Two Oak Cliff neighborhoods implement reforestation programs with help from the City

One of the Wynnewood North trees planted in 2025. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Michaels.

Two Oak Cliff neighborhoods have brought over 100 new trees to their streets by utilizing resources from the City of Dallas and Heritage Oak Cliff.

The first of the two recent tree-planting projects began with Wynnewood North. In honor of the neighborhood’s 75th anniversary in 2023, James Tekippe and Mike Wicker approached neighborhood association president Denise Requardt and Heritage Oak Cliff president Cynthia Michaels about an idea to add 75 new trees in honor of the historic neighborhood.

“We looked at each other and we went ‘I don’t know how this is going to work or if this can happen,’” Michaels said. “And so we came back and visited with them some more, and we suggested that ‘let’s start small.’”

The Wynnewood North “75 for 75” Reforestation Project began with just 25 trees. After completing a survey of interest, a meeting was organized for those interested in adopting to learn the ins and outs of what responsibilities would come with the new tree, such as fertilizer use and watering upkeep.

Trees were applied for and provided through the City of Dallas Reforestation Program at no cost. Neighbors had to make a commitment to caring for the tree properly and make the 811 calls necessary to coordinate surveys of where the trees could be planted. Then, it was up to the planting group to coordinate a company to dig the planting holes on the delivery date.

To cover those costs, the project received 60% of the funding through a grant from Heritage Oak Cliff. Over the course of three years, all 75 trees were planted at 50 homes with the support of a new Heritage Oak Cliff grant each year, with the remaining 40% of funding coming from within the neighborhood.

“We had such a great success, and it’s interesting to go and see all these trees as you drive down the street that are on the parkway, and the goal with these guys was they have a canopy, to have shade because (being in) the city and the heat island kind of thing, the trees really absorb all that,” Michaels said. “It’s great for the environment, so they did that first year and all the trees lived. We did it again the second year, all the trees lived, and they just completed it, so it was awesome.”

One of the Wynnewood North trees planted two years ago with the fall foliage. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Michaels.

Trudy Newton, vice president of Heritage Oak Cliff and president of the Stevens Park Village Neighborhood Association, wanted to implement a similar project within her neighborhood. She said that the success of their program was all about contacting the right people, including those who started the “75 for 75” project in Wynnewood North.

“Since they had been so successful, there was really no reason to try and reinvent the wheel,” Newton said. 

The key person Newton highlighted at the city level to coordinate a tree-planting project is Chief Arborist Philip Erwin. She said that Erwin came out to the neighborhood to learn where key adopters would be located and checked in with neighbors about the trees planned for installation. Additionally, when some of the Stevens Park Village trees began to rock, he showed Newton which trees to add stakes to for them to become secure once again.

For other neighbors who want to implement a reforestation project, Newton said the first step is to communicate it. While neighbors came to Michaels with the idea to plant trees after identifying neighbors who were interested, Newton describes the Stevens Park Village initiative as the opposite. The project was pitched at the Stevens Park Village Neighborhood Association annual meeting in 2025, with only one household signed up by the end. 

“I think the key to getting people really involved (is) we’ve got a desert on two streets,” Newton said. “One street has beautiful canopies, two streets are deserts, pieces of deserts … the interesting part was, as I sat down with each individual and showed them what we were wanting to do, and why we were going to do it, it was like the lights came on, and of course it has to do with the desert effects and the heat island effects that we experience here in Oak Cliff.”

For the first round of the Stevens Park Village reforestation program, a total of 29 trees were adopted to 14 homeowners also with the support of a Heritage Oak Cliff grant for the installation. Newton said they have applied for a second Heritage Oak Cliff grant to hopefully help plant an additional 10 trees.

Justin Hiles and his wife, Abby, were two of the tree adopters from the first round. 

“We’ve been in the neighborhood for about 18 years, and from when we moved in to now, definitely we’ve lost some of the older, mature trees, so adding these trees in definitely will help get it back to where it was when we moved in,” he said.

Hiles said their home lost an 80-year-old oak tree from their front yard three years ago.

“We’ve been contemplating planting something to replace that, and so having this program really, really helped us because obviously most of the cost was taken care of,” he said.

Now the couple has two young Chinese pistache trees.

Another tree adopter in Stevens Park Village is Sharon Thompson, who selected an American elm tree. 

“My particular end of the block, although there are some people that have planted trees, they’re not in the parkway,” she said. “That’s what really makes, to my opinion, a street pretty is when you can drive under that canopy of trees or walk under that canopy of trees on your sidewalk, and that’s why I got it. We need more trees in our neighborhood.”

Thompson noted that while there are trees on her street, there are fewer ones than other areas of her neighborhood.

“I would love to see more trees in our neighborhood and all of Oak Cliff,” she said. “There’s some areas that have a lot of trees, but there’s some that could definitely use trees.”

Updated June 4, 2026 at 5:58 p.m.