Big Spring Plant Survey Flora Data and Discovering Texas Tree Ring Science

The former Jenkins Farm as it looked during tree clearing for the future Texas Horse Park. Pictured are Sean Fitzgerald with the orange helmet and Tim Dalbey who are extracting tree trunk samples from a huge downed Post Oak estimated to be over 150+ years old

The rough edged realities of progress come quick to large construction sites. What man built and has stood for a century is reduced to scrap over the course of an afternoon. What nature took centuries to grow falls in the fraction of that. It's a dramatic farewell that bulldozers often orchestrate, a permanent change of landscape. Caught in the middle of all that are unseen gems of history that at some point will help Dallasites understand not just the past but where we are headed in the future.

In 1846 Sam Houston gave a speech on the floor of the United States Senate entitled A Tribute To The Indians "As a race they have withered from the land, Their arrows are broken, and their springs dried up;......Ages hence, the inquisitive white man, as he stands by some growing city, will ponder on the structure of their disturbed remains and wonder to what manner of person they belonged."

Dallas is fortunate to have a handful of very dedicated private citizens who fit the bill of what Sam Houston spoke of so long ago. Nowhere does his speech ring more true than the woods surrounding Big Spring in the Great Trinity Forest. The Yeoman's work here over the last year to discover the centuries of history and the combined preservation efforts will have a far reaching legacy for generations to come.

Through some very hard work Big Spring will become an official Dallas Landmark. Believed to be the first natural landmark in the City of Dallas, landmark designation is traditionally given to buildings, places and physical things. This new landmark, still in just the formative infancy of the process will be unique in what it represents, a rare natural spot ripe with the complete story of Texas at ones feet.

The story and the people involved in the awareness and preservation is rather remarkable and maybe someday once the dust settles some the background of how this came to be will be shared to a greater extent. As of this writing much is still in Square One with regards to how it will all shake out, written on bar napkins, sketched into dirt drawings with a stick and what amounts to over a thousand emails.

Part of that hard work includes some rather obscure data collection and preservation of tree slices from an old Post Oak trunk and a continuing cataloging of plant species around Big Spring.

 The Big Post Oak at 811 Pemberton Hill

The dying Post Oak at 811 Pemberton Hill Road as it looked in June 2012

For as long as there has been a Dallas, a Post Oak tree has commanded the high terrace of the Trinity River Valley in Pleasant Grove. From the spot one can see west clear to Oak Cliff,The VA Hospital, Fair Park and Downtown Dallas some miles distant.

The tree is most likely more than 150 years old and witnessed the first surveyors, Texan explorers, pioneers and settlement of this very spot. The Beemans, Bryans, Pembertons, Kirbys, Jenkins, Cantrells and Jassos made a living under this tree as it served as part of their farm and ranching operations over the better part of two centuries.

The rainfall, the weather, the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter that all those families saw over the last two hundred years are recorded in the tree trunk of that old tree.

Post Oaks Quercus stellata are extremely sensitive to root disturbance and lack of oxygen in the root zone, so construction activities that compact the soil, pave over the roots, or change the soil grade can kill existing trees. Chemical contamination of the soil and poor care will slowly kill even the strongest of trees. Roy Appleton of the Dallas Morning News has recently written an article that discusses some of the issue, it serves as a great primer to some of the underlying concerns:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/best-southwest/headlines/20130930-responsibility-for-dump-site-at-horse-property-adds-to-dispute.ece

The area near the old Post Oak was scraped as part of the remediation process and with it went the old Post Oak. Tim Dalbey got word that the tree would be removed from the property entirely in just a couple days so the race was on to get some priceless tree ring "cookies" from the trunk.


The work to remove tree slices first began at the conclusion of a plant survey at Big Spring(results are below, scroll down for an ever growing list). Those attending were able to speak with construction supervisors about removing slices, got the OK and were given word on that Friday that they only had till Monday at dawn to get the tree parts.

The work was supervised by Geo-Marine, the city archeology contractor that coming late Sunday afternoon. The work was started that Friday by Billy Ray Pemberton with his trusty chainsaw.

Followup work that Sunday was completed by Tim Dalbey and Sean Fitzgerald. Sean in addition to being great with a chainsaw is also the very best photographer of the Trinity River, bar none. http://seanfitzgerald.com/ showcases much of what he sees on the river.

Sean Fitzgerald at Lemmon Lake in his floating blind with Roseate Spoonbills flying over him, July 2012

His stunning images dominate public places around town, in print and on the City of Dallas website. 

Tim Dalbey and Sean Fitzgerald

Tim Dalbey has slices of one other Post Oak tree from this same part of town that date back to when the Beeman family first settled the land in the 1840s. Using a scientific method called dendochronology one can first sand the surface of the slice and painstakingly measure and record each growing year.

Growth rings, also referred to as tree rings or annual rings, can be seen in a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a tree. Growth rings are the result of new growth in the vascular cambium, a layer of cells near the bark that is classified as a lateral meristem. This growth in diameter is known as secondary growth. Visible rings result from the change in growth speed through the seasons of the year, thus one ring usually marks the passage of one year in the life of the tree.

Many trees make one growth ring each year, with the newest adjacent to the bark. For the entire period of a tree's life, a year-by-year record or ring pattern is formed that reflects the climatic conditions in which the tree grew. Adequate moisture and a long growing season result in a wide ring. A drought year may result in a very narrow one. Alternating poor and favorable conditions, such as mid summer droughts, can result in several rings forming in a given year.

