Congrats!

To one of our regular contributors, Don Young. Don won a Fort Worth Star-Telegram contest about the most inspiring places to stand in North Texas.

Grand-prize winner: Don Young: Tandy Hills Natural Area

3500 View St., Fort Worth

Don, who lives in Fort Worth, writes: "Tandy Hills Natural Area is a special place simply because it is still here.

"Over 99.5 percent of all the native prairie, in the U.S.A., is gone — even more in the Metroplex. For this oasis to survive adjacent to I-30 and surrounded by a neighborhood in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas — a place crawling with developers and gas drillers — is more than remarkable. It’s a precious gift.

"The 160-acre natural area is a living, postage-stamp-sized snapshot of what the entire region once looked like before settlers arrived . . . The spring wildflowers are more breath-taking here than anyplace else in the Metroplex, attracting lovers, families and butterflies. In the fall, tall native grasses sway mysteriously in the wind, inspiring poets, painters and philosophers. The sunsets and moonrises seen from the tops of the many hills are often jaw-dropping. The sky above THNA is filled with birds and migrating swarms of Monarch butterflies. If you’re lucky, you can even spot rabbit, fox, lizard, wild turkey, roadrunner and bobcat . . . .

"All this and it’s only 5 minutes from downtown Cowtown.

"The price? Free.

"Tandy Hills Natural Area was donated to the people of Fort Worth in 1960. 2010 is the 50th anniversary of this public parkland.

"Keep it like it was."

Here, here, Don.

We salute Don and his efforts to help save Fort Worth!!