Texas Tree Trails exists because four partner organizations decided their work was more powerful together than apart. Each brings something distinct — scientific expertise, regional reach, institutional weight, or a dedicated volunteer base — and together they make the program possible.
Texas A&M Forest Service
The Texas A&M Forest Service is the state agency responsible for protecting and managing Texas’s forests, both rural and urban. They steward the Texas Big Tree Registry, the statewide official record of champion trees, and provide our program with two regional state foresters who lead measurement work on the ground — one for DFW East, one for DFW West.
The Texas A&M Forest Service also published Forest Trees of Texas, How to Know Them (Bulletin 20) — the source of much of the botanical and identification content on this site, including the Glossary. They have granted Texas Tree Trails permission to republish that material for educational use.
Texas Historic Tree Coalition (TXHTC)
The Texas Historic Tree Coalition — originally founded as the Dallas Historic Tree Coalition (DHTC) — was the original spark behind Texas Tree Trails. In late 2001, its members began raising funds and laying the groundwork for documenting historically significant trees across the Dallas/Fort Worth area. That early work grew into the program you see today.
TxHTC manages the registration and authentication of historic and heritage trees, including the specialized category of Indian Marker Trees. Nominations submitted through Texas Tree Trails that meet historic criteria are forwarded to TxHTC for review and inclusion in their registry.
Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council (TBUFC)
TBUFC covers the eastern half of Texas Tree Trails’ working region — the Blackland Prairies counties of Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall. Its membership includes arborists, taxonomists, and plant pathologists, and the council provides scientific expertise plus a strong volunteer base for measurement and documentation of trees across these eight counties.
Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council (CTUFC)
CTUFC covers the western half of Texas Tree Trails’ working region — the Cross-Timber Prairies counties stretching from Tarrant west and north: Archer, Clay, Cooke, Denton, Erath, Hood, Jack, Johnson, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Somervell, Stephens, Tarrant, Wichita, Wise, and Young.
CTUFC joined Texas Tree Trails in 2005–2006, bringing a large and active workforce that has shaped the program’s reach and effectiveness ever since.
What Makes This Collaboration Unusual
The combination of grassroots citizen organizations, scientific subject-matter experts, and a state agency is rare in this work. It’s believed to be one of the first times these three types of organizations have come together in Texas to solve a common forestry problem — and the model has produced results that none of the partners could have achieved alone.
Texas Tree Trails also acknowledges the many other contributors who have shaped this work over the years: volunteers, donors, board members, regional foresters, Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, and the many property owners who have opened their land for our measurement teams.