• Since 2021, upon a realization of the natural beauty, charm, and special nature of the Ladd property, a group of citizens and now thousands of citizens are endorsing the creation of the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve; a bit of country in our own backyard on the last piece of the original undeveloped land in Duncanville, a completely landlocked and almost completely built out city.

  • The Charles F. Ladd Preserve is a pearl, strategically located in southwest Duncanville, an area without public greenspace, that would bring out citizens and people to our city for pleasant outings leading to increased income for gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores. A preserve will improve the quality of life for the citizens of Duncanville, increase property value in the neighborhoods surrounding the preserve and lead to an influx of upwardly mobile young residents that want to live and raise children in an environmentally conscious city.

    The Charles F. Ladd Preserve will be created to manage and preserve its flora, fauna and physical features. It will have low intensity maintenance, limited development, self-guided personal experience, focused programming often provided by others and a diverse and versatile usage. It will offer storm water management, water and air quality improvements, mitigate the “heat” island, act as a carbon sink and enhance the local biodiversity, improving pollination, seed dispersal, and habitat and soil health. Economically, it will proximally increase property values, attract residents, businesses and employers and tourism, beautify the community and display equity and environmental awareness. For citizens, it will improve mental and physical health, encourage art, offer recreational diversity and leisure, allow access to the outdoors amid natural settings, and will be an educational asset and a place of community pride. Joining many other communities in this era of environmental disruption, Duncanville will be doubling down on green, driving redevelopment, and rebranding itself by offering first rate parks, trails and open spaces.

  • There are. Just among our peer cities, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Midlothian, Lancaster, Wylie, Dallas, Fort Worth, Flower Mound, McKinney, Arlington, Coppell, Grand Prairie, Oak Cliff, Irving, and Mansfield have nature preserves to name just a few. Some cities have many. Austin has 15. Houston has 26.

    Nature Preserves are indeed a thing.

    Texas is a Spanish Land Grant state; most Texas lands were deeded out by 1836. 95 percent of Texas lands are privately owned with only 2.5 percent of land open and available to the public. Currently, a football field’s worth of natural area is lost every 30 seconds nationally to development.

  • The land was part of a Duncanville area ranch, owned by Mr. William B. Hamilton (1874-1951) from 1928. He also donated the land for the Little Bethel Cemetery. It remained in the family until 1985. The new owner, Talon Joint Ventures, then Family Development corporation, in 1986, zoned the property as a Planned Development (Office-Retail, which it still is). In 1993 the property was sold to Bob and Trudy Ladd. On April 2, 1998, Mr. Ladd donated the property to the city with restrictions that the land, 42.419 acres, be used primarily for such things as natural trails, botanical gardens, interactive learning centers, advancement of culture, artistic/educational purposes, ice rink and so on. (The ice rink was built in 1999 at the now Duncanville Field House). In May 2019, the city advertised a “Request for Development (RFP)” for development with no developers interested. In June 2021, the City Council instructed the City Manager to instruct staff to identify highest and best uses of all city property including the Ladd property (Opportunity area 8). The property has been mowed and maintained as an open space since 1998 although the citizens of Duncanville generally didn’t know or understand it was public property and regarded it as private property.

  • 609 W. Danieldale Road in southwest Duncanville, between Santa Fe Trail and Cedar Hill Road on the north side of Danieldale.

  • Bob and Trudy Ladd were residents of Duncanville whose family owned and operated Quality Cabinets manufacturing in the Duncanville central industrial park. The Ladd’s graciously donated the land, recognizing its “specialness”, including in the deed the property was primarily for uses to benefit the citizens of Duncanville.

  • On September 6, 2022, a meeting was held at City Hall and attended by Mr. Bob Ladd, Mayor Barry Gordon, City Manager Ferrell-Benavides, Assistant City Manager Brown and Councilmember Koontz. Mr. Ladd accepted the proposal, commenting on its professional presentation (titled “Charles F. Ladd Preserve, A World Class Nature Center and Retreat in Duncanville’s Backyard”, download here.

  • Yes!

    On July 18, 2023, the Duncanville City Council created the City’s first nature preserve ordinance, paving the way for establishing the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve.

  • It was donated to the city and citizens of Duncanville, to be enjoyed with primary purposes such as nature/educational/artistic/learning by the very thoughtful Bob Ladd family with the “subject property” to incorporate the words “Charles F. Ladd.”

  • After 23 years, The City of Duncanville has unsuccessfully sought multiple opportunities to designate use for and develop the land. In 2022, citizens lent strong support and voice to the creation of the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve. The steering committee formed by the city council recommended creation of the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve. After unanimously voting to undertake processes to consider creation of the Ladd Preserve, a 7 month process was established in December 2022 and begun in January 2023 via presentation to city commissions and boards including update of the city Comprehensive Plan and Park Master Plan. We are currently at the townhall phase. There are two in person townhall meetings for citizens to attend and speak their mind as they choose and an online zoom meeting. Subsequently, comments will be summarized and then zoning changes begun through July 2022.

    No date on the timeline has been set for the creation of an actual ordinance to create the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve preserving this property for our children and grandchildren.

  • It is not, and less so without your voice. This is a now or never situation. But there can, and probably will be with your support.

