Volunteers from Crow Holdings plant trees at Lake Highlands North Park.
Last week, Lake Highlands neighbors began buzzing about dozens of holes popping up all over Lake Highlands North Park. Could it be a giant varmint, some wondered? Might the park department be filling cracks in parched dirt after a long summer? Could the city or the school district have a construction project planned?
The mystery didn’t last long.
Turns out the Texas Trees Foundation has been working to plant 75 new trees across from Lake Highlands High School, and they finished the job Friday afternoon. Sixteen different varieties were installed, including Mexican White Oak, Red Oak, Pecan, Cedar Elm, Chinquapin Oak, Honeylocust and more. Dallas Park and Recreation crews provided much needed assistance. The new trees will combat Dallas’ urban heat island and contribute to its overall tree canopy.
“This is one of the most biodiverse plantings we’ve ever done,” said Kristy Offenberger, senior communications manager for the foundation. “Our volunteers from Crow Holdings had lunch on the lawn and really enjoyed the day.”
Texas Trees Foundation was established by Trammell Crow in 1982 to support Dallas parks, and it was expanded in 1989 to focus on planting trees in public spaces. They welcome volunteers from corporations, nonprofits, schools and community groups to roll up their sleeves and put trees in the ground all over North Texas.
Texas Trees has a history of making a difference in and around Lake Highlands. They’ve led multiple plantings at White Rock Lake, and in 2018 they provided ten Monterrey Oaks and six Redbuds to replace the sickly Bradford Pears in the median off Walnut Hill between Abrams and Fair Oaks.
To volunteer, click here. You may donate here.
Neighbors were, at first, confounded by the holes at Lake Highlands North Park.
It won’t take long, say arborists at the Texas Tree Foundation, for the new plantings to take off.
