Category: Trail Systems

Turkey Mountain Named as Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics 2020 Hot Spot Location 

Turkey Mountain is 1 of 13 Diverse and Popular National, State, and Local Parks and Protected Areas to be Selected as a 2020 Leave No Trace Hot Spot

As the popularity of Turkey Mountain continues to grow, the need for Leave No Trace Outdoor Education to preserve and protect the natural landscape we treasure is greater than ever before. In 2020, Turkey Mountain has been named a Leave No Trace Hot Spot. 

July 23, 2020 (Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness)

Hot Spot locations are popular and beautiful outdoor areas across the country that have experienced heavy recreational use and visitor-created impacts, including excessive trash, damage to vegetation, trail erosion, and disturbance to wildlife and more. 

The Leave No Trace Hot Spot program is designed to help educate people on how to reduce impacts on nature while enjoying our nation’s shared outdoor places. The Center received over 100 nominations for Hot Spots events for 2020 and chose 13 geographically and ecologically diverse sites, nationwide—including Turkey Mountain Urban  Wilderness. 

The Leave No Trace and its Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers will be working together with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition (TUWC) and Tulsa River Parks Authority (RPA) to provide public education about how to reduce impacts in the outdoors and improve the trail user experience .

“Hot Spot areas are damaged but can recover again with a motivated community and a week-long, comprehensive infusion of Leave No Trace programs centered around training. These efforts include a series of special workshops for local officials, land managers, and volunteers, as well as advocacy events for the general public conducted by expert Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers,” said Dana Watts, Executive Director of Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. “By identifying and working with Hot Spots and their communities across the country, Leave No Trace can rapidly move toward recovering and protecting the places we all cherish for generations.”

Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness has been a longtime favorite of locals and tourists alike to visit, train, and for recreation. Sadly, the impact of its popularity has shown over time and it is important for us to work with Leave No Trace to evaluate the cumulative effect of recreational use to help educate visitors on Leave No Trace practices.  In most cases, the land impact is not due to malicious intent or a desire to harm nature or wildlife. Instead, the simple lack of information and Leave No Trace education can be attributed.

As part of the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics’ Leave No Trace In Every Park program, the Hot Spot initiative is now in its ninth year and has trained more than 55,000 people through its Hot Spots program. 

2019 HotSpot Locations:

1. Horseshoe Bend (Glen Canyon National Recreation Area) – Page, AZ; February 4-11, 2019
2. Bridger-Teton National Forest – Jackson, WY; February 26-March 5, 2019
3. Amicalola Falls State Park & Chattahoochee National Forest – Dawsonville, GA; March 1-4, 2019
4. Death Valley National Park – Death Valley, CA; March 18-25, 2019
5. Sumter National Forest – Tamassee, SC; March 18-25, 2019
6. Mount Major Reservation & State Forest – Alton, NH; June 17-24, 2019
7. Columbia River Gorge – Hood River, OR; June 24-July 1, 2019
8. Enchantments Special Permit Area (Alpine Lakes Wilderness) – Leavenworth, WA; July 15-22, 2019
9. Chatfield State Park – Littleton, CO; July 22-29, 2019
10. Eastern High Peaks Wilderness – North Elba, NY; August 7-14, 2019
11. Arroyo Seco Gorge – Greenfield, CA; August 19-26, 2019
12. Peekamoose Blue Hole – Grahamsville, NY; August 24-27, 2019
13. Painted Hills (John Day Fossil Beds National Monument) – Mitchell, OR; August 26-Sept 3, 2019
14. West Maroon Trailhead – Crested Butte, CO; August 26-September 3, 2019
15. Lochsa Powell Ranger District – Kooskia, ID; September 16-23, 2019
16. Six Mile Cove – Lake Mojave, NV; September 23-30, 2019
17. Amazon Park – Eugene, OR; October 8-15, 2019
18. Indian Creek – Monticello, UT; October 15-18, 2019 & TBD Spring 2020
19. Joshua Tree National Park – Twentynine Palms, CA; October 15-22, 2019

2020 Leave No Trace Hot Spot Locations:

1. Arches National Park – Moab, UT
2. Minnewaska State Park Preserve – Kerhonkson, NY
3. Barton Creek Greenbelt – Austin TX
4. Base & Meridian Wildlife Area –  Tolleson, AZ
5. Paris Mountain State Park –  Greenville, SC
6. Panthertown Valley – Cullowhee, NC
7. Lynden Hill – Milwaukee, WI
8. Hixon Forest – La Crosse, WI
9. City of Colorado Springs Regional Parks – Colorado Springs, CO
10. Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary – Florida Keys, FL
11. Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness – Tulsa, OK
12. Endless Wall (New River Gorge National River) – Glen Jean, WV
13. Wissahickon Park – Philadelphia, PA

Events and activities for the Turkey Mountain Hot Spot will be announced in 2020. 

For more information about Leave No Trace Hot Spot and community events visit www.LNT.org.

About Leave No Trace

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in a national nonprofit organization that protects the outdoors by teaching people how to enjoy it responsibly. Their Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers are mobile teams educators that visit 48 states every year delivering Leave No Trace programs such as Hot Spots to over 15 million people each year. Leave No Trace in Every Park is the Center’s new, multi-year campaign that incorporates Leave No Trace programs and educational opportunities across the country. For more information, visit: www.LNT.org.

Media Contact

Laurie Biby, PR & Marketing Director for the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition, laurie.biby@tulsaurbanwildernesscoalition.org

Ailsa Walsh, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, ailsa@lnt.org, 

Feb 20th River Parks Authority invited several groups to meet with representatives from the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc to participate in round table discussions of what we would like to see as a future for Turkey Mountain.

One of these groups was the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. First we wanted to make sure that those in the room were aware of who the TUWC is: We are the voices of the collective trail users. We carefully selected members of the TUWC to round out the input alongside the Board of Directors at this meeting. This included educators, cyclists, hikers, runners, birders, and scout leaders. While as usual our individual ideas vary a few things remained constant.

• First and foremost we want to keep Turkey Mountain as a wild space. We were reassured to hear that the two reps from MVVA were also avid outdoor recreation folks.
• We want our trails to stay multi-use trails with as little manicuring as possible. We love our technical trails and relish in the challenges it provides. This being said as most trails were not planned out, many of them are prone to very bad erosion, and we are aware that in order to have more sustainable trails we may need to close and re-route here and there.
• Dedicated staff to implement a woodland management system. Currently there is no one solely tasked with the care and work that goes into Turkey Mountain. Much of the work is done by volunteers. In order to keep the trails in good repair and also care for park patrons we see a need for a dedicated staff.

From our inception the TUWC has asked our members one simple question: “What would you like to see us accomplish in the future?” We took this data and compiled it into categories and were able to present these to MVVA for consideration.

We are not stopping there. Please provide input on the web here . March 7 is a public town hall meeting that we encourage you to make plans to attend. If you have TUWC apparel we encourage you to wear it. If you haven’t purchased yours yet, you can order here (the shop is local and the owner is a trail user too).

All future meetings and details are available on the TUWC Calendar of course we will also be sending out notices about the meetings on Facebook and Instagram as well.

One last thing, if you haven’t joined the TUWC we would like to extend the invitation here and now. Our dues are $5 annually and are  for the calendar year Jan 1 thru Dec 31 and expire each year. It is a very simple process and keeps you in the know. This is how we fund our trail work days. It may sound inexpensive but it is not. We are required to carry insurance to do the work we are known for.

Click here to become a member.