Success! A great clean slice from the old Post Oak trunk

Since Dr Dalbey has two sections from different trees of the same species, one interesting idea will be to cross-reference the data. It should tell what the environment, weather, rainfall and growing seasons were like in this part of North Texas going back several centuries. The slices extracted here are near perfect for such work, free from rot and splitting.

I would not hazard a guess to the absolute age or conclusions that will be drawn from the data. Post oaks can often kick out a false ring when a growing season stops and restarts during the same year.

The slices measured 38 inches or so in diameter, almost too large for any conventional chain saw one would have at home.

Bill Pemberton with a tree slice he started on and Sean finished

Two slices in all were extracted. One was taken by Tim for his dendrochronology work, the other was brought over to the Pemberton home where it was given to Mr Billy Ray Pemberton. His family's slice was sawed by him to a large extent and finished off a couple days later by Sean Fitzgerald.

Very difficult and hard work. So much of it is down here. The reward though is one that few get to experience. Only a handful of folk have ever seen the sunset from the backyard of the Pembertons. A sunset view of many miles to the west. Gotta be a special person to command a sunset audience there. A priceless experience.

The Ongoing Plant Surveys at Big Spring

High School Senior Alexander Neal and Historian MC Toyer discussing the history of Big Spring among the fall wildflowers in the Big Spring pasture, October 2013. Alexander is a student at Townview Magnet and is working on a Senior thesis about preservation and the aspects of the Trinity River Project

The stark contrast of landscapes between the construction next door at the Horse Park and that of the serene Big Spring landscape are readily apparent in the fall of 2013. The late summer and early fall rains have contributed to a new growth of second crop wildflowers in the pasture here that serves as a bio-buffer between the construction and the fragile Big Spring site.

Indian Blanket wildflower growing at the "topographic high" area of the Big Spring meadow. The exact spot where this wildflower is growing is known as 41DL72 a pre-historic Native American site, October 2013

Plant surveys are an important part of understanding the overall environment here. Quarterly surveys have begun here in 2013 which over time hope to catalog the wide and diverse plant and animal life of Big Spring and the surrounding area that will become a future city landmark.

Master Naturalist Jim Varnum, Master Naturalist Jim Flood and Geo-archeologist Dr Tim Dalbey taking notes on a plant species not seen before on previous visits

The plant survey work is led by the local Master Naturalist chapter here in North Texas. The Master Naturalist Program in Texas is a certification process through a Texas Parks and Wildlife program. More information can be found on their website http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/master_naturalist/

One of the more well known and whom many regard as the foremost expert Master Naturalist is Jim Varnum. Pictured above in the red checkered shirt. In addition to his near encyclopedic knowledge of plants, he runs one of the best aggregated online newsletters in Texas called Jim's This and That. A worthwhile link to bookmark as he condenses what is going on around North Texas on a weekly basis. If you ever needed to find something to do in a pinch some weekend outdoors, he always has great suggestions and great insight.

The other Jim, Jim Flood, seen in the middle of the photo, is the trail steward of the Buckeye Trail just across White Rock Creek from Big Spring. His website http://www.texasbuckeyetrail.org/ has contact information about guided hikes and workdays on the Buckeye Trail.

Below is the ever growing and compiled list of flora seen at Big Spring in visits. The list was compiled in spreadsheet format by Jim Varnum. It includes plants through the end of September and number 188 species. An additional 15 new species were documented in mid-October and are not on the list. This list has been previously shared with the City of Dallas office of Trinity River Watershed Management.

