It took one devastating weather event to remind us of something we take for granted: trees are treasures.
It was heartbreaking to drive around and see the damage: half-century-old pecan trees had their main branches ripped off, oak trunks split in half, and cedar elms uprooted from the ground.
In a city that prefers pouring concrete over preserving what nature has given us, it’s tiresome to see tree debris piled sky-high on block after block.
Thankfully, trees can be replanted, and there’s no better time than now to write about the Texas Tree Foundation’s efforts to plant thousands of new trees.
The Dallas-based nonprofit has been focusing on improving the health of the city and its residents in recent weeks. In late May, Texas Trees unveiled designs for a massive greening project in the Southwestern Medical District, Dallas’ largest heat island.
D MagazineMatt Goodman of the University of Pennsylvania detailed the project, which he wrote was a bold attempt to “redesign more than 1,000 acres to help patients find solace in nature.”
The multi-year project is expected to begin in late 2025. It will green two miles of public roadway and transform a dilapidated concrete “cloverleaf” area on Harry Hines Boulevard into a 10-acre park.
Today, I am announcing Texas Trees’ second major initiative: the $15 million South Dallas Greening Initiative, which will plant thousands of trees for nearly 50,000 residents in Fair Park, Mill City, Queen City, Wheatley Place and adjacent areas.
Texas Trees was awarded an Inflation Reduction Act grant for the effort through the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, and the nonprofit will work with South Dallas residents and community groups for five years.
Janet Monier, president and CEO of Texas Trees, told me the goal is “not just to plant trees” — it’s to make a difference in human health and well-being.
“If it’s done right, it’s better for the trees and it’s better for the people,” Monia said.
The late Trammell Crow founded the Texas Tree Foundation in 1982. Its mission has expanded significantly, especially since Monia joined 17 years ago. Once focused primarily on trees in city parks, it now strives to reduce the urban heat island effect while increasing the existing tree canopy.
Trees don’t just make us happier: they improve air and water quality, moderate urban heat indexes, and reduce noise pollution. Research shows they can also improve mental health, reduce stress and anxiety, and reduce obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Two years ago, Texas Trees created the Dallas Tree Equity planting map to show where investment is most needed. The study combined urban heat and tree canopy data with socio-economic and health information.
“Not surprisingly, disadvantaged populations in South Dallas are more susceptible to disease and the effects of urban heat,” Monia said. “There, we see the intersection of the highest need and the smallest tree canopy.”
Texas Trees’ focus areas have 14 percent tree canopy coverage, compared with the nonprofit’s goal of 37 percent, and the heat island — an expanse of concrete that traps and radiates heat — can get up to 11 degrees hotter than other parts of the city.
Monia explained that while all trees have value, planting them strategically makes more sense, both financially and for people’s health: For example, adding more trees to parks that already have many of them makes less sense than adding more to schoolyards that lack shade or tree-deprived areas where there are higher rates of asthma sufferers.
Monia also pointed to the common practice of planting trees in rows, typically 30 to 35 feet apart. “That doesn’t provide any cooling for the sidewalks,” he said. Instead, the Medical District and South Dallas projects plan to plant trees in the smallest groves possible.
“When planted in clumps, their root systems are grafted together, sharing nutrients and water, and they live almost twice as long as if planted in rows,” Monia says.
Now that funding has been secured for the South Dallas project, the first step is a community meeting to hear what residents want. Though not the nonprofit itself, the work of Texas Trees is well known in South Dallas, as it’s responsible for most of the street trees in the nearby Jubilee Park neighborhood.
The bulk of the $15 million will go toward tree assessment, planting and maintenance. The effort will also provide resident-friendly urban forestry education and job training through the nonprofit’s workforce program.
Tremaine Arums, a South Dallas resident who helped the nonprofit with previous tree plantings, told me that this initiative will make a big difference in people’s lives. “We have a lot of traffic here and not a lot of shade,” he said. “I want to help provide shade to people who really need it.”
Billy Lane, a longtime advocate for South Dallas and executive director of the Inner City Community Development Corporation, told me he was excited about this tree-planting initiative because it has the same goal as ICDC: to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods.
He said it’s no wonder the area has one of the worst heat islands in the city: “There’s a lot of asphalt, and even though there is space for greenery, it’s not developed in a way that benefits the neighbors.”
In addition to providing the environmental justice that South Dallas deserves, Lane said greening would also bring economic benefits: “As ICDC has demonstrated, when you create great, quality open space, it attracts other development.”
He also knows that improvements to housing and green space could lead to development that could displace current residents. “That’s a double-edged sword that ICDC has to deal with,” he says. “We want to always be mindful to make sure that the people who live here have a safe place where they’re not going to be displaced.”
Rising housing prices are real, but so is the need for accessible, shaded outdoor space, said Lane, whose nonprofit plans to build eight townhouses on Spring Avenue in the Mill City neighborhood, and Texas Tree has offered to create public space on that stretch of property.
“You can put more housing there,” Lane said, “but you also need to have green space. It won’t be gated off, it’ll be a community space that everyone can enjoy. We need that here.”
