The Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex has so few trees, why? (Austin: wedding, live in)

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by solytaire

Im not sure if you were addressing me directly towards the last part of your post. But if you were I would refer you to my earlier post (towards the end of #28). I, for one, certainly never expressed that: because I interpret a landscape as prairie or even barren, that it then becomes inherently unattractive. My previous post would state quite the contrary.

A very reasonable explanation. And no, I was not addressing you, but the many people who do in fact criticize and complain because something isn't to their liking.

[solytaire]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

HA - but he can't go to The Great Trinity Forest as it is south of I-30.

Brian - I love that view coming down Abrams at Royal. Some days it is just breath taking.

Look at all the creeks we have (some of them have been buried and some put in concrete) - they are the source of our natural trees. I have trees popping up anywhere around here (different properties) if I don't mow, pull them up or cut them down. They are mostly hackberries, elms and cottonwoods but there are also pecans and live oaks coming up.

I interpret this as sarcasm...surely you jest..lol

[tycobb2522]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Cities usually do not have trees. San Francisco is almost entirely devoid of trees, except in parks like Golden Gate Park, the Pearl District in Portland, Ore, is a new residential district but is devoid of street trees, the downtown urban areas of Denver do not have trees on the street, I don't see any trees on Hollywood Boulevard or along 5th Avenue in NYC... oh yeah, the Central Park side is an exception.

Dallas is interesting and unusual in that its dense districts do have street trees to soften the atmosphere. When new developments such as State-Thomas or West Village are built, street trees are required.

Since the Cross Timbers region is such a sizable portion of the DFW area, since Oak Cliff is so heavily forested, as are riparian forests such as those on the Great Trinity Forest, around White Rock Creek and lake, and in other places, I don't see a problem. If a newcomer doesn't like to live in a native prairie grassland in the DFW area, they don't have to.

I don't attach the label "desolate" to a native grassland area... in fact, it's teeming with life and interest. It is no less a form of nature than any other. If some feel uncomfortable being there, they have a condition known as "agoraphobia". Too bad, but it's not my fault.

But there is a larger issue. Should we want to apologize to newcomers because our metro does not meet their expectations? After all, they are moving here to meet their convenience, not ours. We owe them nothing in the way of an explanation for the way God made North Texas.

Outstanding post; would rep if I could.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

i too used to live in georgia (augusta area), but in your opinion, are the trees of east texas comparable to those in the peach state?

I was just at a retreat center near Tyler this past weekend and I felt like I was at my Mom's home or Callaway Gardens -- large mature pines interspersed with oak, maple and other hardwoods, mature azaleas (of course they werent in bloom, but I love the shape of the bushes even when they aren't in bloom), it really felt like home.

I can't paint all of east Texas that way, I have not spent much time in other areas except for zooming down 1-20 but really really felt like I was in an area just like areas where I grew up.

[grindin]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I was just at a retreat center near Tyler this past weekend and I felt like I was at my Mom's home or Callaway Gardens -- large mature pines interspersed with oak, maple and other hardwoods, mature azaleas (of course they werent in bloom, but I love the shape of the bushes even when they aren't in bloom), it really felt like home.

When I was a little kid, we used to drive all the way from San Diego to Jackson, MS almost every summer. When we drove to the east of D/FW and the pine forest started popping up around Van Zandt County, my parents would get REALLY excited, because they felt they were at "home", even though we still had another 5 hours or so to go on I-20. To them, it was a sort of welcome to them after the endless miles of desert and prairie that you have to slog through in AZ, NM, West Texas. The rolling hills to the west of Ft. Worth are nice though.

If it makes folks feel better, Plano will probably have more of tree cover comparable to the city of Dallas in roughly 15 years or so as the trees grow taller, as most of the city is less than 30 years old.

But by then, D/FW will have people that complain about the lack of trees around their new homes in Gainesville, Thackerville or Sherman and how 35 and the Central will be 20 lanes wide .

[grindin]

Originally Posted by aceplace

But there is a larger issue. Should we want to apologize to newcomers because our metro does not meet their expectations? After all, they are moving here to meet their convenience, not ours. We owe them nothing in the way of an explanation for the way God made North Texas.

*Stands up and claps hands like I'm in church shouting Amen!*

How would someone look moving to Phoenix and complaining about the summer heat and lack of rain and they knew that in the first place?

OMG, I'm actually agreeing with Ace and giving him a rep point? Clutch the pearls, it's the end of the world!

[lh_newbie]

I think the army of squirrels in my neighborhood would take offense to the "no trees" comments. We're not talking about one or two squirrels, they easily outnumber the human population. And they're fat little guys, considering all the Red Oak and Live Oaks in the neighborhood. The Live Oaks had an unusual amount of acorns this year. They're dropping faster than they can get eaten.

Aceplace - I concur. If someone doesn't like our area, don't let the door hit your a$$ on the way out.

Brian

[joebaldknobber]

Global Warming. Please don't question.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by grindin

*Stands up and claps hands like I'm in church shouting Amen!*

How would someone look moving to Phoenix and complaining about the summer heat and lack of rain and they knew that in the first place?

OMG, I'm actually agreeing with Ace and giving him a rep point? Clutch the pearls, it's the end of the world!

I don't think the OP was trying to be offensive, it is a legitimate question to one coming into an area that they don't have a pre-conceived idea of what will await them.

I met a friend's brother at the airport (coming in for the friends wedding) from New Jersey and was amazed at how green Dallas was. His mindset was a generic cowboy and indians Texas from westerns. He imagined deserts and tumbleweeds and gulches and the like, so pre-conceived ideas can swing the other direction as well.

At least with Phoenix, one would have to be from Mars to not know that there would be heat and deserts. Dallas is in that transition area that it can surprise people coming from either the east or the west.

[stan4]

The Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex has so few trees, why?

Got knocked down by our fine women's big hair and fake boobs.