The View Ahead
Beyond the Ark
When a town like Tulsa is battered by unrelenting disasters, the number one priority has to be public safety and loss reduction. But in time, after enough progress and a spell of gentle weather, town leaders may be able to look beyond just "building an ark" for protection.
They are beginning to see that stormwater and floodplains can be among their most important community resources. They can become assets, not enemies.
Tulsans are slowly rediscovering the graceful floodplain treatments that marked the city's fine early development.
Now, whenever possible, flood projects include active and passive recreation and environmental elements. In some cases, projects are incorporated into existing parks. Elsewhere, acquisition areas, detention basins, and floodplains include recreation.
Some projects have become small nature oases in the urban area, used by migrating birds such as Canada geese and other wildlife.
The city is converting some drainageways into greenways.
On a backbone of maintenance roads along creeks, the Tulsa Trails program is building paths for jogging, hiking, and bicycling.
Tulsa's future may well go beyond the ark, to become more than merely floodsafe.
Where once loomed death and destruction, Tulsa's future floodplains can hold strip parks, landscaped creek banks, sporting fields, and reflecting pools, all in the name of floodplain and stormwater management, for the benefit of Tulsans for generations to come.
From Rooftop to River: Tulsa's Approach to Floodplain and Stormwater Management