Photo credit: Danny Fulgencio/Advocate Magazine
East Dallas neighbor and author Amy Martin is hosting a talk that will explore the Trinity River on Saturday at Wild Birds Unlimited.
“The Trinity River: The Watery Tie that Binds North Texas” starts with a PowerPoint presentation and ends with a Q&A. Topics to be covered include the Great Trinity Forest southeast of Downtown and the Trinity watershed (meaning the land that catches rain and channels it to bodies of water). Martin will also give a “tour” of the river’s forks — Clear, East, Elm and West, which she said are “all so different” — and the nature preserves and attractions surrounding them, like the Trinity River Paddling Trail.
To conclude the talk, attendees will be able to relive or discover previous “river follies.” Remember when the Trinity River was called the “mythological river of death“ by the Texas Department of Health because of the water’s quality? How about the failed plans to turn the river into a barge canal all the way to Galveston as well as the one to build a highway in the floodplain? Martin included these topics on the agenda for her talk.
Martin, who has worked as a writer and journalist for over 40 years, is pulling some of this information from her 2023 book Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth. In addition to the Trinity River, the book covers “rare prairies, diverse bottomland forests, limestone escarpments and wetlands” in our neck of the woods, according to the book’s website.
The Trinity River presentation will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 26 at 5708 Abrams Road near the Loop 12 intersection. The East Dallas location of Wild Birds Unlimited has been hosting seminars occasionally on Saturdays, like “Discover the Joy of Birding,” “Backyard Bats” and “Black Bears in Texas: Let’s Bring Them Back.” Martin said these events are attracting regulars who consistently show up for these events. She called it a “nice scene.”
Seating at Wild Birds Unlimited for “The Trinity River: The Watery Tie that Binds North Texas” is limited to 35. Anyone interested in attending should call 214-821-7400 to save their seat.
(Fun fact: The Trinity River was named as such — La Santisima Trinidad — by Spanish explorer Alonso De León in 1690, according to an article on the Texas State Historical Association’s website.)
