Creating a Prairie Park Primer
By John Austin, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jan. 14–A couple of buffaloes still roam the tallgrass prairie of southwest Tarrant County.
But the Southwest Parkway, scheduled for completion in 2011, and accompanying commercial development will threaten not just the bison but the entire 1,983-acre section of virgin prairie on which they live.
The Fort Worth-based Great Plains Restoration Council wants to turn the parcel into a prairie park. It asked a group of University of Texas at Arlington graduate students to create a preservation plan.
The students’ work got noticed: The Midwest section of the American Planning Association’s Texas chapter awarded the multidisciplinary team its annual student project award.
“I realized this would be an opportunity to do something substantive to assist the organization,” said Jeff Howard, the UT-Arlington School of Urban and Public Affairs professor who oversaw the work. “It’s a very innovative undertaking.”
Clayton Husband, a senior planner for the city of Arlington, said the judging criteria included originality, quality of presentation and transferability to other planning areas. In an e-mail message, he called the students’ work, particularly in relationship to the Southwest Parkway and the broader applications of establishing wildlife corridors along Texas 121, “an outstanding example of using the planning process to analyze an important local issue.”
The six-member student group included environmental and earth science students as well as planning, civil engineering and geology students.
The park won’t be created unless someone buys the land from the Texas General Land Office. The state paid $21 million for the parcel and expects to sell it at a profit.
“They have agreed to work with us,” said Jarid Manos, the nonprofit restoration council’s chief executive. “But I don’t know how much time we have.
“I would like to get it over the hump this year. We just need to get it into the safe area,” he said.
Graduate planning student Rachel Roberts hopes that her group’s plan will be carried out someday.
“I strong-armed my mom into donating” to help buy the land, Roberts, 31, said. “She didn’t tell me how much.”
The fact that Tarrant County officials have pledged financial support encouraged Manos. He wants the city to get on board, too.
“It’s part of the most endangered ecosystem in North America,” he said. “When you’re out there, it’s like walking into the Garden of Eden.
“The highest and best use of it is preservation,” Manos said. “It’s in such good condition all we have to do is protect it.”
PRAIRIE PARK PLAN
The plan
The plan has three prongs.
Guidance on protecting biodiversity; controlling traffic noise; protecting prairie keystone species, such as the bison and prairie dogs; and prairie preservation.
A discussion of wildlife crossings and a discussion of crossing types. The goal is to connect wildlife habitats fragmented by roads and development.
Exploring the possibility of creating the Fort Worth Prairie Park as an anchor for a network of connected prairie reserves.
The prairie
The Fort Worth prairie ecosystem is part of the Southern tallgrass prairie. About 30,000 acres remain of the original 1.3 million. It is classified as imperiled.
The original ecosystem is home to more than 2,000 native plant species.
It is a breeding and resting ground for monarch butterflies.
The buffaloes are from the Fort Worth Nature Center; their ancestors are from the Wichita Mountains herd.
Source: Great Plains Restoration Council
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