Ten miles south of downtown Dallas, the Blackland Prairie is singing again. The Trinity River Audubon Center, at 6500 Great Trinity Forest Way, is a 120-acre haven of prairie, forest and wetlands in the Great Trinity Forest — and one of the most hopeful comeback stories in Texas nature.
The land itself is the first exhibit. Once the site of an illegal dumping ground, the property was reclaimed and the center opened in 2008 as a thriving habitat for birds and wildlife in an increasingly urbanized metro area. Its visitor center, designed by visionary architect Antoine Predock and certified LEED Gold, nestles into the landscape as a gathering place for conservation education.
Today visitors can walk trails through native prairie and bottomland forest, watch for songbirds, waterbirds and raptors along the Trinity River, and explore hands-on exhibits about the birds of the Trinity. The center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., welcoming school groups, birders, photographers and families looking for a wilder side of Dallas.
The center also hosts community celebrations of the seasons, including its annual Songbird Supper, a fall evening that supports the center’s work while celebrating fall migration. Whether you come for a quiet morning walk or a festival night, the Trinity River Audubon Center proves that nature, given a chance, happily returns — right inside the city.
Photo: Trinity River Audubon Center, via Wikimedia Commons