  • Attend the townhall meetings in March. https://www.dncinc.org/facts-events

  • After the discovery of the Ladd property’s special nature by local citizen Mark Graham, he made the property well known to citizens through his photographic art of the property and persuasive outreach to let people know about the Ladd. More and more people became interested and photos and news became visible on Nextdoor as the Ladd Preservation Advocacy.

  • The DNC, are the “friends of the Ladd property” and formally known as the Ladd Preservation Advocacy, now incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit, is a friends group, dedicated to the long-term vitality of the Ladd Preserve. It has begun fund-raising efforts, and has dedicated citizen volunteers who regularly pick up trash on the property, mow trails, work with other city groups such as Duncanville High School Ag students and provide trail creation and maintenance among other stewardship responsibilities.

  • The Ladd property encompasses several areas or specific biomes all within the confines of the property. There are remnants of Cross Timbers forest and were a fringe forest to prairies adjacent to remnants of Blackland prairie on both sides of the creek and abuts the riparian or creek area. These prairies are what drew early settlers to this region. The riparian or wetland area is all about the water and provides habitat on migration routes for birds, breeding areas for frogs and salamanders (since there are no predatory fish), provides scenic beauty, and helps maintain water quality by removing sediments, etc before entering the creek waterway on the way to the Gulf, and then, there is the gem, the spring-fed Ten Mile Creek.

  • Southwest Duncanville, compared to the three other quadrants, is a parks desert. There are no parks within easy walking or biking distance. There are 244 acres of parks in Duncanville. The 2018 Duncanville Comprehensive Plan planned and projects future use of 464 acres. However, until now, there has been no additional parkland added to Duncanville in years and not since the Comprehensive Plan was created.

    The National Recreation and Park Association recommends a ratio of 10 acres per 1,000 citizens for cities in Duncanville's population range. The median number of acres of parkland per 1,000 nationwide for cities Duncanville’s size is 10.6 acres/1,000. Duncanville is currently at 5.99 acres/1,000 citizens, and as compared to our neighboring cities:

    Duncanville — 5.99 (acres/citizen per 1000); with Ladd 7.03

    Cedar Hill — 14.67 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    DeSoto — 8.80 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Wylie — 11.53 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Midlothian — 8.03 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Waxahachie — 6.08 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Euless — 4.92 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Lancaster — 15.39 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Farmers Branch — 6.51 (acres/citizen per 1000)

    Austin’s goal, as an example of a proactive ideal model, is to maintain 24 acres of parkland and preserve per 1,000 citizens and actively pursues grants, donations and purchases to maintain that level even as their city grows.

  • Sam Kieschnick, Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist and Urban Planner for North Texas, is a master naturalist and has organized a well-attended bio-survey at the Ladd property. Naturalists and enthusiasts from all over north Texas attended and over 2200 observations were made identifying 622 species (1500 plus expected). Individuals as far away as Europe have commented on observations at the Ladd property. Sam has also provided tours of the property numerous times including with city council. You can see the astonishing variety of plants, flowers, animals, fish, frogs and birds at Ladd property’s own iNaturalist site. INaturalist is a crowdsourced identification system and an organism recording tool used globally to connect people to nature.

    https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=178712&subview=map

  • Have you ever seen an otter? An otter in Texas? There is a family of river otters in the Ten Mile Creek at the Ladd Property. Rippy is the Ladd Preserve mascot, spreading goodwill, cheer and knowledge of the Ladd preserve throughout Duncanville.

  • There are definitely beavers at the Ladd property. They are busy as ever and are busy improving the wetlands and creek area.

  • The Ladd property is excellent for bird watching with its varied natural areas (wetlands, forest, prairie, creek). Among the many birds already spotted there: ruby-crowned kinglet, great crested flycatcher, barred owls, great horned owls, screech owls, ring-necked ducks, wild turkey, red shouldered hawks, belted kingfishers, yellow-rumped warblers, little blue herons, snowy egrets, eastern phoebe’s, white eyed vireo, green herons, cooper’s hawks to name just a few that have been enjoyed and documented on the Ladd property’s iNaturalist observation portal.

    https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=178712&subview=map

  • Being part of a spring-fed creek system with no dams or lakes upstream, the Ten Mile Creek at the Ladd property, with its beautiful pools, falls, riffles and stream areas, is teaming with a variety of species, some you expect, largemouth bass and sunfish, but also less expected and often pushed out of urban areas species like central stonerollers, bluntnose minnows, red shiners and yellow bullheads.

    https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=178712&subview=map&view=species&iconic_taxa=Actinopterygii

  • There are mussels (freshwater clams) in the Ten Mile Creek at the Ladd property. Mussels are excellent biological indicators of water quality because they are long-lived and relatively immobile, accumulating contaminants in water. The spring-fed Ten Mile Creek at the Ladd property absolutely deserves to be protected helping to protect this waterway rather than modify, divert, or disturb a waterway eons in the making.

  • A few facts and just for fun: the creek bottom at the Ladd is from approximately 100 million years ago during the cretaceous period and inland-sea and is lower cretaceous limestone. Just as in Glen Rose where the dinosaur tracks are found, we have the same type geological formation where fossils are indeed found.

  • There is always opposition to anything; in this case, since it is land, there are absolutely individuals that might want to develop it, profit from it, or do not like the outdoors, or prefer to travel to enjoy outdoors elsewhere where those lands are protected. Once developed or built on, there is no returning to nature, there would be no greenspace in southwest Duncanville.