Bachman Greenbelt is a 57-acre riparian nature preserve along Bachman Branch creek, just east of Bachman Lake. The park had fallen into disrepair over the years, but recently has had a new 1-mile loop trail cut, wildflower sections maintained on the meadow side (off Cochran Chapel Road), informational signage installed, and privet removal with native plant replacements. The park still has a lot of privet, which Friends of Bachman Lake is partnering with the city and Greenspace to continue removing. There is a strong need for master naturalist support to help with privet removal (primarily maintenance of recovered land, and stop privet encroachment on the meadow side), native plant maintenance (particularly watering and weed control), and future pollinator garden expansions.
Many residents near Bachman Lake do not have cars, so use Bachman Lake as their primary park and outdoor area. Access to a greenbelt with educational information and green space is important to quality of life. A new trailhead going in at NW Highway and Lemmon will increase visibility, as well as new signs at lake promoting the greenbelt. Plans for the greenbelt include: nature walks with naturalist, installation of pollinator areas for monarch waystations, bioblitz events, and clean-up days. The Friends of Bachman Lake is working with DISD for this area to be a potential future Dallas Environmental Learning Area for field trips.
Friends of Bachman Lake is a very involved partner with city to continue investment and improvements, while keeping the greenbelt in its native state. We are also involved with the Dallas Trail Coalition to connect the Bachman area to the greater trail network being developed, to provide better access to and from the area without the need for vehicles.
The City of Dallas provides waivers for new volunteers to sign. These will be available and distributed by The Friends of Bachman Lake.
Watering needs could be done solo, and we have a sign-up genius page for people to sign up for that on a weekly basis. I could see hosting workdays twice a month or so to remove privet or other activities. We have three privet extractors currently, and just received a grant from Keep Dallas Beautiful to purchase 6 more. If we could get around ten volunteers per scheduled activity, that would be perfect. We can could also support requests for off cycle volunteer hours, depending on board member availability. Friends of Bachman Lake has also installed native plants to replace privet, so this could be another opportunity for chapter members to contribute.