plowed, it never comes back and ceases the important functions, of absorbing rainwater back into the water table, reducing carbon and producing oxygen. Other parcels became housing developments and shopping malls.
Thankfully, local groups have preserved some of these spaces. Clymer Meadow is 1000 acres owned by the Nature Conservancy. There, I walked on old growth prairie over 5,000 years old. It is filled with grasses and wildflowers and is what the first settlers to this area must have seen. Dallas County, the City of Garland and the Spring Creek Forest have a small plot of Native Prairie which adjoins a rare bottomland forest.
One of the best examples of how to preserve Blackland Prairie is at White Rock Lake. Local Master Naturalist Becky Rader identified an open field as a remnant prairie, which had never been plowed. She then worked with volunteers in preserving it. Volunteers from North Texas Master Naturalists, students from SMU, Texas Parks and Wildlife all worked together to preserve this area. They worked with the city of Dallas Parks department to time mowing to encourage the growth of native grasses and forbs. Now, we have an oasis of wildflowers and native grass, that don't require watering.
But these efforts by government and non-profits are not enough. According to the Texas Land Conservancy, "Texas loses over 200,000 acres of open land every year to urban sprawl." Since most of Texas is privately-owned, private conservation is the primary method to preserve these areas. One of the best tools is through conservation easements, an agreement between a landowner and a land trust like Nature Conservancy or Texas Land Conservancy to limit development. A great example of this is the Paul Matthews Prairie in Hunt County. There are presently tax incentives for doing that. Before plowing it under, landowners need to understand what their vacant land is, and work with non profits to preserve it. We have a responsibility to pass on to our children all of the world's unique ecosystems. Here it's prairie, or what is left of it. Matt White in his book Prairie Time informs us we have no idea exactly how much of this backland prairie exists, because it has never been surveyed. It should be. For too long we've allowed commerce to have the upper hand over preservation.
Each week, I walk in a local nature area. Off of the paved trail, I walk on a remnant prairie. It's on private land, but not posted. I walk past bluestem grass and watch monarchs stop on their long journey south to Mexico, feeding on Green Milkweed. I've followed coyotes in the snow there. Nearby is a huge office building. It's filled with commerce and jobs, essential to our economic welfare. One day I fear this prairie will be bulldozed, replaced by an office building. The engineering prowess of the men building these buildings is amazing, but try as they might, they can't build a prairie.
William Holston is an attorney from Dallas.
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