Equisetum hyemale subsp. affine	Tall scouring rush	Hrstls	Equisetaceae
Juniperus virginiana	Eastern red cedar	Tree	Cupressaceae
Dicliptera brachiata	False mint	Forb	Acanthaceae
Ruellia humilis	Low reullia, Wild petunia	Forb	Acanthaceae
Ruellia strepens	Smooth ruellia	Forb	Acanthaceae
Acer negundo var. negundo?	Box elder	Tree	Aceraceae -> Sapindaceae
Amaranthus hybridus	Green amaranth	Forb	Amaranthaceae
Amaranthus tuberculatus (PLANTS db) (OLD A. rudis)	Water hemp	Forb	Amaranthaceae
Rhus lanceolata	Prairie sumac	Tree	Anacardiaceae
Toxicodendron radicans subsp. ?	Poison ivy	All	Anacardiaceae
Chaerophyllum tainturieri	Chervil	Forb	Apiaceae
Daucus carota	Wild carrot	Forb	Apiaceae
Hydrocotyle sp. (peltate)	? Pennywort	Forb	Apiaceae -> Araliaceae
Torilis arvensis	Hedge parsley, Beggar’s lice	Forb	Apiaceae
Ilex decidua	Possumhaw holly	Tree	Aquifoliaceae
Asclepias viridis	Green milkweed	Forb	Asclepiadaceae → Apocynaceae
Cynanchum laeve	Bluevine	Forb	Asclepiadaceae → Apocynaceae
Matelea gonocarpos	Anglepod	Vine	Asclepiadaceae → Apocynaceae
Ambrosia artemisiifolia	Little ragweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Ambrosia psilostachya	Western ragweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Ambrosia trifida var. texana	Giant ragweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Symphyotrichum drummondii var. texanum (OLD Aster drummondii var. texanus)	Texas aster	Forb	Asteraceae
Symphyotrichum ericoides var. = (OLD Aster ericoides)	Heath aster (white)	Forb	Asteraceae
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. = ? (OLD Aster lateriflorus)	Calico aster	Forb	Asteraceae
Symphyotrichum divaricatum (OLD Aster subulatus var. ligulatus)	Fall aster (white)	Forb	Asteraceae
Calyptocarpus vialis	Straggler daisy, Horseherb	Forb	Asteraceae
Cirsium altissimum	Iowa thistle	Forb	Asteraceae
Cirsium engelmannii	Blackland thistle	Forb	Asteraceae
Conyza canadensis var. =	Horseweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Dracopis amplexicaulis	Clasping-leaf coneflower	Forb	Asteraceae
Eclipta prostrata	Pieplant	Forb	Asteraceae
Gaillardia pulchella	Firewheel, Indian blanket	Forb	Asteraceae
Amphiachyris dracunculoides (OLD Gutierrezia dracunculoides)	Broomweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Helenium amarum var. =	Sneezeweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Heterotheca subaxillaris	Camphor daisy	Forb	Asteraceae
Iva annua	Marsh-elder, Sumpweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Lactuca serriola	Prickly lettuce	Forb	Asteraceae
Mikania scandens	Climbing hemp-weed	Vine	Asteraceae
Packera tampicana	Great plains ragwort	Forb	Asteraceae
Parthenium hysterophorus	False ragweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Pluchea odorata	Camphorweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima	Black-eyed susan	Forb	Asteraceae
Solidago gigantea - tall, lin lvs, glab stem	Tall goldenrod	Forb	Asteraceae
Vernonia baldwinii	Western ironweed	Forb	Asteraceae
Bignonia capreolata	Cross-vine	Vine	Bignoniaceae
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum
Lonicera japonica	Japanese honeysuckle	Vine	Caprifoliaceae
Dichondra carolinensis	Dichondra	Forb	Convolvulaceae
Convolvulus arvensis	Bindweed	Vine	Convolvulaceae
Convolvulus equitans	Texas bindweed	Vine	Convolvulaceae
Ipomoea cordatotriloba var. ???	Morning-glory	Vine	Convolvulaceae
Ipomoea lacunosa	White morning-glory	Vine	Convolvulaceae
Ipomoea wrightii	Wright’s morning-glory	Vine	Convolvulaceae
Melothria pendula	Meloncito, Speckled gourd	Vine	Cucurbitaceae
Acalypha ostryifolia	Hop-hornbeam copperleaf	Forb	Euphorbiaceae
Croton monanthogynus	Prairie tea	Forb	Euphorbiaceae
Poinsettia dentata (OLD Euphorbia dentata)	Toothed spurge	Forb	Euphorbiaceae
Triadica sebifera (OLD Sapium sebiferum)	Chinese tallow tree	Tree	Euphorbiaceae
Tragia ramosa	Noseburn	Forb	Euphorbiaceae
Chamaecrista fasciculata	Partridge pea	Forb	Fabaceae
Desmanthus illinoensis	Illinois bundleflower	Forb	Fabaceae
Desmanthus leptolobus	Prairie bundleflower	Forb	Fabaceae
Desmodium paniculatum	Panicled tick trefoil	Forb	Fabaceae
Gleditsia triacanthos	Honey locust	Tree	Fabaceae
Indigofera miniata var. leptosepala	Scarlet pea	Forb	Fabaceae
Lathyrus hirsutus	Singletary Pea	Forb	Fabaceae
Prosopis glandulosa	Honey mesquite	Tree	Fabaceae
Sesbania herbacea	Coffee bean	Forb	Fabaceae
Quercus macrocarpa	Bur oak	Tree	Fagaceae
Quercus shumardii	Shumard red oak	Tree	Fagaceae
Carya illinoinensis	Pecan	Tree	Juglandaceae
Juglans nigra	Black walnut	Tree	Juglandaceae
Monarda citriodora	Lemon mint	Forb	Lamiaceae
Monarda punctata ssp. = var. intermedia (OLD Monarda punctata var. intermedia)	Spotted beebalm	Forb	Lamiaceae
Teucrium canadense	American germander	Forb	Lamiaceae
Lythrum alataum var. lanceolatum	Lance-leaf loosestrife	Forb	Lythraceae
Callirhoe involucrata var. ?	Spreading winecup	Forb	Malvaceae
Hibiscus laevis	Rose-mallow	Forb	Malvaceae
Modiola caroliniana	Carolina modiola	Forb	Malvaceae
Sida rhombifolia	Axocatzin	Forb	Malvaceae
Melia azedarach	China-berry	Tree	Meliaceae
Cocculus carolinus	Carolina snailseed	Vine	Menispermaceae
Broussonetia papyrifera	Paper-mulberry	Tree	Moraceae
Maclura pomifera	Osage orange, Horse apple	Tree	Moraceae
Morus alba	White mulberry	Tree	Moraceae
Morus rubra	Red mulberry	Tree	Moraceae
Boerhavia diffusa (coccinea)	Scarlet spiderling	Vine	Nyctaginaceae
Forestiera acuminata	Swanp-privet	Shrub	Oleaceae
Fraxinus texensis	Texas white ash	Tree	Oleaceae
Ligustrum japonicum	Wax-leaf ligustrum	Shrub	Oleaceae
