The Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex has so few trees, why? (Houston: real estate, insurance)

[solytaire]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

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.

Couldnt have said it better myself...Thats why I said that it seems to be a delicate subject. Because I personally, (and I would assume other outsiders) can see how it would be unsettling as a Dallasite, who possibly sees trees every day, for people to still imply that your city doesnt have much vegetation. I can understand that perspective.

But there seems to be no willingness by Dallas residents to understand that there may be a valid reason that outsiders arrive at their conclusion. Instead there is often only a strict cadence of "We have a ton of trees!..You just havent driven here, or you just havent driven there"...Well that may be, but surely you can see or (at least be open to) how a person just driving along the freeways might arive at the conclusion that the area looks sparse.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Refugee56

During a recent trip to the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex I was shocked how barren it was. The climate is mild there is a far amount of rain year around but I saw few large trees or wooded areas. It seems like about every tree in the greater Dallas area is planted and the landscaping in public places is limited at best. It seemed kind of desolate to me.

Yes, there are some trees in the nicer residential areas that were planted but go out of the city and look from the freeways or through roads and the scene is mostly desolate.

Other nearby areas like Little Rock, Tulsa and Austin have far more trees. Dallas natives, will you admit the area is kind of desolate?

Simple

Dallas & Fort Worth sit on what was once prairie grass land.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Simple

Dallas & Fort Worth sit on what was once prairie grass land.

It's still prairie grassland, it's just been topped with St. Augustine, Bermuda, and planted trees

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by solytaire

Couldnt have said it better myself...Thats why I said that it seems to be a delicate subject. Because I personally, (and I would assume other outsiders) can see how it would be unsettling as a Dallasite, who possibly sees trees every day, for people to still imply that your city doesnt have much vegetation. I can understand that perspective.

But there seems to be no willingness by Dallas residents to understand that there may be a valid reason that outsiders arrive at their conclusion. Instead there is often only a strict cadence of "We have a ton of trees!..You just havent driven here, or you just havent driven there"...Well that may be, but surely you can see or (at least be open to) how a person just driving along the freeways might arive at the conclusion that the area looks sparse.

Actually, I think you'll see that many of us that live in Dallas proper have trees everywhere. People come to the suburbs, which are newly populated with homes and were previously farm fields, so they have minimal trees, and then say "Dallas has no trees". It's the generalization that the suburbs are Dallas. If someone said, "Frisco has practically no trees", I think you'd get people saying, "Uh... and your point is...?".

[solytaire]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Actually, I think you'll see that many of us that live in Dallas proper have trees everywhere. People come to the suburbs, which are newly populated with homes and were previously farm fields, so they have minimal trees, and then say "Dallas has no trees". It's the generalization that the suburbs are Dallas. If someone said, "Frisco has practically no trees", I think you'd get people saying, "Uh... and your point is...?".

Thats actually a very logical statement. I never really took into account that individual municipalities around Dallas have their own structure & development cycles. I always just called it "Dallas" or "the Metroplex"...thats something thats always confused me about North Texas (where the metroplex stopped and the suburbs began)...

I remember one time when I was growing up, we were on a road trip to Witchita Falls and I asked my mother where Witchita Falls is located...She told me it was up around the Dallas area, as if it were a suburb...Well, now that I look at maps ---- not so much

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by solytaire

Couldnt have said it better myself...Thats why I said that it seems to be a delicate subject. Because I personally, (and I would assume other outsiders) can see how it would be unsettling as a Dallasite, who possibly sees trees every day, for people to still imply that your city doesnt have much vegetation. I can understand that perspective.

But there seems to be no willingness by Dallas residents to understand that there may be a valid reason that outsiders arrive at their conclusion. Instead there is often only a strict cadence of "We have a ton of trees!..You just havent driven here, or you just havent driven there"...Well that may be, but surely you can see or (at least be open to) how a person just driving along the freeways might arive at the conclusion that the area looks sparse.

Yet as others have pointed out Dallas is a city like many others. You hear people complain about missing "hills" but they lived in a city that did not have hills. The hills were off aways from where they actually lived.

Driving down a freeway in ANY city is NEVER a good place to give a fair assessment of the area. One could easily drive down many freeways in California or Florida just off the coast and never see the beach or ocean. Doesn't mean it does not exist. They just never took the time to explore the area.

[Nairobi]

DALLAS DOES HAVE TREES. Plenty of trees, and when people say, "Dallas doesn't have any trees," I think what they mean to say is, "Dallas has very few big and tall trees." that's what i think.

personally, i like the clean and sterile feel of open, blank prairie land with an occasional towering hardwood here and there (usually planted but so what). but places like atlanta and charlotte, as beautiful as they are, have entirely too many trees. you suffocate in the scent of pine cones and leaves. there's hardly a break from the forest.

[Nairobi]

don't remember seeing any, but does anybody know where in dallas you can see a lot of maples or sweetgum trees?

[lh_newbie]

Sweetgum don't do well in our area - wrong soil conditions. We had a Sweetgum in our backyard that we had to cut down. It was a sad looking tree... our arborist told us about the local soil conditions not being good for their needs.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

don't remember seeing any, but does anybody know where in dallas you can see a lot of maples or sweetgum trees?

Maple Avenue?