Bike Club Cleans Up Storm Debris At Tulsa Parks Trails

The Tulsa Parks Department said it will take months to get everything back to normal after the storm damaged thousands of trees.

Bike Club Tulsa is doing what it can to help clean up at several parks with trails.

At Bales Park, there are snapped and uprooted trees visible from the parking lot. While the city will take care of that mess, Bike Club is focused on the trails.

Across the three miles of trails at Bales Park a team of people on Thursday worked to get tree branches and leaves out of the way.

"Clearing up to mountain bike, trail run, hike or just come out and enjoy without having a bunch of downed trees,” Bike Club Tulsa Program Manager Lance Miller said.

Bike Club has an agreement with the city for three parks where the club maintains trails. The trail at Bales Park is less than two years old.

"There's also a lot of small debris so in some spots, it's even hard to see the trail itself,” Miller said.

“We've had places where we've had one tree, just right after another. And then we'll have spots that are a quarter mile that are empty. It makes no sense. But no these guys are making great progress, it's a lot of fun,” Rory Peterson said.

Rory is a trail builder in Claremore, who is helping out this week in Tulsa. Rory's dad, 85-year-old Gene Peterson, is helping too.

"Sure, what am I gonna do? Sit around the house?" Gene said.

With the stresses of losing power and dealing with Tulsa traffic, Miller encourages people to find a shady spot to take a break from it all.

"Come out to Lubell, Mooser, or Bales Park. Also, you know the group over at Turkey Mountain is doing a heck of a job cleaning up their trail network,” he said.

The team is doing its part to help people take a step back into normalcy.

For information about Bike Club Tulsa, click here.