When neighborhood gardener Kathy Harris found out that she had cancer, she had a lot of affairs to get in order. Among the most important were her native and pollinator plants, which she was worried would be lost if the new owner of her house removed them.
Her plants were donated in March 2022 to Twelve Hills Nature Center, a neighborhood nonprofit nature center.
Harris was passionate about nature education. She was an educator at the Perot Museum and the Dallas Zoo and a member of Oak Cliff Gardeners. Her work with Oak Cliff Gardeners often benefited area organizations like the Twelve Hills Nature Center.
“Kathy dedicated her career to helping to introduce the natural world to children and families through her work as an educator at the Perot Museum and the Dallas Zoo,” says Marcie Haley, Twelve Hills Nature Center Board President. “Her clear love for helping people see nature more closely is a value shared by the mission of THNC.”
Plants that could not be used by the nature center, as well as garden furniture, bird baths and statuary, were auctioned to members of Oak Cliff Gardeners for the benefit of THNC.
The seeds for the nature preserve began in the 1950s when the plot of land was a 20-acre apartment complex that took over an area just blocks away from Stevens Park. By the late ‘80s, the complex closed, leaving the site full of demolished buildings. It sat there for over a decade without a plan to revive the site.
City council, landscape architects and neighbors got together for years, working on a solution that would improve the neighborhood.
Twelve Hills Nature Center (THNC) was founded as a nonprofit in 2002. The group was successful in getting five of the 20 acres rezoned for green space, marking the beginning of the nature center.
“The preserve is designed in a way that we hope will make visitors forget they’re in a city and experience what Dallas was like then tall grasses ruled and the land was undisturbed,” Haley says.
The nature center also aims to be used as an educational tool. During the day, from within the center’s trail, elementary school students can be heard playing on nearby playgrounds. There are two schools within walking distance that serve over 1,200 students, Haley says.
With educational programs like Twelve Hills Nature Leaders, a free after-school program that teaches 15 teenagers to lead over 700 students on nature walks.
“All the work done at the nature center is performed by dedicated volunteers from the neighborhood and the North Texas Master Naturalists,” Haley says. “They work tirelessly to remove introduced species and bring in Blackland Prairie native species from seeds and plant donations.”
Later this month, the discovery of the 1,000th species will be celebrated at the nature preserve. Naturalists use an app called iNaturalist to track observations of plants, insects, animals and fungi to get a complete picture of what species are in the nature preserve.
“Prairies play a role in climate change strategies.” she says. “By protecting more of our native species of plants, more insects are protected, which in turn means more birds, mammals and reptiles are protected. All of these things help clean our soil and water, making more oxygen.”
Funds from Harris’ plant and garden art auction went toward an informational kiosk, which will open on June 15 in Harris’ honor. The kiosk will include a map for orientation, information about the history of Twelve Hills and the Blackland Prairie, upcoming events, which plants will be blooming and what birds might be visiting at the time. Informational panels will be in both English and Spanish.
“It is truly heartwarming to see the community come together to honor Kathy’s legacy and contribute to the enhancement of Twelve Hills Nature Center,” says Van Johnson, leader of the Oak Cliff Gardeners. “This kiosk serves as a valuable resource of knowledge and inspiration for future generations of nature enthusiasts.”
CORRECTION: This article was edited on 6/13/2024 from an original version that mistakenly associated Kathy Harris with another Dallas gardener with the same name.