Ligustrum quihoui	Quihoui’s privet	Shrub	Oleaceae
Ligustrum sessile fruit
Ligustrum sinense	Chinese privet	Shrub	Oleaceae
Oenothera curtiflora (OLD Gaura mollis (OLD Gaura parviflora))	Lizard-tail gaura	Forb	Onagraceae
Oenothera suffulta (OLD Gaura suffulta)	Kisses	Forb	Onagraceae
Ludwigia octovalvis	Shrubby water-primrose, Narrow-leaf w-p	Forb	Onagraceae
Ludwigia peploides	Water-primrose	Aqua	Onagraceae
Oenothera rhombipetala	Four-point evening-primrose	Forb	Onagraceae
Oenothera speciosa	Showy evening-primrose, Buttercup	Forb	Onagraceae
Oxalis stricta	Oxalis, Yellow wood-sorrel	Forb	Oxalidaceae
Passiflora incarnata	Passion-flower	Vine	Passifloraceae
Passiflora lutea	Yellow passion-flower	Vine	Passifloraceae
Rivina humilis	Pigeon-berry	Forb	Phytolaccaceae
Polygonum aviculare	Prostrate knotweed	Forb	Polygonaceae
Polygonum hydropiperoides (white)	Swamp smartweed	Forb	Polygonaceae
Polygonum pensylvanicum (pink)	Water smartweed	Forb	Polygonaceae
Rumex crispus	Curly dock	Forb	Polygonaceae
Rumex pulcher	Fiddle dock	Forb	Polygonaceae
Anemone berlandieri	Anemone, Windflower	Forb	Ranunculaceae
Clematis pitcheri	Leather-flower	Vine	Ranunculaceae
Berchemia scandens	Rattan-vine	Vine	Rhamnaceae
Geum canadense var. camporum	White avens, Geum	Forb	Rosaceae
Prunus mexicana	Mexican plum	Tree	Rosaceae
Pyrus calleryana	Bradford pear	Tree	Rosaceae
Rubus trivialis	Southern dewberry	Forb	Rosaceae
Cephalanthus occidentalis	Buttonbush	Tree	Rubiaceae
Diodia virginiana (white)	Virginia buttonweed	Forb	Rubiaceae
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis	Hercules’-club, Prickly ash, Toothache tree	Tree	Rutaceae
Populus deltoides subsp. =	Eastern cottonwood	Tree	Salicaceae
Salix nigra	Black willow	Tree	Salicaceae
Cardiospermum halicacabum	Balloon vine	Vine	Sapindaceae
Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii	Western soapberry	Tree	Sapindaceae
Agalinis heterophylla - pedicel ≤ 4 mm	Prairie agalinis	Forb	Scrophulariaceae / Orobanchaceae
Castilleja indivisa	Texas paintbrush	Forb	Scrophulariaceae / Orobanchaceae
Ailanthus altissima	Tree-of-heaven	Tree	Simaroubaceae
Physalis cinerascens	Ground-cherry	Forb	Solanaceae
Physalis turbinata	Thicket ground-cherry	Forb	Solanaceae
Solanum dimidiatum	Horse-nettle	Forb	Solanaceae
Solanum elaeagnifolium	Sliver-leaf nightshade, Trompillo	Forb	Solanaceae
Solanum rostratum	Buffalo bur	Forb	Solanaceae
Celtis laevigata var. =	Hackberry, Sugarberry	Tree	Ulmaceae -> Cannabaceae
Ulmus americana	American elm	Tree	Ulmaceae
Ulmus crassifolia	Cedar elm	Tree	Ulmaceae
Boehmeria cylindrica	Small-spike false-nettle	Forb	Urticaceae
Callicarpa americana	American beauty-berry	Shrub	Verbenaceae
Glandularia bipinnatifida	Prairie verbena	Forb	Verbenaceae
Lantana urticoides	Texas lantana	Shrub	Verbenaceae
Phyla lanceolata (OLD Lippia lanceolata)	Lance-leaf frogfruit	Forb	Verbenaceae
Phyla nodiflora (OLD Lippia nodiflora)	Texas frog-fruit	Forb	Verbenaceae
Verbena brasiliensis	Brazilian verbena	Forb	Verbenaceae
Verbena halei	Texas vervain	Forb	Verbenaceae
Viola missouriensis	Missouri violet	Forb	Violaceae
Phoradendron tomentosum	Mistletoe	Para	Viscaceae
Ampelopsis arborea	Peppervine	Vine	Vitaceae
Ampelopsis cordata	Heart-leaf ampelopsis	Vine	Vitaceae
Cissus trifoliata (OLD Cissus incisa)	Cowitch	Vine	Vitaceae
Parthenocissus quinquefolia	Virginia creeper	Vine	Vitaceae
Vitis cinerea var. =	Summer grape, Swet grape	Vine	Vitaceae
Vitis mustangensis	Mustang grape	Vine	Vitaceae
Tribulus terrestris	Goat-head (yellow)	Forb	Zygophyllaceae
Sagittaria graminea	Grassy arrowhead	Mom	Alismataceae
Sagittaria latifolia	Common arrowhead	Mono	Alismataceae
Sagittaria platyphylla	Delta arrowhead	Mono	Alismataceae
Commelina erecta var. =	Dayflower	Mono	Commelinaceae
Carex sp.	thin, light green leaves	Mono	Cyperaceae
Carex sp.	broader, dark leaves	Mono	Cyperaceae
Carex cherokeensis	Cherokee caric sedge	Sedge	Cyperaceae
Carex crus-corvi	Crow-foot caric sedge	Sedge	Cyperaceae
Cyperus erythrorhizos (red roots) (BO)	Red-root flat-sedge	Sedge	Cyperaceae
Cyperus retroflexus	One-flower flat-sedge	Sedge	Cyperaceae
Cyperis sp.
Iris sp.	Flag	Mono	Iridaceae
Lemna sp.	? duckweed	Mono	Lemnaceae -> Araceae
Juncus torreyi	Torrey’s rush	Mono	Juncaceae
Zephyranthes chlorosolen (former Cooperia drummondii)	Rain lily	Mono	Liliaceae -> Amaryllidaceae
Aegilops cylindrica	Jointed goat grass	Grass	Poaceae
Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica	King Ranch bluestem	Grass	Poaceae
Bothriochloa laguroides subsp. torreyana	Silver bluestem	Grass	Poaceae
Cenchrus spinifex	Sand-bur	Grass	Poaceae
Coelorachis cylindrica	Carolina joint-tail	Grass	Poaceae
Cynodon dactylon	Bermuda grass	Grass	Poaceae
Dactylis glomerata	Orchard grass	Grass	Poaceae
Echinochloa sp.		Grass	Poaceae
Echinochloa muricata var. =	a barnyard grass, NCN	Grass	Poaceae
Elymus canadensis	Canada wildrye	Grass	Poaceae
Elymus virginicus	Virginia wildrye	Grass	Poaceae
Panicum virgatum	Switchgrass	Grass	Poaceae
Paspalum notatum var. latiflorum	Bahia grass	Grass	Poaceae
Paspalum dilitatum	Dallis grass	Grass	Poaceae
Polypogon monspeliensis	Rabbitfoot grass	Grass	Poaceae
Phalaris caroliniana	Carolina canarygrass	Grass	Poaceae
Setaria parviflora	Knot-root bristlegrass	Grass	Poaceae
Sorghastrum nutans	Yellow Indian grass	Grass	Poaceae
Sorghum halepense	Johnson grass	Grass	Poaceae
Tridens flavus	Purpletop	Grass	Poaceae
Potamogeton nodosus	Long-leaf pondweed	Aqua	Potamogetonaceae
Smilax bona-nox	Catbrier	Vine	Smilacaceae
Typha domingensis	Narrow-leaf cat-tail	Aqua	Typhaceae

