Recently some person took it upon themselves to remove a tree from Turkey Mountain.
They did this without the permission of the land owner. This makes the action vandalism.
We understand that in years past rogue cleanups often happened and generally were well managed.
With the increased use Turkey Mountain is seeing in the past few years, this is a practice that simply must stop. The trees that are being felled are sometimes not the ones that need to go, including the tree that was cut down recently.
When the TUWC has a work day, we coordinate with the land owners. We plan carefully what trails we will work on, what work will be performed and what tools we will need.
The use of power tools requires a full shutdown of the trails that the work is performed to prevent any accidents of a trail user surprising someone wielding a chainsaw.
Currently the only persons allowed to work on Turkey Mountain with any type of power equipment are those employed by the River Parks Authority. If you see anyone using power tools in the park without RPA authorization, please contact the proper authorities.
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:
Horseshoe Bend (Glen Canyon National Recreation Area) – Page, AZ; February 4-11, 2019
Bridger-Teton National Forest – Jackson, WY; February 26-March 5, 2019
Amicalola Falls State Park & Chattahoochee National Forest – Dawsonville, GA; March 1-4, 2019
Death Valley National Park – Death Valley, CA; March 18-25, 2019
Sumter National Forest – Tamassee, SC; March 18-25, 2019
Mount Major Reservation & State Forest – Alton, NH; June 17-24, 2019
Columbia River Gorge – Hood River, OR; June 24-July 1, 2019
Enchantments Special Permit Area (Alpine Lakes Wilderness) – Leavenworth, WA; July 15-22, 2019
Chatfield State Park – Littleton, CO; July 22-29, 2019
Eastern High Peaks Wilderness – North Elba, NY; August 7-14, 2019
Arroyo Seco Gorge – Greenfield, CA; August 19-26, 2019
Peekamoose Blue Hole – Grahamsville, NY; August 24-27, 2019
Painted Hills (John Day Fossil Beds National Monument) – Mitchell, OR; August 26-Sept 3, 2019
West Maroon Trailhead – Crested Butte, CO; August 26-September 3, 2019
Lochsa Powell Ranger District – Kooskia, ID; September 16-23, 2019
Six Mile Cove – Lake Mojave, NV; September 23-30, 2019
Amazon Park – Eugene, OR; October 8-15, 2019
Indian Creek – Monticello, UT; October 15-18, 2019 & TBD Spring 2020
Joshua Tree National Park – Twentynine Palms, CA; October 15-22, 2019
2020 Leave No Trace Hot Spot Locations:
Arches National Park – Moab, UT
Minnewaska State Park Preserve – Kerhonkson, NY
Barton Creek Greenbelt – Austin TX
Base & Meridian Wildlife Area – Tolleson, AZ
Paris Mountain State Park – Greenville, SC
Panthertown Valley – Cullowhee, NC
Lynden Hill – Milwaukee, WI
Hixon Forest – La Crosse, WI
City of Colorado Springs Regional Parks – Colorado Springs, CO
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary – Florida Keys, FL
Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness – Tulsa, OK
Endless Wall (New River Gorge National River) – Glen Jean, WV
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.
Join the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition for a fun Spring evening!
The trail work we have become known for takes a surprising amount of money to supports. Please help us continue to give back to the wild areas we have come to know and treasure as our own. Join the TUWC as we raise funds to further our work on the Wild Trails in the Tulsa Area.
Your ticket of $40.00 will include access to the private outdoor party including a silent auction, evening entertainment and food.
RocKFiscH is a classic pop rock band based in Broken Arrow OK. RocKFiscH formed in the summer of 2004 By Randy and Franklin. Over the past 10 years RocKFiscH has played nearly every live music venue in the Tulsa area.
RocKFiscH is most prideful of the musical diversity they bring to their audiences. In the course of one set RocKFiscH can successfully transition from Tupak Shakur to Brooks and Dunn; from Madonna to Wilson Pickett,and beyond. RocKFiscH is professional and reliable and has a 10 year track record of bringing a top quality show everywhere they appear.
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.
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.
