50@50 – The OTHER DALLAS
The culture of place is more than the sum of impressive buildings and institutions. Culture may emanate from place but it takes passionate people with strong beliefs to make a life in a place. To me, some of the most culturally interesting parts of Dallas lie beyond the Arts District in where rich pockets of culture have existed for generations. Places like Oak Cliff – whose diverse population, early 20th century architecture home grown cuisine – feel far away from the other Dallas, north of the Trinity River.
Southeast of the city center, in a flood prone section of town, developers of a different kind have come in and are restoring the Trinity bottom land to its natural state. The Trinity River Audubon Center opened in 2008 and is the flagship for Audubon’s conservation initiatives in Texas. Here, just a few miles from downtown, the river winds naturally through the woodlands, aquatic wetland systems and grasslands. At 6,000 acres, the Great Trinity Forest is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States.
Walking the trails radically changes one’s perception of Dallas’s topography and plant life. It reminds us how little connection we city people really have with the land we live on the water we drink and the air we breathe. At the Audubon Center, the river and plant life fill the air with fragrance. Today, we walked only three miles; with a variety of trails, stops and lookouts, the excursion can be longer or shorter. In Dallas’ Trails Master Plan, the citywide trail systems are designed to ultimately connect to the Trinity River Audubon Center. The place is a restorative mirror reflecting the land’s origin and rebirth.