Vaqueros of The Great Trinity Forest

Riding the Trinity River with the best brush cowboys in North Texas, Fall 2013

The most obscure but rooted sense of place, by my reckoning in Dallas, must be here. Those who get the notion of the woods down in these parts, the pure authenticity of what remains of a real Texas among ever growing ribbons of concrete, relish this spot. When the heat of the Texas summer loses out to the first couple autumn cold fronts and their brief dust settling rains, well, there are few finer places to be in the world than right here.

Somewhere between the emerald grass and shining pocket ponds are thirty centuries of mankind at your feet if you know where to look. Texas in the raw you might say of a vanished people leaving behind chalky relics and scattered bones as evidence they were ever here. What the Indians left behind are easy to find, looking for the icon of Texas, a real cowboy, is another story altogether.

If one were to seek out a real authentic horse riding cowboy in Texas it might take awhile.  Many contemporary cowboys have traded in their horses for pickup trucks, helicopters and ATVs for managing their herds. The dime store cowboys, the wannabees, the all hat no cattle types folded into the mix only confuse what many consider to be one of the noblest of Texas professions.








Other than the NFL team named after the Cowboy, one would be very hard pressed to find one. There is a place though inside the city limits of Dallas, where the oldest cowboy traditions and real cowboy life still thrives. The Great Trinity Forest.

The men here ride in a style that served as a foundation for what we consider modern day western and cowboy life. Their equipment and horses are such that they hail back to a long ago time. Before there was a Texas or a Mexico.

Competent riders on well trained horses who excel at what they do. Busting brush, riding hard and exploring the lost and unexplored parts of the city. It's almost moving art at work with man and horse working in perfect unison as a team.

I have come to believe that were the vaqueros who ride here not on horseback, they would be known as the best woodsmen of the riverbottoms. Exceptional outdoorsmen and adventurers they are the silent hands that often do trail maintenance, remove downed tree limbs and run off the few bad guys down here.

These men thrive in the art of making a horse as light and flexible to the rider's soft touch, as is said today, to work as one.  The history, the horsemanship, the gear, the land, the lifestyle remains part of our heritage and is remembered, practiced and celebrated at various rodeos, gatherings and western shows throughout Texas each year. These events showcase the talents of the culture upon which Texas bases so much of itself. Rare to see it in the Texas wildscape though, in the whole where it was first refined.

The Texas Cowboy-Vaquero culture was inherited from the Spanish cavalry, who adopted it from the Moors which is thought to have come from Asia, through Egypt, across the deserts of North Africa into Spain, spreading across the seas into North and South America.

When the Spanish introduced horses and cattle to the Americas, large haciendas were established in New Spain. This created a demand for skilled men to rope, ride, control, and protect the animals. The vaquero was born. The word "vaquero" came from the word vaca, the Spanish word for cow. Cowboys often referred to themselves as buckaroos. In Spanish, the "v" is pronounced like a "b," so vaquero may have evolved into bukero, then finally buckaroo. Charro is another Spanish term that means expert horseman or cowboy. Charro became the cultural construction of maleness to the Spanish settlers. Now a charro is more of a rodeo show style and not practiced as religion in the wild.

At the time 16th Century Texas was a vast yet-to-be discovered land. Infrequent expeditions by the Spanish to explore the Texas interior by expedition made brief contacts with coastal Native American tribes eventually led them to Spanish missionaries who brought horses, cattle and mules to the area.

The background of the vaqueros, the technique, tradition and lore has become legendary around the world. The Tex-Mex vaquero history is one of special significance for it was the beginning of the working cowboy we know today. It is the saga of the early Spanish and Mexican horsemen of Northern Mexico and South Texas.   

The intent was to establish a colony with missions governed by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscan priests. Of course, much history is documented from that point on as our Texas heritage was forming. During that time the massive herds of free roaming longhorn, cattle, horses, livestock that grazed the lush land were under the mounted vaquero's watchful eye, skilled in the use of the rawhide riata for sorting, roping to brand, ear mark or when necessary slaughter.


