Representatives from NEEF and Toyota joined community members at Fish Trap Lake Park on Saturday. [Photo: NEEF]
To commemorate last Saturday's 30th National Public Lands Day, the largest single-day volunteer event on public lands in the United States, Toyota and the National Environmental Education Foundation created a new project to transform Fish Trap Lake Park west of Dallas. announced the project.
The three-year, $150,000 project will focus on improving park grounds and expanding access to environmental education for local youth.
Representatives from NEEF, Toyota, grant partners Trinity Park Conservancy and Builders of Hope, Dallas Housing Authority and Toyota employees joined community members during Saturday's event to take part in the park cleanup. did. Participants also learned about water quality and the different types of insects that buzz, crawl, and fly at the site.
Fish Trap Lake Park is located on approximately 80 acres of land along the Trinity River just west of downtown Dallas.
“For more than 20 years, Toyota and our partners at NEEF have worked together to care for America's parks, forests and waterways through a variety of grant initiatives and events such as National Public Lands Day,” said Group Manager Greg. Swartz said. Toyota's EV infrastructure and business strategist said in a statement. “This project will improve Fish Trap Lake Park as a space for families to spend time together in a safe and clean local park, for students to connect with the natural world, and for the entire West Dallas community to thrive. ”
NEEF notes that environmental pollution from nearby factories has negatively impacted West Dallas residents for decades, and that Fish Trap Lake Park's current location was an EPA Superfund site in 1991. He pointed out that it was part of a larger property. The area was considered successfully restored in 2006. is within the block of many nonprofit organizations and educators, as well as the Dallas Housing Authority's four communities.
In collaboration with Trinity Park Conservancy and Builders of Hope
NEEF developed this project through a close partnership with Trinity Park Conservancy, which oversees environmental education and community volunteer events with local youth, and Builders of Hope, which oversees community input and park events. He said he would implement it.
This community input will inform future park improvements, many of which will be completed within the three-year timeframe and scope of the project, NEEF added.
“We champion the Trinity River as a natural gathering place in Dallas, connecting our neighbors with nature and each other,” Tony Moore, president and CEO of Trinity Park Conservancy, said in a statement. We will do our best to bring the two together.” “A piece of nature in the heart of our city, like Fish Trap Lake Park, is a place where we can all make our neighborhoods in Dallas a little better, a little more special, a little more welcoming. It's a template.”
Event participants added their voices to the project
Volunteers and local families participated in “fun macroinvertebrate activities” during Saturday's event, kicking off the park's new volunteer event series. NEEF said they also had the option of participating in a park evaluation effort to make their voices heard about future improvements to Fish Trap Lake Park.
NEEF added that community input will be gathered through a series of events and conferences, a public survey, outreach by local nonprofit Builders of Hope, and in collaboration with the West Dallas One Neighborhood Association. .
“Thank you to Toyota Motor Corporation, the national corporate sponsor of National Public Lands Day, as well as seven federal agency partners, hundreds of state and local partners, and dozens of nonprofits who have helped us reach this 30-year milestone. Thank you to the organization,” said Sarah Espinoza, NEEF President and CEO. “Most importantly, we are excited to work with the West Dallas community to improve access to the quality parks and trails they, and all Americans, deserve.”
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