Venomous snakes are a fact of life for outdoor enthusiasts in Oklahoma. On a sunny day, snakes can often be found sunning themselves in the most inconvenient places. In Tulsa, we have seen them in the middle of paved trails and dirt trails alike. With the warmer winter and the onset spring, reptiles are emerging from hibernation earlier than usual. Rather than hiding inside until the temperature dips below freezing, we would like to provide these tips from one of our members who has first-hand knowledge of how to best care for a venomous bite.

Leslie, an avid trail runner and mountain biker, offers the following: “I was bitten by a copperhead on my foot almost two years ago up at Grand Lake…and got lucky. Thought I’d share a few things I learned from the experience in hopes to save time if someone were to be bitten.”

• Remain calm if bitten. Take deep breaths to control your heart rate. Pay attention to your body’s reaction the best you can.

• Do not put ice on the bite. This causes the venom to stay in one area and accelerates tissue deterioration.

• Don’t go all Crocodile Dundee and have someone suck the venom out. This is dangerous for both parties.

• Only major hospitals carry anti-venom. My options were St. Francis or go to Joplin. I was in Eucha and was taken by ambulance to Grove Integris Hospital (where they “couldn’t do anything for me”).

• Once at St. Francis, I learned that you have a 6-hour window to receive anti-venom (depending on snake/bite area). The anti-venom takes 1 hour to make. If you receive anti-venom, they will keep you in ICU for 3 days to monitor you, because anti-venom can be more dangerous than the bite itself and have long-lasting side effects.

By the time I made it to St. Francis, I was already on my fifth hour and thankfully was stable enough that I did not need anti-venom, just a night in the hospital and a painful/swollen leg for a couple of weeks.

Being bitten is a scary stressful situation, it is always best to know the information before you need it.

Remember it is always safest to assume every stick is a snake until proven otherwise.

So we know there are more users of the park. But we also know that there are more people willing to invest their time and energy not just in enjoying it, but caring for it. This speaks well of the city’s residents and the future of conservation in northeast Oklahoma. It also points toward a continuing mission that goes far beyond an opposition campaign. I have to say, I like that trend.

It was a little more than a year ago that Tulsans faced the prospect of losing a large chunk of woodlands at Turkey Mountain to commercial development.

Citizens spoke up and were heard by city leaders as well as the prospective developers, and the land in question – about 48 acres at 61st Street and U.S. 75 – was removed from any plan for a shopping center.

The future of the land was further secured by the generosity of two local private benefactors, the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the QuikTrip Corporation.

The entities purchased the property with the intention of keeping the land undeveloped, but they also wished to serve as placeholders for the city of Tulsa.

Enter the Vision 2025 extension. The proposed renewal of the Vision 2025 sales tax includes more than $7 million for the land now being held by GKFF and QuikTrip. Should voters approve Vision 2025, some of the money generated by the sales tax extension would be used to pay back GKFF and QuikTrip. In turn, the land would be grafted into the existing Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area currently managed by the River Parks Authority.

City leaders wisely questioned commercial development of this acreage, and the developer correctly walked away. Public sentiment demanded it, as the overwhelming majority of Tulsans wished to see all of Turkey Mountain kept wild. Now the citizens have the opportunity to finish the work and vote yes on the Vision Tulsa extension on April 5.

The Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition sees the Vision extension as a wise move for the city, its residents, and for securing the future of Turkey Mountain. For that reason, we urge voters to approve the proposal on April 5.