Horses arrived in 1519 in Mexico with Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes, and cattle soon followed in 1521 with Gregorio de Villalobos. As expeditions moved north transplanting the cattle and horses to the Southwest, the man working the cattle, or the vaquero, became the man on horseback who contributed many of the skills and much of the equipment and rodeo terminology used by the American cowboy. Riding, roping, and branding, along with the rope, saddle, spurs, chaps, and even the word rodeo "roundup" are some of the contributions.

Some areas, particularly in deep South Texas, had the environment conducive to the proliferation of stray cattle and horses. By the 1600s and 1700s Spanish-Mexican settlements and ranches were started in areas around the lower Rio Grande Valley.

Cattle are too fast for unmounted herders and humans on foot do not have the endurance to keep up with cattle on open ranges. Further more cattle herders need some means to stop and control individual animals.  The method developed in Mexico for controlling individual animals is lassoing them with a lariat which is secured to the horn of a saddle. This system seems so simple and effective that it is difficult to imagine any other system being used. But it took many decades if not a century or so for this system to be perfected in Mexico.

The vaquero culture developed into a fine art in Texas through the Spanish mission era by the first the Spanish, then followed by Indians, Mexicans, Freedmen and European Settlers - men who upheld the vaquero traditions as in the centerfire saddle, rawhide riata and hackmore.

Many European settlers had a vast knowledge of cattle raising and production in Northern European pastures but were at a loss in the near unlimited free range of Texas. Before the advent of barbed wire and fencing of the range, settlers rapidly adopted the skills of the vaquero and set to tending herd like the Spanish before them. A pure North American invention, the Texas Cowboy further refined the Vaquero with a western style hat, six shot pistol and easier riding saddle for long hours on a horse.

The influx of farmers, immigrants, fences, trains, and small towns contributed to the demise of the cowboy life. Plowing killed off the range, barbed wire limited access to grass and water, and thousands of hands lost jobs when it became cheaper to ship cattle to market by rail. The stories of this lifestyle became legend and a fabric of our very life today as Texans.

The vaquero style still remains in practice today although some variations have been introduced, but many followers hold tight to the foundations of horsemanship in which the Texas vaquero later called the cowboy excelled.

Manuel, Jesus and Junior

Horses prefer the soft surface to the concrete whenever possible

The horseback riding style in the photos seen here are of a traditional Mexican style that taps the very roots of early cowboy life. When the Spanish settled present day Mexico, the vast open plains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the mountainous interior were instantly seen as prime cattle country. With near year round grass growth for feed, this open plain area was quickly populated with cattle.

Manuel and his kids out riding the Great Trinity Forest in 2010

Manuel Sanches

Most notable among the vaqueros on the Trinity is a friend named Manuel. We have been riding down here in Joppa before the concrete went in, back when the trails were old rustic gravel roads that served fish camps around Lemmon Lake. He is seen above leading his kids on a trail ride in 2010. Manuel hails from that same area of Mexico where the Spanish first raised cattle five centuries ago.

Manuel usually has children in tow teaching horsemanship as he goes through the woods. He is from a part of Mexico where the old ways of cowboy life in North America first started.


Like many, he keeps a "Rancho" in South Dallas. These are not formal ranches but more like small farms where horses can pasture, a good size vegetable crop can be grown and some horse trailers kept. Works out very well and for someone with a career during the week, makes for a great weekend getaway in his free time.

Wearing his trademark half chaps and festooned with various rope and even a blanket he is always ready for whatever awaits him deep in the woods.



Many would see the riding style on display here as trick riding, a way to show off the way a rider can move a horse.

The truth is, that as we head for the deep privet and heavy timbered woods nearby, that artistic license on exhibition by way of open concrete becomes a very necessary skillset.

At left is Junior, one of Manuel's family members riding Chapulín. This particular horse is the same as that in the 2010 photos taken down here.

Chapulín

Much like the parody tv super hero this horse's name translates into a kind of grasshopper. Chapulín is a smart horse, slightly stubborn and one of the best mounts on the river for a young person to ride.

Manuel is all about teaching the fine touch of the horse and teaching his family members the subtle art of riding. Wish I had some good photos of how this works in heavy brush which happened right after the photo below was taken. It's all about letting the horse doing what it feels comfortable with.

Manuel and Junior

Jesus on his horse Lucero

Jesus is another familiar face in the Great Trinity Forest. He grew up in a ranching family in the mountains above Monterrey.

He is probably the flashiest rider of the dozen others who ride here. A real expert in the saddle. Speaking of saddles, he has some of the best looking saddles, saddle blankets and ropes I have seen.

Those lariats and ropes have removed more deadfall off the trails here than any work crew the city ever hired.

The horse he is riding in the photos this day, is named Lucero, after the famous Spanish singer.

He is often seen here out riding with his wife, who rides a fast quarter horse named Comanche.

Jesus wife is a fan of picking pecans in the fall down here. Sprinkled among the trees bearing small native pecans are a grove of paper shell pecan bearing trees that kick out nuts the size of chicken eggs. One of his horses is seen above, hitched to a pecan near the Trinity Forest Trail Bridge last year.

Jesus is seen at left, from a photo dated October 2011 when Phase II of the Trinity Forest Trail was just about to get a matrix of rebar thrown on it. It was a last hoorah of a ride for all of us before the concrete went in.

The last big ride on the soft surface trail before it was paved

Floral Farms and the Pig Park Rodeo

The rodeo tradition and history is intertwined with the land here too. Still known to many as the Pig Park Rodeo the old dilapidated structures that once held amateur rodeo events still stands today. Barely.

