Tulsa Redbud Valley Preserve Holds Limited Opening With Reservations

The Tulsa Parks Department plans to permanently limit access to Redbud Valley to occasional weekends and reservations required.

The park has been closed to recover from the damage left by crowds during the pandemic, and some vandalism, including stolen plants and graffiti.

The ecological park is on the eastern edge of Tulsa County, along Bird Creek, and is managed by staff from the Oxley Nature Center.

Volunteers will be utilized when Redbud is open to ensure people stay on trails.

“To really kind of control the kind of activities that happen within Redbud,” said Deputy Parks Director Stacie Martin.

Maggie Regan, the Director of Oxley, said Redbud Valley is home to a fragile ecosystem of rare flowers on loose soil, with mossy logs and small plants that are easily damaged.

“The plant life is rare and unique, and it's native, and some of it is critically endangered,” she said.

The 200-acre preserve has only a mile and a half of trails, and in 2020, on nice days, hundreds of people would visit Redbud.

Signs urging people to stay on the trails weren't enough to keep people from scaling the slopes along a ridgeline to climb boulders along the edge. Storms also toppled trees and blocked trails. A team of volunteers have been assisting with cleanup and clearing trails for two weekends of limited visits in April.

The slots are full for April, but additional signup times will happen at the Tulsa Parks website.