About Trinity River Audubon Center

Trinity River Audubon Center offers engaging community programs and events that connect visitors of all ages to the unique natural habitats of the Blackland Prairie and Great Trinity Forest. Previously the site of the largest illegal landfill in the state of Texas, the center exists as a stark reminder of the threats posed to native habitats and the resilience of nature. Today, five miles of trails lead visitors through hardwood forests, across wetlands, and into prairies that provide valuable habitat and resources for North Texas birds and wildlife. The center supports Audubon's mission: To protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.  

From its inception in 2008, Trinity River Audubon Center has welcomed visitors of all ages to participate in nature education programs. This innovative approach—preserving open space not just to protect wildlife and native habitat from people but to actively engage people in its conservation through learning and exploration—served as a model for Audubon and other nature education centers nationwide and has influenced the development of place-based experiential learning as a highly effective pedagogical practice.  Academic programs at the center are designed to address the need for students to improve and strengthen their science and critical thinking skills while introducing them to the wonders of nature. 

Today, the land surrounding Trinity River Audubon Center is filled with native trees, plants, and grasses, providing valuable green space in a rapidly developing city. However, this same land was once home to the state of Texas’s largest illegal dump site, known as Deepwood. Situated next to residential neighborhoods, Deepwood operated under illegally issued permits for nearly 25 years, creating significant environmental and health hazards for the nearby communities. Concerned for their quality of life, residents of the adjacent neighborhoods demanded that the city take action. In August 1999, federal judge Harold ‘Barefoot’ Sanders issued a landmark ruling finding the City of Dallas, former landfill owner, and operator liable under federal law and ordered them to clean up the site, mandating supervision of their efforts by the National Audubon Society.  

The legacy of ‘trash to treasure’ is honored through the unique design and materials of Trinity River Audubon Center. Built as part of the City of Dallas’s Trinity River Corridor Project, the site and building are designed not only to minimize any adverse effect on the environment, but to also to repair some of the pre-existing environmental problems. Designed by Antoine Predock, renowned AIA Gold medal award-winning architect, the Center is sustainably built and LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold level certified, the first Dallas Park and Recreation building to receive this designation. Some of the building's innovative green features include the use of regional and sustainable building materials, using natural daylight for interior illumination where possible, and a living ‘green’ roof on the administrative wing of the building.  

The Trinity River Audubon Center offers everyone the opportunity to connect to nature and experience the outdoors year-round.  Come discover for yourself – you will not be disappointed. 

Trinity River Audubon Center is a National Audubon Society center supported, in part, by funds from the City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department.