Pig Rodeo Site

Hashed out of a piece of land between the Union Pacific tracks and the Trinity in the late 1940s, the area has always been on the far fringes of Dallas. It has more in common with rural country living than downtown just a few miles up the road. This area is called Floral Farms after the small flower growing operations here and abundance of native wildflowers every spring.

Floral Farms afforded African American residents a community where they could live in a semi-rural setting and be away from the confines of the highly segregated urban areas at that time. The city eventually bought the homeowners out on a voluntary basis in the 1970s.

Red Shouldered Hawk

Unlike Joppa a mile to the north, that sits on a high piece of ground, Floral Farms sits not much higher than the river itself making it potentially flood prone. The removal of homes was done in a half-hearted manner so even 40 years later some structures still stand. Outhouses, sheds and foundations are still visible.


Above is what is left of the Joppa Rodeo Arena. A dilapidated fence marks the boundary of the old arena. In the background are sets of old wooden pens to hold animals used in the rodeo.


The concentric ring you see in the arena is used by current horseback riders for training. Under the weeds, the pillow soft sandy loam  of the arena still exists making an ideal place to train a horse.

Old timers in Joppa and far South Dallas speak fondly of the old rodeo here. In the heyday it was a great community gathering place and the sort of locale where much fun was to be had on a Saturday night.

Old rodeo arena

Great Trinity Forest Trail

This concrete trail built in two phases sits inside the Joppa Preserve and is part of the Dallas County Open Space Project. Originally this land was part of the Millermore Plantation. The original Miller cabin and the later Greek revival Millermore Mansion are now preserved at Old City Park in Dallas. The area later became known as Joppa and Floral Farms. Both were unincorporated freedman's communities for many decades without access to running water and city services.

The paved trail  now reaches 4.1 miles to connect the Loop 12 Boat Ramp with the Trinity River Audubon Center. The centerpiece of the paved trail here is a multi-million dollar bike bridge that spans the Trinity River just southeast of the Trinity River Audubon Center.

2006

2006

Most of the concrete down here was one a mighty fine gravel road that was a great all weather surface with decades of well stabilized ballast in place. Many thought that leaving it as a soft surface path rather than concrete would have been a better choice, to keep the rustic feel of the place.

2011

2011

That changed in 2011 with the construction of Phase II. The three photos here are all taken in the same spot spanning seven years.

2013

2013

 Trinity Trail Bridge Site

2010

A few years ago, the site of the Trinity Trail Bridge was the most remote part of Dallas. Fixed on an inverted U shape bend in the Trinity, the bridge site sits a few hundred yards upstream of the mouth with Elam Creek. Still remains one of the quietest places in the city.

2013

Bobcat cub

Bobcat cub left, adult bobcat right October 2013

Wildlife is pretty easy to spot down here if one knows where to look. Deer, coyotes and bobcats are a frequent sight.

The Great Trinity Forest is still one of those places that without folks minding their manners becomes a rather lawless part of the county.

Blocking in illegal ATV riders on the Trinity Forest Trail

With only a sign or two noting no motorized vehicle access, many abuse the privilege of visiting the woods by taking atvs, 4x4s and passenger vehicles on the concrete trail and beyond.

Hard to get the message across. The folks on the ATVs above were limited in speed only by the governors on their engine at 20mph or so. They told us that they were headed to the Audubon Center trails, which at that late hour on a weekend were closed many hours ago.

At a million dollars a mile in construction costs, sure seems silly not to put up some anti-vehicle posts called bollards and slap some hefty fines on those who tear up the woods with their vehicles. As the city continues it's love affair with building trails of concrete one would hope that the stern message of no motorized vehicles and law enforcement of ordinances would accompany construction.

It was the combustion engine, barbed wire and high speed transportation that drove the horse out of the everyday Texas vernacular. Let's not let that happen down here on the Trinity, one of the last great authentic Texan spots left.

2013 Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch butterflies feeding and preparing for a night roost in Dallas Texas on the evening of October 8, 2013

It's a sure sign of autumn and a rare sight for Dallas, a massing of over a hundred migrating Monarch butterflies in a single tree. Something one would usually travel a thousand miles away and into the mountains of Mexico to catch a glimpse of up close. These butterflies are actively feeding on nectar and preparing a colonial overnight roost in a tree.

Monarch Butterflies feeding on the flowers of a Roosevelt Willow Baccharis neglecta

In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the Monarch butterflies of North America. They travel much farther than all other tropical butterflies, up to four thousand miles. They are the only butterfly species to make such a long, two way migration every year. Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. Their migration is more the type we expect from birds or whales. However, unlike birds and whales, individuals only make the round-trip once. It is their children's grandchildren that return south the following fall. The Monarchs are the only butterfly that migrates both north and south as the birds do regularly, but no individual makes the entire round trip, because the migration period spans the life of three to four generations of the butterfly.


The Monarch butterfly (scientific name: Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. It is easily recognizable by its bright orange-red wings, with black veins and white spots along the edges. The Monarch butterfly is famous for its southward migration from Canada to Mexico and the northward return back through the Great Plains to Canada in summer. Every fall, millions of these butterflies fly west to their wintering grounds in California and Mexico, covering the trees there with their bright shimmering wings.

 As fall approaches non-reproductive monarchs are born. These are the butterflies that will migrate south. They will not reproduce until the following spring. These late summer monarchs will travel hundreds and even thousands of miles to their winter grounds in Mexico and California.  They store fat in their abdomens that will help them make the long trip south and will help them survive the winter. During their five months in Mexico from November to May, monarchs remain mostly inactive. They will remain perfectly still hour-after-hour and day-after-day. They live off of the stored fat they gained during their fall migration.

