Lower Chain Of Wetlands, Trinity River Project

Horseback riders at Linfield Flat, Wetland Cell Project, Trinity River, Dallas

The lower chain of wetlands are comprised of half a dozen cells that extend from the I-45 bridge south to Loop 12. The wetlands are not a part of the Trinity River channel. They sit up and above grade from the Trinity. As a result the land and water are much cleaner than the river channel nearby. Hard to even find a piece of trash in this part of the Trinity River Project. Much of the land used by the chain of wetlands was originally part of the Sleepy Hollow Golf Course and Country Club.

The Chain of Wetlands extends about four miles in length from Cedar Creek to Loop 12. The three wetland cells located between Cedar Creek and Interstate 45 are interconnected and actually flow upstream and are continuously fed by discharge (or treated water) from the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant north of I-45.  The plant's water is treated against harmful bacteria before being discharged. The remaining three wetland cells extend from the Interstate 45 vicinity to Loop 12 and are also interconnected and continuously fed by treatment plant water.

Thunderstorms in Kaufman County as viewed from Fellows Lane Gate at Trinity River Wetland Cell Project

Location: 4800 Fellows Lane

Currently there is not any on-site parking available to access this portion of the Trinity River Project. The best parking option is at 4800 Fellows Lane where it dead ends at an access gate. Other options include parking at the Loop 12 Boat Ramp parking lot and heading north. The Great Trinity Forest paved path can be visited on the same trip which lies directly to the south of Loop 12.

Trinity River Wetland Cell Trail Map
Routes above are a mixture of dirt roads and some trails

Downtown Dallas skyline as viewed from Trinity River Wetland Chain of Lakes

Gravel road at Fellows Lane gate looking south towards Loop 12

Currently no formal hike and bike trails exist in the wetland cell project. There are a few dirt roads that skirt the perimeter of the lakes and also meander along some treelines along the river. This area is fairly open and easy to negotiate in dry weather. At the present time there are not any water fountains or restroom facilities available.

Wetland Cell as viewed from Union Pacific Trestle

Thundershower over Fair Park during Tropical Storm Hermine

When the river floods the Wetland Cells absorb much of the excess water creating a buffer for areas downstream. The video above illustrates this. It was taken in September of 2010 during the flooding cause by Tropical Storm Hermine. At the time, the river was roughly levee to levee downtown. As you can see, the wetland cells are doing their job. Water is moving from cell to cell and carrying it away from the river as designed.

There are fish in the lakes but I believe they are transient coming in during flood periods. I do not believe the lakes have been stocked.

Trails in the Great Trinity Forest Dallas, Texas

Only started this blog to fill in a large gap of information that exists about the trails, trail network and recreation available in an area the City of Dallas calls "The Great Trinity Forest". It seems to be impossible to find any information about what exists in roughly 6000 acres of undeveloped land south and east of Downtown Dallas in an area bounded by I-20 on the south, I-30 on the north, Jim Miller on the east and I-35 to the west.

I started looking into what was down there several years ago and really did not come up with much. The "forest" is managed under an umbrella of government agencies federal, state, county, city. There is not alot of cross talk between them and their underlying goals seem to differ. The Corps of Engineers seems to take precedent over all others since their responsibility is flood protection, levees, the waterway and engineering. The alphabet soup of agencies seem to tie each other in knots.

In addition to government agencies a number of non-profit groups run nature centers, trail construction and activities in the area. The Dallas Audubon Center on Loop 12, The Texas Horse Park on Elam Road both are making substantial investments for the future in this area.

For more information visit their websites:

http://www.trinityriveraudubon.org/

http://www.texashorsepark.com/

The non-profit responsible for quite a bit of soft surface/natural surface construction in the Great Trinity Forest is a group called Groundwork Dallas. They have built a number of miles of soft surface trail in the White Rock Valley south of Scyene Road and north of Hwy 175. They have also built trails in the Rochester Park area south of 175 and east of the Hwy 310 bridge.

http://www.groundworkdallas.org/

They have built some exceptional trails in Dallas over the last several years.

I have often wondered why I never see others out on these trails. They are in the middle of the city, have some amazing views. I have been asked numerous times where or how someone can get to the trails but cannot point them in the right direction. Hopefully I can add some of what I know or have stumbled upon myself.