This is both a follow-up and a new post all rolled into one. Since yesterday, I have been trying to decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Some of you may remember that in the Archive, there is a post about a strange park sign that was a one-of-a-kind made for the Valley View Trail that runs at the end of the White Rock Trail going north three-quarters of a mile to Hillcrest Park. It read: "
Beware of Wild Animals".
In summary of that post, I had called the Director of Parks and Recreation asking about the reasoning behind such a sign. He had explained that when 121 was being made into the Sam Rayburn Tollway, it had actually cut off a fairly large habitat for bobcats and some had gone north in search of better habitat and some had come south for the same reason. The problem being is that coming south put them right in the mix of Plano and North Dallas. Sure enough. About that same time, people in Plano started sending in pictures of bobcats in their yard. Some even had pictures of several bobcats in their yard.
The nature trail in reference here was a dirty path that ran on the west side of Hillcrest Avenue along side the woods that run by the golf course farther west going toward Preston Road. It was also along the path that the bobcats were using to migrate further south into North Dallas. Because of that, the sign was put up by the Dallas Recreation and Parks Department; with good reasoning.
Yesterday, I got the word that the contractor will be removing that sign as they expand the White Rock Creek Trail Northern Extension project over that nature trail path. It is scheduled to be complete by July according to one of the contractors that I spoke with. He also, when queried, stated that he had seen bobcats in the area but they should move on after the work is complete since they are rather solitude in their natural habitat. Runners and bikers will keep them on edge enough to cause their migration to continue, but a displaced bobcat in the city won't be happy until its in deeper woods. Hello, Trinity River Bottoms!
Here are some images of the area as of yesterday.
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| Capital Improvement Info Board |
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| Let the trail continue north This is the new path that will be concrete and ties in at the 7 mile marker of the White Rock Creek Trail presently. |
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| Looking under Hillcrest Avenue, the original trail is to the right of the orange barriers. |