The plant they are feeding from in the photos is known as Roosevelt Willow or Roosevelt Weed Baccharis neglecta . It's a tall shrub with many willow-like branches covered with very dark green, linear leaves. After warm rains in late summer it produces a profusion of creamy white flower clusters which are followed by silvery plumed seeds that cover the plant with a white cloud. It grows from North Carolina to Arizona, and throughout Texas. Roosevelt Willow/Weed is one of the first plants to invade abandoned fields, roadsides and disturbed habitats. It is extremely drought tolerant, accepting wet or dry sites, and can grow in soils high in salt. The historical references of its common names purportedly come from the fact that after the great Dust Bowl, it was planted as a fast and easy way to revegetate the severely damaged soil.


Monarch Migration South Through Texas

The Monarch migration usually starts around October each year, but can start earlier if the weather turns cold sooner. They travel between 1,500 and 3,800 miles or more from Canada to central Mexican forests where the climate is warm. If the monarch lives in the Eastern states, usually east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and hibernate in Oyamel fir trees. If the monarch butterfly lives west of the Rocky Mountains, it will hibernate in and around Pacific Grove, California in eucalyptus trees.

Monarch butterflies use the very same trees each and every year when they migrate, which seems odd because they aren’t the same butterflies that were there last year.  How the species manages to return to the same overwintering spots over a gap of several generations is still a subject of research. Some believe the flight pattern is inherited. Other researches indicate the butterflies navigate using a combination of the position of the sun in the sky and the earth's magnetic field for orientation.

The Monarch butterflies migrating through Texas all seem to focus and funnel into a 50 mile gap between Del Rio and Eagle Pass along the US-Mexico Border. Here they have a clear route through mountain passes to the Mexican Interior and highlands.

When they first arrive at their winter locations in November monarchs gather into clusters in the trees. These butterflies congregate into colonies, clustering onto pine and evergreen trees. In many cases, they are so thick that the trees turn orange in color and branches sag from the weight. It’s a remarkable sight that attracts scores of tourists. 

By December and January, when the weather is at its coldest, the monarchs will be tightly packed into dense clusters of hundreds or even thousands of butterflies. By mid-February these clusters of butterflies begin to break up and the monarchs will begin to gather nectar. In the spring they will reproduce and their offspring will make the return trip to the north.

 For many years, people puzzled where the millions of Monarchs that spend the summers in Canada disappear to in winter. Then in 1937, a Canadian zoologist named F. A. Urquhart started tracking the trails of the butterflies by tagging the wings of thousands of individual Monarchs. Nearly 40 years later, and with the help of thousands of volunteers across the country, Urquhart located the first known wintering refuge on a mountaintop in Michoacán, Mexico, more than 4,000 miles from the starting point of their migration. The area is now a World Heritage Site known as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. There are dozen such sites in Mexico and they are protected as ecological preserves by the Mexican government.

Night Roosting

 Monarchs only travel during the day and need to find a roost at night. Monarchs gather close together during the cool autumn evenings. Roost sites are important to the monarch migration. Many of these locations are used year after year. Often pine, fir and cedar trees are chosen for roosting. These trees have thick canopies that moderate the temperature and humidity at the roost site. In the mornings, monarchs bask in the sunlight to warm themselves.

The Monarchs seen here are consuming nectar from a blooming shrub. It is believed that the Monarchs might be following what biologists call a "nectar corridor" for food.

Nectar corridors are a series of habitat patches containing plants that flower at the appropriate times during the spring and fall migrations. These patches provide stopping-off points for the migrating butterflies to refuel and continue their journey. Having these islands of nectar sources is particularly important within large areas of urban and agricultural development. The discontinuous patches of nectar sources are “corridors” that monarchs will follow, like stepping-stones across a stream to complete their migration.


Monarchs and Milkweed

Many butterflies have a single plant required as a food source for their larval form called a host plant. Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch butterfly. Without milkweed, the larva would not be able to develop into a butterfly.

The larvae and the butterflies retain poisonous glycosides from their larval host plant, the milkweed, so they become distasteful to potential predators. These milkweed butterflies (Monarch, Queen, Soldier) eat only milkweeds as larvae. This highly effective defense strategy shields them against almost all predators that soon learn to avoid these species after attempting to eat them.

Milkweed contains a a variety of chemical compounds that make monarch caterpillars poisonous to potential predators. Milkweeds contain a cardiac poison that is poisonous to most vertebrates but does not damage the monarch caterpillar. Some milkweed species have higher levels of these toxins than others.

North Texans can attract Monarchs to their backyards by planting milkweed as a host for Monarch eggs and larvae. Easy to grow here in Dallas.

Some other species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) travel long distances, but they generally go in one direction only, often following food. This one-way movement is properly called emigration. In tropical lands, butterflies do migrate back and forth as the seasons change. As it stands other butterfly flies further, attracts more attention or more curious onlookers than that of the Monarch.

Dispersal of monarchs into a nearby tree after sunset

As the sun sets in the cooling autumn air, the Monarchs head towards a nearby large tree to roost for the night. This is mostly for protection from predators like bats who might not see the bright orange and black coloration, the tell tale of the bad-tasting and poisonous Monarch. From the trees beyond the night crew of animals start up their evening calls. Ready to hunt under a rising crescent moon.

Male Great Horned Owl in a Texas Red Oak, Dallas, Texas, October 2013