Fort Worth Prairie Park Tour



Location: Fort Worth Prairie Park (directions below)

Date: May 24th

Time: 10 am to 2 pm

Please RSVP by May 14th to Eileen Porter reporter@... or
817-596-5567



The walking tour of the 2000 acre Fort Worth Prairie Park will be lead by Jarid
Manos, founder and CEO of the Great Plains Restoration Council. This prairie is
not open to the public. This is an opportunity that we should not miss.



From the GPRC website www.gprc.org <http://www.gprc.org/>



Great Plains Restoration Council (GPRC) is working to protect 2000 acres of the
biologically richest remaining Fort Worth Prairie Ecosystem as an anchor of
urban tallgrass prairie wilderness, ultimately leading to a larger network of
core wildland reserves and biological corridors connecting this lush remaining
Fort Worth Prairie with the Western Cross Timbers. The State of Texas General
Land Office owns the property and is seeking to sell it to developers



The Fort Worth Prairie Park is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and is
of National Park quality, but still completely unprotected from the bulldozers.
It is a hidden crown jewel of Texas, and a national treasure that must be
preserved before it's too late. The original Fort Worth Prairie Ecosystem is
home to over 2,000 native plant species; it is our "prairie rainforest." It is
an important breeding and resting ground for internationally migrating monarch
butterflies and Central Flyway grassland birds, whose numbers are crashing. Rock
Creek and unnamed streams run through it. All kinds of native wildlife live
there, including two genetically pure buffalo from the Fort Worth Nature Refuge,
whose ancestors come from the original Wichita Mountains Herd. There are
threatened and endangered species, a 300-year-old native Texas cedar elm tree,
and more.



This rare, never-been-plowed, original Fort Worth Prairie tallgrass
landscape holds enormous ecological and cultural significance. It was a meeting
ground for numerous Prairie Tribes, including indigenous Caddo and Wichita
people who lived here. Escaped black slaves traversed these wild grasslands as
they headed for "this other country to the south" (Mexico) that they'd heard
about where they could reach freedom. There are frontier ruins of a settler's
old stone house from the 1850s, as well as a mysterious, nearly 3 mile long
handbuilt rock wall, and a burial ground. The land survey dates back to a land
grant from Juan Seguin that was given to a soldier who fought at San Jacinto in
the Texas Revolution.



The Fort Worth Prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North
America. We've succeeded in stopping the bulldozers for now; the Texas General
Land Office has agreed to work with us toward a conservation alternative. We
need teams of neighborhood volunteers to make this a county-wide push to a
permanent success in 2008.



Driving Directions: The address is 10700 Old Granbury Rd, 76036

Take Hwy 377 south from Loop 820. Turn left (east) on FM 1187. Turn
left (north) on Old Granbury Rd. The gate is on the Westside of the road and
there is a white farm house. GPRC will put signs on Old Granbury Rd before the
gate.

OR take 35W south from Loop 820. Turn right (west) on FM 1187. Turn
right (north) on Old Granbury Rd. The gate is on the Westside of the road and
there is a white farm house. GPRC will put signs on Old Granbury Rd before the
gate.



Please wear sturdy shoes/boots, long pants, and a hat or cap. Please bring
water.