The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Environmental Stewardship Program provides $1.6 million to fund efforts such as restoring wetlands, planting and tracking trees, and educating the private sector about environmental stewardship. Federal regulations encourage transportation planners to consider the effects of the long-range transportation plan on the natural environment. The $1.6 million is funded by Regional Toll Revenue funds.

The following projects are being funded through the Environmental Stewardship Program.

Water Gardens

This project in Dallas will provide the public access to wetlands, other aquatic features, and a boardwalk at the original site of the Trinity River, which was re-routed in the 1930s to prevent flooding in downtown Dallas. Terraced wetlands will be created to filter stormwater. Natural wetlands will be restored adjacent to the river. The area will create a publicly available recreation site near downtown Dallas. The location also is being studied as a possible site for a station for a high-speed rail route from Dallas to Houston. The Environmental Stewardship Program will provide $350,000 for engineering services to support the water gardens project.

Fort Worth Constructed Wetlands

The city of Fort Worth will identify a location for constructed wetlands that could reduce the environmental effect of transportation infrastructure. The Environmental Stewardship Program will provide $200,000 to help fund an engineering study to assess design alternatives for the constructed wetlands.

Fort Worth Tree Plantings

The temperature in cities can be hotter than neighboring rural areas because of factors associated with urbanization, such as development, traffic, altered hydrology, additional concrete/asphalt and impermeable surfaces, and population density. These higher temperatures are known as the urban heat island effect. In Dallas/Fort Worth, 4.32º F was the average difference in July high temperatures between urban and rural areas from 2001 to 2011, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Trees can help reduce urban temperatures by providing shade and by evapotranspiration, a process where water emitted into the air by leaves is cooled via evaporation.

To help the city of Fort Worth address the urban heat island effect, the Environmental Stewardship Program is providing $200,000 for the city to purchase trees, shrubs, grasses, and groundcover. These landscaping elements will be planted and installed in medians on Lancaster Avenue near the Hemphill-Lamar Connector, a street and pedestrian tunnel that travels underneath Interstate 30 to connect the city's south side with downtown.

Dallas Tree Plantings

The Texas Trees Foundation's NeighborWoods and Cool Schools programs worked with community leaders and homeowners to plant trees in neighborhoods across Dallas that would benefit from additional tree cover.

The Environmental Stewardship Program helped the Texas Trees Foundation to purchase the trees, which were initially planted in Dallas at the Richland College campus, where the foundation has a tree farm. Texas Trees Foundation maintained the trees until they reached a viable diameter; then, the foundation work with the neighborhoods and schools to plant the trees. Homeowners will be responsible for maintaining the trees. As viable trees were moved out of the tree farm, new, smaller trees were purchased and planted at the tree farm. This created a revolving fund of $300,000 of trees.

Texas Trees Foundation will monitor the trees for at least two years after they were planted and will upload information on the trees' progress into a publicly available database the Foundation developed. These tracking efforts were funded by almost $100,000 from the Environmental Stewardship Program.

Staff Contact
Kate Zielke