There are some very special places in Garland, unique and well-recognized places, but certainly at the top or near the top of the list is Spring Creek Forest Preserve. From the old forest hardwoods to early spring's trout lilies, the forest is a wonderful escape from the modern, urban world that normally surrounds us.
 
As with any fantastic forest, there are caretakers. The Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest holds that role for our forest. District 1 resident Barbara Baynham is the president. The Society holds most of their meetings at Holford Recreation Center and the next meeting is 7 pm, Nov 4, when Michael Smith, co-founder of the Dalls-Ft Worth Herpetological Society will speak on reptiles from our area. Barbara notes in a recent e-mail to members that the Preserve lists six species of turtles and nine species of snakes. Her favorite reptile is the Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus), a beautiful, delicate, small snake that is very hard to spot among the green leaves where it hides.
 
In last week's Garland News, contributor Bob Davis recounts climbing aboard his old truck and steering to one of the numerous trails within the Preserve. He was kind enough to share his experience with readers of the Garland News and, to "preserve" his experience, I've posted the article below:

From the Oct 2 Garland News:

Photo by Bob Davis

The Forest in the Shadows of the City

By Bob Davis, Contributor
 
        Come with me on a walkabout into the shaggy depths of an oldgrowth forest where songbirds flit through great trees and wildflowers blossom in the meadows.
        Shafts of sunlight cascade through the canopy of trees and dragonflies hover in mid-air. On either side of the hiking trail stand lofty Chinquapin and burr oaks dating back to the Civil War. A merry wanderer of a creek ripples through a chalk bed canyon and bream fin about in the green shallows.
        No, we’re nowhere near Thoreau’s little cabin site at Walden Pond: Welcome to Garland’s Spring Creek Forest, a bottomland forest located between Arapaho Road and Highway 190. Surrounded by the Shoal Creek subdivision, the Spring Creek Forest is remarkable for the centuries-old timber that thrives along the creek’s banks and the astonishing variety of animal and plant species. It’s as close to nature as you can get in the city.
        Recently I visited the North Garland preserve, eager to lose myself in the towering oaks and savor the solitude of a slice of Creator’s landscaping. Trusty backpack and camera in tow, I eased the old truck into the first of two Garland Parks Department parking lots located about a mile north from the Shiloh and Holford intersection. Picnic tables and a metal bench hinted at the woodland trail in the distance. Two swigs of cold water later, I entered the forest and immediately felt the temperature drop as the mammoth pecans and oaks and cottonwoods filtered the morning sunlight.
        The raucous blue jays alerted their feathered neighbors of my approach and more than once I flushed doves and caught glimpses of male cardinals streaking through the branches. An old wire fence, drooping with neglect, leaned into the underbrush and guarded the creek’s high banks. With a little experimentation, I found a serviceable trail that led down to the creek and stood on a little sandbar and admired the water’s rapid current flowing over smooth limestone rocks. I even found a fossil shell and a few pieces of quartz near the pebbled shoreline.
        When heavy rains come, I thought, Spring Creek must be a raging river judging by the strips of plastic dangling in the middle branches. Someone must have fished from the bank and maybe cooked his catch on the spot, considering the size of the campfire and charred wood. During the Civil War, settlers came to this spot to quench their thirst when Dallas County endured an intense drought. I pondered cupping my hands for a sip, but the algae green rocks upstream gave second thoughts. Ripples of minnows dimpled the surface and tiny frogs the size of my little fingernail hopped for safety in the soft sand.
        Forty-five minutes later I emerged from the forest and drove to the second hiking trail up the road about 100 yards. At the Lee Jackson site I parked on what was once a quarry for Chambers Brothers construction. The trail here is a paved sidewalk adventure through the forest and on either side lie huge trunks of fallen trees that resemble heaps of dinosaur bones. The sidewalk crunched under my boots, evidence of hungry squirrels nibbling at the bounty of nuts. Just as I spotted one of the furry critters dashing up a huge Chinquapin oak easily four feet thick, an acorn bounced off my gimme cap. Suddenly something large crashed through the underbrush and momentarily, I shuddered at a certain scene in the movie Jurassic Park.
        Two paths diverged in a wood, as Robert Frost once observed, and I chose one less traveled and it dead ended in a park bench and another trail meandered by the bubbling creek. Here I found my old gardening friend, the green segmented horsetail, clinging to a sandbar that had recently been flooded. And I had my Thoreau moment, discovering a leafy cardinal flower, a lovely crimson specimen hidden by patches of wild oats.
        True story: As I clambered up the bank, I looked behind me and gazed down on something large and black submerged in the green murky depths. Was that a gigantic toothy reptile breaking the water’s surface? Three heart palpitations later, I stared at the sunken tree trunk and breathed a sigh of relief. I had heard rumors of black bear wandering here from Oklahoma, but Spring Creek Forest’s version of Nessie was urban legend.
        By mid-morning the songbirds had roosted in the shade and when I emerged from the autumn of the forest, it was summer on the parking lot. But I will come again to walk the quiet trails and enjoy the great outdoors of Garland’s lovely natural oasis, Spring Creek Forest. Lost in the great bottomland woods, with only the companionship of doves and squirrels, it’s hard to imagine the teeming world beyond.