Oklahoma Wildlife & Prairie Heritage Alliance
Click here to visit OWPHA's Photo Gallery
Wildlife Expo
September 26-28, 2008
Friday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
OWPHA will again be staffing an informational booth at the Wildlife Expo at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie.
The Alliance will be featuring it's Great Plains Safari Scavenger Hunt and Prizes will be awarded.
OWPHA may still have a few of the first printing of the Great Plains Trail map available...
Ask for one of these collectibles before they are gone for good!
The second printing of the GPT map is planned for late summer of '08
Burn Meetings
"Learning How to Use Fire Safely" a landowner workshop was held
April 4th, 2008 at the South Canadian Neighbors Community Building, Camargo, OK
On November 13, 2007 also at the South Canadian Neighbors Community Center in Camargo, Oklahoma OWPHA cohosted
a Burn meeting with the Nature Conservancy. This fall meeting had classroom sessions and was followed by the above
"Field Day".
OWPHA and the Nature Conservancy were assisted by resource personnel from:
ODWC - Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
OSU - Oklahoma State University
ODAF&F
NRCS
USFS
Black Kettle Nat. Grasslands
OCES Ellis Co
The Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma
OWPHA is going to reprint the GPT Map - summer of '08
The Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma is a series of 13 driving loops, each full of nature
tourism opportunities and rich in historical and cultural heritage that tells the story
of the American Great Plains. From prairie chickens to horny toads, scissor-tail
flycatchers to elk, the public and private lands of western Oklahoma are home to a
diversity of unique and interesting wildlife species. The Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma
showcases the small-town hospitality and rich cultural and environmental
heritage of the region.
The trail is a highway-based, wildlife viewing trail that
spans the entire western portion of the state while attracting visitors to wildlife
destinations within the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. From its strong Native
American heritage to its natural icons like the Wichita Mountains, Black Kettle National
Grasslands, the Black Mesa, Little Sahara, Alabaster Caverns and The Great Salt Plains,
western Oklahoma exhibits a sense of American history that has all but vanished elsewhere
in the country. (Visit the Great Plains Trail section for more detailed information).
High Plains Rolling Museum: Recycling on Wheels
A 5-ton 6x6 former army vehicle has been converted into an education/outreach on wheels.
The Rolling Museum showcases the prairie ecosystems that make the High Plains and the unique wildlife that
inhabit them. It is used as a traveling education and outreach tool to reach schools, youth groups, landowner events and the general public.
Contact Cordinator Cody Darbonne about having the Museum roll in to your event!
(Charge: fuel costs round trip to your event)
Playa Lakes
The hot June breeze waves across the ripened field of wheat.
Harvest time is here and a John Deere combine creeps through the bumper wheat crop.
As the reel pushes the standing wheat into the header, all comes to a sudden stand
still and the combine is quickly reversed. Water is standing in the field.
Spring rains yield bumper crops, but excess water is left standing in low farmland areas.
This has been the battle of many farmers in the high plains region. They are fighting against
the natural playas and wetlands that are being farmed. The same is true for a handful of
Beaver County farmers in the Oklahoma panhandle. “I’ve farmed that bottom for 30 years
and can count on one hand the number of years it was productive” says one landowner.
“During one wet summer I was able to take the boat out and ski,” says another.
“And as a kid I can remember when wildlife and waterfowl would flourish in that Playa”. T
his area’s unique nature includes a big basin and several individual playas, all of which
work together in the cycle of hydrology and wildlife.
Playa Lakes are shallow, usually round, wetlands with a clay floor that lie in the
lowest point which is a generally large, closed watershed and collects rainfall and
associated runoff from surrounding uplands. They are vital to recharging the Ogallala
Aquifer. Since about 99 percent of playa lakes are located on private land, this information
is crucial for farmers, ranchers and natural resource managers who desire to conserve water
and maintain agricultural economies of the region.
Conservation practices used to protect playa lakes include establishing native grass buffers
around perimeters to filter out soil and agricultural contaminants present in the runoff and
filling in man-made pits so water can reach the entire basin and all recharge pores. In
rangelands, playas can be fenced off to prevent excess trampling or denuding of vegetation
by livestock. Several programs are available to private landowners wanting to protect playa lakes.
The above mentioned landowners near Gate, Oklahoma are working together to do just that.
They are restoring important lands in favor of waterfowl, shorebird, numerous other wildlife
as well as adding water recharge back into the Ogallala Aquifer. These actions are totally
opposite from farming, but hold the satisfaction that future generations will be able to enjoy
the same experiences of nature's unique features.
Oklahoma High Plains Outreach Effort
Another major project which is ongoing for the OWPHA is the Oklahoma High Plains Outreach Effort.
This project involves a great deal of communication and time on the part of Cody Darbonne
and other board members and friends. The objective of this project is to increase the knowledge
and awareness of species of special concern within the short and mix-grass prairies of Western Oklahoma.
Also, this effort seeks to gain the public trust in the mission of OWPHA, while also enlisting the
support of and participation in management strategies which are relevant to these species.
Informational meetings are continually held throughout the region, and material and information
is presented about such stewardship programs as the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP),
which is an incentive based program designed to improve the current operations of participating landowners;
and the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP), which is a program to aid in habitat improvements
for participating landowners. Both of these programs are available through USDA’s NRCS offices.