TULSA – The Tulsa City Council’s Feb. 18 vote to officially rename the Midland Valley Trail in downtown Tulsa after a Mvskoke allottee has been postponed to a future date. For concerned Mvskoke citizen Aaron Griffith, the last-minute postponement comes as a relief.
The effort to rename Midland Valley Trail after the Mvskoke allottee Tuckabache was approved during a Tulsa Parks and Recreation Board meeting on Dec. 9, 2025. A resolution renaming the trail was then passed by the Tulsa City Council Public Works Committee on Feb. 11 before being scheduled for a vote by the Tulsa City Council on Feb. 18. The vote was removed from the agenda that same day.
The 3.3-mile Midland Valley Trail, which starts on East 3rd & Madison Avenue and stretches across the Arkansas River to the Riverparks West Bank, crosses through a Tulsa park, The Gathering Place, where Tuckabache’s original allotment was located.
Griffith has pointed out that descendants of other allottees in the area should have been involved in the process. Griffith wrote, “good faith efforts to contact other allottee descendant families to seek their consent and support for this change or a comprehensive, correct list of the total allotments that the trail crosses” had not been made.
Griffith even urged the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission during pubic comments at their Jan. 20 meeting to “press pause” to allow time for the city to identify other allottees and for government-to-government consultation. In his statements, Griffith offered ideas to the commission. One alternative Griffith mentioned was to rename the trail, not after one man, but the Tribal Town of Locv Pokv. He also implored the commission that, if the renaming goes through, it at least change the spelling from Tuckabache to the traditional Mvskoke spelling.
Through his own research, Griffith has identified up to 11 allotees whose lands the trail runs through: Tuckabache, Ned Tuckabache, Tom Coney, Mose Coney, Wehiley Naharkey, Moses Perryman, Alvin Hodge, Ellis Manuel, George CB Perryman, Frances Berry, and Mary Jane Bruner.
Griffith also took issue with the process itself- one that appeared to push the renaming through. This includes a claim made by Tulsa Park & Recreation Board Vice-Chair Teresa Meinders Burkett. Burkett stated during the Feb. 11 Council Public Works Committee meeting that the decision to rename Midland Valley Trail to Tuckabache Trail had “unanimous support” from the Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission.
This statement was later contradicted during the Feb. 17 commission meeting, when GTAIAC commissioner Cheryl Cohenour stated, “I don’t know that we’ve ever even had a detailed conversation about it,” and expressed concern that they were being labeled as supporting the renaming when the proposal had never been seen by the commission.
However, the commission heard a presentation by Burkett and Tuckabache descendant Tatianna Duncan (Cherokee/Mvskoke) on the history of Tuckabache regarding the renaming, which occurred a year earlier during an April 16, 2024, commission meeting. The commission voted unanimously to draft a letter of support for the renaming; however, it is unclear whether such a letter was ever issued.
During the Feb. 17 GTIAC meeting, the commission discussed Griffith’s concerns and ultimately voted to issue a letter to the City Council deferring to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation about the renaming.
Amanda Swope (Mvskoke), the Director of Tribal Policy and Partnerships for the City of Tulsa, reached out to MCN Secretary of Culture and Humanities RaeLynn Butler via email on Feb. 18 to inquire about Tribal preferences regarding renaming. In part, Swope wrote, “At their (GTIAC) most recent meeting last evening, they voted to submit a letter to City Council indicating the absence of any action on their part to approve the change and deferring to the Nation’s preference for the renaming. Can you provide any preference the Nation may have regarding the renaming of this trail?”
According to MCN Press Secretary Jason Salsman, the MCN needs time to find a name that accurately tells the history of Tulsa and the Tribe. “The Muscogee Nation feels that more time and consultation is needed with appropriate parties, before reaching a satisfactory consensus on this matter. We feel that is the most effective way to ensure that any name change would reflect an accurate and inclusive telling of the history of this area,” Salsman wrote in a Feb. 26 statement to Mvskoke Media.
During the most recent meeting on March 11, GTIAC Chair Matt Roberts gave an update about the renaming and commented, “Muscogee Nation is working with the city right now on that Midland Valley renaming, good partnership for the city as well.”
Swope followed Roberts’ remarks and clarified, “The Nation is supposed to be taking up the issue at their community meeting at the end of the month, to kind of get more insight and discussion on their side of things. For everyone’s awareness, they are considering it and discussing it internally, as well as with their community center (TIC) in Tulsa.”
Despite the controversy and concerns, Griffith is hopeful that a solution can be reached that will satisfy all parties involved.
“I am incredibly grateful, appreciative and relieved that the Tulsa City Council, at the request of the Muscogee Nation, has agreed to take a strategic pause to grant a reprieve to re-evaluate and possibly elevate the potential that this renaming process may still do a better job of engaging all potential stakeholders to arrive at at conclusion of compromise that is best for all involved,” Griffith shared with Mvskoke Media.
As of publication, it is unknown when a future city council vote or public discussion for the Midland Valley Trail renaming will take place.
This article was written in collaboration with Thomas Jackson.
