The Buckeye Trail

LOCATION   • TRAIL MAP   • GALLERY    • EVENTS

The Trail and Neighborhood

In his journey through Texas in 1856, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted admired the “luxuriant confusion” of the interlaced branches and vines from the immense trees of the Trinity River bottomlands.  It has been left to us, the neighbors, hikers, politicians, conservationists, and advocates, to reconcile the complexity and conflict embedded in this ecosystem.

A group of aspiring Master Naturalists undertook this challenge through an assigned project to increase the engagement of the South Dallas Ideal+Bonton neighborhood with the adjoining Ned and Genie Fritz Buckeye Trail.

We didn’t embark on this assignment alone.  We stood on the shoulders of those who blazed the trails of bottomland forest preservation and neighborhood revival.  Like any good naturalist, we share our historical and botanical insights into this “luxuriant confusion'” and the Indigenous peoples who first occupied it.  But best of all, we share the insights, in their own powerful voices, from generations of Ideal residents from whom we learned the most important lessons:  the power of community and the simple everyday pleasures of nature around us.

An Invitation

After grappling with the urban ecosystem of Bexar Street and the Buckeye Trail, we invite you to immerse yourself in nature’s simple pleasures; listen to the “cheer, cheer, cheer” of the cardinals and the chorus of other trills, twitters, chirps, and hoots as you bathe in the forest; be present, breathe deeply, with heart open; heal your relationship with the earth; advocate for environmental justice; heed the wisdom of weathered naturalists; acknowledge the Indigenous peoples who lived in our region; celebrate community; and savor the memories of our elders.   

 

 

 

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Events

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February 3, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
February 4, 2026    
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Western Heights Cemetery Volunteer Day 1617 Fort Worth Ave. Dallas, TX 75208 Contact lead: Van Johnson, vanindallas2@aol.com Every Weds, 9am  - 12pm, earlier during summer...
John Bunker Sands Wetland Center || 1st Saturday Walk & Talk Bird Tour (AT) Saturday, February 7, 2026  ||  7:30am – 11:30am   CT Description:  Join...
February 7, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
LLELA || 1st Saturday Nature Walk (AT) Saturday, February 7, 2026  ||  10am  – 12noon   CT Description:  Animal tracks, deer trails, singing birds, trees with...
February 10, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
February 11, 2026    
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Western Heights Cemetery Volunteer Day 1617 Fort Worth Ave. Dallas, TX 75208 Contact lead: Van Johnson, vanindallas2@aol.com Every Weds, 9am  - 12pm, earlier during summer...
TMN North Texas chapter || For the Love of the Birds Hikes (AT) Saturday, February 14, 2026 || 8am. – 9:30pm   CT Title:   For the...
Trinity River Audubon Center || Second Saturday Guided Hike (AT) Saturday, February 14, 2026  ||  8:30am  – 10am   CT For more info & to register:...
February 14, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest “2 nd Saturday” workdays Sept. 2025/ May 2026 Sept. 13, 2025, 9-11am: -- 1770 Holford Road (the center section...
February 14, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
February 17, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
February 18, 2026    
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Western Heights Cemetery Volunteer Day 1617 Fort Worth Ave. Dallas, TX 75208 Contact lead: Van Johnson, vanindallas2@aol.com Every Weds, 9am  - 12pm, earlier during summer...
Trinity River Audubon Center || Morning Bird Walk (AT) Saturday, February 21, 2026  ||  7:30am  – 9am   CT For more info & to register: https://trinityriver.audubon.org/events/morning-bird-walk-19...
February 21, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
Trinity River Audubon Center || Sunday Morning Bird Walk (AT) Sunday, February 22, 2026  ||  9am  – 10am   CT More Info & to register:  https://trinityriver.audubon.org/events/sunday-morning-bird-walk-19...
February 24, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
February 25, 2026    
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Western Heights Cemetery Volunteer Day 1617 Fort Worth Ave. Dallas, TX 75208 Contact lead: Van Johnson, vanindallas2@aol.com Every Weds, 9am  - 12pm, earlier during summer...
February 28, 2026    
8:00 am - 12:30 pm
13th Annual Wetland Cleanup - Come help bag that trash! We never know where it'll end up. Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 28, 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m....
February 28, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
March 3, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
March 4, 2026    
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Western Heights Cemetery Volunteer Day 1617 Fort Worth Ave. Dallas, TX 75208 Contact lead: Van Johnson, vanindallas2@aol.com Every Weds, 9am  - 12pm, earlier during summer...
John Bunker Sands Wetland Center || 1st Saturday Walk & Talk Bird Tour (AT) Saturday, March 7, 2026  ||  7:30am – 11:30am   CT Description:  Join...
March 7, 2026    
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Name: Friends of Oak Cliff Workday Date & Time: Every Tuesday and Saturday 9-11am Location: One of the three parks in Oak Cliff: Kidd Springs,...
Events on February 3, 2026
Events on February 4, 2026
Events on February 7, 2026
Events on February 10, 2026
Events on February 11, 2026
Events on February 17, 2026
Events on February 18, 2026
Events on February 21, 2026
Events on February 22, 2026
Events on February 24, 2026
Events on February 25, 2026
Events on February 28, 2026
Events on March 3, 2026
Events on March 4, 2026