TULSA – The Creek Council Oak Park will not appear as a Mobile Migration Garden in this year’s Monarchs on the Mountain Festival. The decision was voted on at a Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition meeting held on Tuesday, Aug. 4. The reasons cited for dropping the park as a Mobile Migration Garden were neglect and alleged usage of herbicides.
Council Oak Park and Stickball Park were under the Tulsa Parks and Recreation Department until they were returned to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation during the annual Council Oak Tree Day in November 2025. According to the memorandum of understanding between MCN and the City of Tulsa, the parks are open to the public, and 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.”
This year’s mobile migration will feature six garden sites: River Parks Planting, Woodward Park, Pocket Prairie, Crow Creek Meadow, the Oklahoma Aquarium, and Ray Harral Nature Park. The gardens provide a natural habitat for monarch butterflies migrating from southern Canada and the northern United States to central Mexico.
The Council Oak Park had been featured on the mobile migration list since 2020.
Tom Clark serves on the Monarchs on the Mountain Festival Education Committee. He is also a board member on the Mary K. Oxley Nature Center Association, or Friends of Oxley. According to Clark, the gardens educate festival attendees on monarch migrations. The locations are spread out, allowing attendees to tour the city. Each location represents a different stop along the monarch’s journey.
“You don’t have to go in any particular order. We cut it out, we put out signs at each of the sites that say ‘Okay here, this site represents the northernmost where the migration south starts as the monarchs head back to Mexico’,” Clark said.
Council Oak Park Condition
Clark visited Council Oak Park on Friday, Aug. 7. He said that while both Council Oak Park and Stickball Park grounds have been mowed, the gardens are brown and overgrown. Other areas of neglect Clark reported were faded garden markers and pet waste stations with empty bag dispensers.
“I was really kind of dismayed at the neglect that had occurred there,” Clark said. “From my photos, it’s been obvious someone was applying a lot of herbicide on sidewalks and around edgings and in the gardens themselves.”
MCN Press Secretary Jason Salsman explained in a statement provided to Mvskoke Media that no single government department is responsible for the upkeep of the parks. However, the Department of Culture and Humanities has taken steps to address the parks’ needs. Salsman denied any use of herbicides in the parks.
“Regarding herbicide use, the Muscogee Nation nor the Foundation has used any herbicide at the park, and we have no plans to use any herbicide in the future. MCN is not aware of the City of Tulsa using herbicide at the park before the transfer. MCN supports pollinators and has assisted the foundation with the help of the Euchee Butterfly Farm in planting native and cultural plants at the park in years past,” Salsman said in a statement.
According to Salsman, the Nation was not contacted by the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition regarding the removal of Council Oak Park from the Migration Monarch garden list. The Nation was also unaware that Council Oak Park was included on the list.
In a separate statement, MCN Culture and Humanities Secretary RaeLynn Butler reiterated that herbicides are not used at the park. Butler serves as the Vice President for the Tvlse Council Oak Foundation, a volunteer organization made up of MCN citizens and supporters of the park.
Regarding the park’s signage, Butler said it will be updated and expanded soon. The College of the Muscogee Nation Extension Program will also lend a hand in park improvements.
“The Department of Culture and Humanities is working on permanent signage and coordinating with tribal departments to address maintenance and park improvements in the coming months,” Butler said in a statement. “Plans include updating signage, expanding history markers, working with the College of the Muscogee Nation Extension and Master Gardeners to assist with plantings, and evaluating improvements to the art sculptures, and health status of the Council Oak.”
According to Clark, there is still a possibility that Council Oak Park can be included again as a Monarchs on the Mountain mobile migration site.
“Somebody needs to take ownership of the care of the gardens,” Clark said. “It would just need minor care over the Stickball park to dig out the crab grass that’s invading the beds. The Council Oak would need to have all the dead material that was killed off raked out. They would need to have new plants put in.”
Butler said she would welcome a conversation with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition to discuss whether reinstatement is possible.
The Tvlse Council Oak Foundation has organized clean-up events for the park. Most recently, the organization met to weed, tend flower beds, and remove trash on Saturday, May 16. According to Bultler, the next clean-up event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29.
This year’s Monarch over the Mountains festival is set for Saturday, Sept. 19, at 9:15 a.m. at Chandler Park. It will feature food trucks, demonstrations, and speakers on grasslands and pollinators.
“We would love to be able to get that (Council Oak Park) back on our list because it’s important in Tulsa history. It’s a significant site and a lot of people just don’t know about it,” – Tom Clark
According to Butler, the Culture and Humanities department is partnering with the Tvlse Council Oak Foundation for the 50th anniversary of the Council Oak Tree’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places on Tuesday, Sept. 29. This year’s Council Oak Tree Day will be held in either late October or early November, but a date has not been announced yet.
