Dixon Branch Greenbelt Guild
- Remove invasive plants harming the native greenery
- Restore native plants to the ecology
- Mitigate erosion along the creek
- Improve habitat for wildlife
- Support pollinators
Your donations go toward purchasing plants and seeds, maintaining tools, and renting equipment.
Dixon Branch Greenbelt
Dixon Branch Greenbelt is a special strip of riparian land along Dixon Branch, a primary tributary of White Rock Creek that enters White Rock Lake at Sunset Bay/Pelican Point.
The woods are remarkably unaltered, with a large grove of rusty blackhaw viburnum and very big aromatic sumac and elbow bush, plus century-old bois d’arcs and other hardwoods, and a surprising amount of eastern red cedar. But they are beset by three species of privet and Amur (bush) honeysuckle.
While the meadow was taken over by KR bluestem and other invasive plants, volunteers are working to restore the original Blackland Prairie by adding native grasses and wildflowers.
GREENBELT HISTORY
Eastwood Riparian began in 2002. Ginger Travis served as volunteer coordinator until 2016 when she retired. Warren Travis, Frances Atwood, and Francis Shaner were essential in that effort. Then Michael Parkey took the lead until retiring in 2025.
ENA formed in 1997-1998 to get help with flooding caused by Dixon Branch and its Deep Tributary. The City of Dallas pressed channelize the creeks, as was done to the small tributary that ran along Vinemont, but residents did not want to lose the natural beauty that drew them to the neighborhood. Later engineering studies showed that channelizations would not have alleviated flooding, which is caused by floodwater backing up from the lake.
To help alleviate the riparian erosion that threatened our many mature trees, street paving, and even underground utility lines, Eastwood Riparian successfully appealed to the park department to allow grasses in the greenbelt to grow tall and absorb and slow the floodwaters. Native grasses and wildflowers are slowly being added to the meadows, and reforestation is widening the riparian corridor to additionally slow and absorb waters.
Eastwood Riparian, now the Dixon Branch Greenbelt Guild, continues to explore ways to stop and repair erosion while protecting and enhancing our greenbelt.
Dixon Branch Greenbelt Guild gathers on the Sunday before bulk pick-up, which occurs on the week with a 2nd Monday. At 9 am in hot weather, 10 am in cooler weather. Workdays are canceled or rescheduled when the heat, cold, or rain is excessive.
To keep up with our activities, join the Greenbelt Guild newsletter list.
Also look for our announcements on Eastwood Nextdoor, Eastwood Neighbors on Facebook, the ENA newsletter, or this website’s blog.
Click to the contact the coordinator, Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth.
One of the standing committees of Eastwood Neighborhood Association, the coordinator serves on the Board of Directors. Our work is made possible by financial contributions of ENA members and supporters. Donate here. Please indicate it’s for the Greenbelt Guild.
Work with the group is accepted for VH by North Texas Master Naturalists.
RIPARIAN SUPPORTERS
Our current primary Greenbelt Guild partner is Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, with whom we have a beautification agreement.
In the beginning, Eastwood Riparian members secured training and advice from experts in the field and about $40,000 in grants and financial support, including from the organizations below.
- City of Dallas, MOWmentum Program
- City of Dallas, Loving My Community Grant Program
- City of Dallas, Reforestation Fund and Office of the City Forester
- North Central Texas Council of Governments, The Stream Team
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Five Star Grant Program
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
Thanks to all of these organizations, and to all our volunteers for many hundreds of hours of work.
