Environmental Management By Michael Patton
How then can you define environmental management for an urban area? Are not the roles for civilization and nature in conflict? Tulsa reveals the solution each day with the work of hundreds of people in government supplemented by thousands of volunteers and nonprofits working to help control our conditions that benefit humans, animals and plants alike. To begin, Tulsa has been blessed with quality and abundant water, soil that can adapt to grow many
crops, and a consistent wind during most of the summer to cleanse our air. Our favorable climate shows an annual average high temperature of 72 degrees with 51 degrees as an average low temperature and an average rainfall of 41 inches, according to the National Weather Service. It adds to that a strong commitment from past leadership to invest in solutions before they become big problems and to listen to citizenry and follow their direction. 2021 saw Tulsa invest and improve not only our green space, but found new ways to share nature with people and the built environment. Tulsans want to co-exist with nature and will fight to protect and conserve it. Sometimes these fights are over utility rates to pay for upgrades;
sometimes they are about developing park land, and sometimes they are simply finding ways to include partners to supplement the public dollars. The key is always to have proper leadership, planning and community support. Metropolitan areas across the nation face challenges in delivering clean and abundant water to customers. Cities struggle to provide enough and often require citizen involvement to lower demand. Often there are upstream challenges or decaying infrastructure that might impact water quality. Not Tulsa in 2021. Read more about Tulsa’s water quality on p. 34. Tulsa does have an abundance of parks. The City of Tulsa operates 135 parks and trails, Tulsa County operates 11 parks, Tulsa River Parks
Turkey Mountain’s trails and amenities will be improved and expanded as part of the urban wilderness’ master plan implementation.
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SHANE BEVEL/COURTESY RIVER PARKS
When most people think of the word “environmental” they think of the natural world and the conditions in which a person, an animal or a plant lives. Similarly, they usually think the word “management” is the human process of dealing with or controlling things.
