From historic to huge, they'll be listed on
the Web as part of new project
08:17 CDT
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
North Texas trees are about to get star treatment, thanks to
the Internet and local activists.
The region's most notable trees are the star attractions of
the Texas Tree Trails program. The project will locate,
identify, measure, photograph and describe trees that can claim
record size, historical importance or some other distinction and
post their profiles on the Web.
Members of the Dallas Historic Tree Coalition started
planning the project in 2001. During a launch ceremony Tuesday
at the Dallas Arboretum, musician and environmentalist Don
Henley, one of the coalition's founders, talked about the
emotional impact of climbing a huge sweet gum as a boy in the
East Texas town of Linden.
"I make no apologies for being a tree-hugger," said Mr. Henley,
a Dallas resident and Texas Tree Trails' honorary chairman.
Texas Tree Trails – a partnership of the coalition, the Texas
Forest Service and the Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council
– intends to find all of the area's significant trees and plot
their locations on interactive maps on the project's Web site.
Anyone can nominate a tree in one of three categories. A
species-significant tree is one that is thriving and unusual for
the area. A historic or heritage tree is at least 50 years old
and is either linked to an event or is deeply significant to a
community. A champion tree is the biggest of its kind in the
area, state or nation.
To take a virtual tour, nominate a tree or learn more about
North Texas trees, visit
www.texastreetrails.org.
E-mail
rloftis@dallasnews.com
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