Trinity River Crew was selected as a Texan by Nature Conservation Wrangler in 2020. During each Conservation Wrangler program cycle, Texan by Nature provides up to 6 projects with 12-18 months of tailored support in the form of program management, strategic planning, marketing messaging, metrics capture and analysis, professional content production, and partnership development – whatever is needed to accelerate the project. The information below includes results from the time the project was active in the Conservation Wrangler program. It may not reflect the most current program/project information. Please visit https://www.trinityrivercrew.com for the latest.

Project Summary

At 710 miles, the Trinity River is the longest, fully contained river in Texas. Multiple forks of the river start near the Texas- Oklahoma border, coming through the Dallas-Fort Worth and North Texas region, flowing all the way to Galveston Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the river basin runs through 5 of Texas’ 10 ecoregions, where the river supports a diverse range of ecosystems, in addition to half of the state’s population that depend on the Trinity River for domestic, industrial, agricultural use.

Stewardship of the Trinity River through conservation efforts, advocacy, and engaging youth is key to sustainably maintaining one of North Texas’ greatest natural resources, while reimagining the river as the natural gathering place for communities.

In 2018, Greenspace Dallas launched the Groundwork Dallas Conservation Corps, a summer youth employment program. This annual seven-week job training opportunity provides teens with environmental career experience. Using this successful program as a model, Greenspace Dallas and Trinity Park Conservancy (TPC) have created a formal partnership to develop the Trinity River Crew.

The Trinity River Crew educates and inspires the next generation of environmental leaders while enhancing conservation efforts throughout 10,000 acres of the Trinity River Corridor. With the guidance and expertise of TPC and Greenspace Dallas, Crew members lead volunteers in the stewardship of this area by supporting the habitat restoration efforts of the City of Dallas and other local partners.

Project Mission

The Trinity River Crew provides meaningful, paid conservation work experience, education, leadership skills, and professional development training to high-potential youth from historically marginalized areas along the Trinity River. This program will create a collaborative youth employment framework that can act as a model throughout the entire Trinity River Basin.

Project Impact

• Meaningful paid conservation work experiences for youth from historically marginalized areas
• Increased conservation efforts across 10,000 acres within the Trinity River Corridor

Project Needs

The Trinity River Crew was selected as a Texan by Nature Conservation Wrangler based on the project’s positive impact to people, prosperity, and natural resources. Through the program, Texan by Nature is working with TPC and Greenspace Dallas to address the following needs:

• Dallas school partners to bring awareness to the Trinity River Crew program and to encourage student participation
• Conservation partners to provide conservation expertise, educational support, and experiences for Crewmembers
• Media visibility to increase awareness of conservation needs and solutions in North Texas
• Funding to build the capacity of the Trinity River Crew program and to hire a staff member to manage and expand the footprint of the program

Texan by Nature’s Vision and Support

Texan by Nature is working with Trinity Park Conservancy and Greenspace Dallas to bring a broader awareness to the need for collaborative conservation, in addition to highlighting the Trinity River Crew as an effective model and innovative way to engage youth in conservation efforts. This model could be replicated along the Trinity River, across Texas and beyond. TxN is working with TPC and Greenspace Dallas to convene local partners, develop a management plan, increase awareness, establish new relationships and steward existing relationships with schools and conservation partners, create a case study on a collaborative volunteer model, and more.

Contact Taylor Keys at taylor@texanbynature.org & 210-232-4191 if you can provide resources and/or connections, are interesting in partnering, or would like to learn more.