Tandy Hills Natural Area

Tips to remember when visiting

Tandy Hills Natural Area is a protected natural area containing hundreds of native plant and animal species. Certain activities are not allowed to ensure the protection of this rare native landscape. Below are some guidelines to ensure all photographers and visitors have an enjoyable experience and leave Tandy Hills intact for future generations.

Stay on trails. Going off trails is destructive to the prairie.
All plants, animals and natural objects are protected.
Foot traffic only, no bicycles, or motorized vehicles.
Leash and clean up after your dog.
Discharge of firearms is prohibited.
Dispose of trash properly.
Natural area opened from dawn to dusk.
Leave no trace of your visit.

As of July 1, 2020, Broadcast Hill is closed to ALL vehicles including, cars, trucks, 4-wheelers, bicycles and motorcycles. Walk-in visitors are welcome.

Dedication

1960

Size

155.25 acres

Additional amenities

Benches
Drinking Fountain
Playground
Trails

Fun facts & history

Tandy Hills encompasses a complex of contiguous parkland (Tandy Hills Park, Tandy Hills Natural Area, Stratford Park, Stratford Natural Area) that totals nearly 160 acres. In 1960, both Tandy Hills Park and Natural Area were dedicated as parkland. In the 1980's, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge Director, Wayne Clark, conducted an environmental assessment, which brought to light the unique and important prairie ecosystem found within the park.

Tandy Hills is a pocket of remnant Fort Worth Prairie that stretches from the Brazos River to the Red River along a narrow strip (10 – 30 miles wide) of limestone bedrock and marl soils. This highly threatened prairie ecosystem has been fragmented and there are only a few remaining examples of what the rolling prairie looked like in predevelopment times. One example is at Tandy Hills, only 5 miles from downtown Fort Worth. Within the park, visitors can enjoy an amazing diversity of prairie wildflowers; some of which exist nowhere else in the world outside of the Fort Worth Prairie. Volunteers have documented nearly 1,500 species here via iNaturalist.

There’s no need to drive to the Texas Hill Country when you can hike the trails of Tandy Hills and see the same breathtaking wildflowers. Rolling hills, steep valleys, intermittent streams, seeps, limestone bedrock outcroppings, and the diversity of flora in the middle of the city make Tandy Hills a unique park.

Over the years, the City of Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department has partnered with Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area to develop a Master Plan; which serves as the guiding document for managing this unique prairie. Volunteers and staff have spent years clearing brush and invasive privet for prairie restoration, litter pick-up, trail building, organizing special events, conducting scientific research and Bioblitzes to improve this natural area for all to enjoy.

As a visitor, photographer, or hiker you can do your part to leave Tandy Hills intact for future generations to enjoy:

Stay on trails.
- Going off trail is destructive to the prairie; most especially wildflowers. (If wildflowers are trampled, they cannot be pollinated and thus produce seed. This will reduce next year’s wildflowers.)
- Trampling wildflowers also destroys pollinator’s food source.
- Going off trail creates unsustainable trails and erosion.
- Braided unofficial trails creates confusion and a less enjoyable user experience.
Foot traffic only. No bicycles or motorized vehicles.
Do not collect or harass plants, animals or natural objects. All are protected.
Leash and clean up after your dog.
No littering or dumping. Dispose of trash properly.
Practice the ‘Leave No Trace’ ethic.
Discharge of firearms is prohibited.
Alcohol and drug consumption prohibited.
Park and natural area opened from dawn to dusk.

In June 2020, the City of Fort Worth purchased 50+ acres of land adjacent to Tandy Hills. Broadcast Hill is the first purchase under the new Open Space Conservation Program Although not parkland, this open space is contiguous to Tandy Hills and will eventually be connected by a natural-surface trails.

As of July 1, 2020, Broadcast Hill is closed to ALL vehicles including, cars, trucks, 4-wheelers, bicycles and motorcycles. Walk-in visitors are welcome.

View numerous animal, plant and insect species observed at Tandy Hill Natural Area and make some of your own observations through iNaturalist. See link under the "Related information" Section.