Tulsa Comprehensive Plan - PLANiTULSA

Parks, Trails and Open Space
Parks, Trails and Open space
part i:
The Value of Parks
and Open space
Travertine creek, in the chickasaw
national recreation area, located in the
foothills of the arbuckles near sulphur.
Beautiful, inspiring, and accessible parks and open space
are essential to the health of a city. The American ideal
of unrestricted public access to nature and natural areas
represents democracy in action and a highly-valued aspect of
American life. Starting in the late 1800s, the United States
government designated certain areas with unprecedented
natural beauty for public use, thus unavailable for industry
and development, to ensure that all people — regardless
of wealth or position in society — might enjoy them. This
concept did not exist in Europe or elsewhere around the
world, where areas of natural beauty were controlled as the
private estates of aristocrats. The result of this uncommon,
populist policy — called America’s best idea — was the
establishment of a national parks system that continues to
protect grand landscapes such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the
Grand Canyon, and in Oklahoma, the Chickasaw National
Recreation Areas (originally known as Platt National Park).
Subsequently, the national parks movement spurred local
communities to develop their own parks programs and to
designate open spaces for the benefit of their citizens. Access
to parks and open space generates direct and indirect benefits
to communities including: access to natural beauty, improved
public health, more opportunities for family interaction,
civic pride and community cohesion, tourism spending,
stormwater retention and pollution mitigation.
economic value
Natural areas, parks and green/open space can provide
important benefits in ways that reduce local infrastructure
costs and actually improve environmental health, including
stormwater management, air pollution mitigation, and
PA
2
July 2010
Tulsa comprehensive plan – Parks, Trails and OPen sPace