TULSA – The Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15, during which it revealed that the city is still maintaining Council Oak Park and Stick Ball Park. The parks were returned to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation on Saturday, Nov 1, 2025. The ownership was conveyed with the conditions that the Nation take care of the park and that they remain open to the public.
During the GTIAC, Director of Tribal Policy & Partnerships Amanda Swope explained that although the park was returned to the Nation, some municipal departments were unaware that it was no longer under the city’s ownership. Since the park transferred ownership, city resources have still been used to maintain it.
“After all this time, even though the transfer took place last year, we realized that somewhere along the line, it wasn’t communicated down to city departments or city staff,” Swope said during the meeting.
“There were still some city park staff and city park vendors that mowed the site, cleaned up the site, provided horticulture care, and things like that. Right now, because those are issues that did not come up during the initial transfer, we’re in communication with Secretary Butler about when they want the city to stop doing those things and when they can take them on, so there’s no lapse in the care of the site.”
Swope said the city has not yet sat down with the Nation to discuss when the services will end. She explained that the city is still working with the Tvlse Council Oak Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit that aims to preserve the park through community clean-up events. Their latest event occurred on Saturday, Aug. 29.
Council Oak Park and Stick Ball Park were dropped from the Monarchs Over the Mountain Festival’s Mobile Migration Garden list during a Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4. The site was dropped due to what was described as neglect and alleged herbicide use.
The memorandum of understanding between the Nation and the city refers to the Nation as the proper steward of the historically significant sites. Per the memorandum, the Nation will “maintain and improve the Parks such that the public may visit and learn about this important chapter of Tribal, local, state, and American history.”
The MOU outlined three conditions of the conveyance. The first condition was that the City of Tulsa convey the parks and artwork installations through separate quitclaim deeds. A quitclaim deed transfers ownership of real estate from one party to another and does not guarantee the property’s condition.
The second condition is that the parks must be maintained by the Nation for the benefit of the general public. The third condition is that the Nation agrees not to sell, donate, or otherwise convey the parks to any other party.
Mvskoke Media reached out to Swope to further clarify whether the city used herbicides at the park. Swope’s office did not respond for comment.
The Tvlse Council Oak Foundation and the MCN will host a 50 Years of Recognition public event on Tuesday, September 29, at 5 p.m. The event will be held at the Brut Hotel, located at 1840 S. Boulder Ave in Tulsa. It will honor the 50th anniversary of the Council Oak Park’s recognition on the National Register of Historic Places.
The full Sept. 15 GTIAC meeting can be viewed at the Tulsa Government Access Television website. To find the recording, select the Indian Affairs Commission drop-down menu under the Available Archives section.
