Well I Would Walk 500 miles

Picture from The Nature Conservancy

T he J. T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve is one of Oklahoma’s last attempts to recreate an “unfragmented native landscape” (The Nature Conservancy). The J.T. Nickel Family Preserve is near Tahlequah, OK where the Cherokee Heritage Center is also located; there you see an ancient Cherokee village, also search your ancestors. This nature and wildlife preserve is one that is trying to protect the living things that already live there and trying to introduce old friends such as elk that once roamed eastern Oklahoma. There is also a man that is walking the ancient trail of tears the Native Americans once had to walk; this man will end up in the Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife preserve at the Cherokee Heritage Center.

“The Nickel Preserve is largest privately protected conservation area in the Ozarks” (The Nature Conservancy). In 2000 the preserve was created as a gift from the John Nickel Family, it is 17,000-acres that is in eastern Oklahoma in the Cookson Hills and overlooks the Illinois River. The land is very diverse consisting of savanna, shurbland and prairie. The Preserve also has several threats against it which they are trying their best to protect. They have many invasive species like sericea lespedeza which threat the native grasses; they are getting rid of the Bermuda and fescue grasses and let the native grasses grow. “Prescribed burns here will restore the open woodlands conditions that Conservancy scientists believe historically existed” (The Nature Conservancy).

Picture from News OK

Other than the beautiful J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve there is a man from Lawton Oklahoma who is about to finish up the Trail of Tears. Ron Cooper once was a couch potato he says; he was a black jack dealer at a local casino who wasn’t athletic at all. “One day, Ron decided it was time to try a monumental hike, something like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. He Chose the Trail of Tears route, he said, because ‘I just wanted to walk a trail that had a little more meaning to me’” (NewsOK.com). Ron had this idea after him and his wife left Lawton, OK and bought a travel trailer and work down near the Grand Canyon.  

Not much of the Trail of Tears has been accurately mapped out by detail but throughout Cooper’s trip he had help with local historians to guide him the right way. He started his trail in Charleston, Tenn where the last Cherokee camp was. The trail led him through some people’s private property where many of them let him walk through. Ron walked about 15 miles a day and then made camp to rest; his wife was there every step of the way with their travel trailer. Though he did not go through the immense troubles the natives had to go through at the time Cooper had a top of the line backpack and shoes. He says he has very felt that connected with the nature and environment than he has now. His trail is going to end as close as he can get to the end at the J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve.

Picture from NewsOK

The J.T. Nickels Family Preserve is very beautiful and we are lucky here in Oklahoma to gain a gift like that. A place that is protecting what they have and trying to make it look like it was hundreds of years ago. This place is also a historical place where the Cherokee Heritage Center is located and where one Ron Cooper from Lawton, OK ends his journey of the trail of tears.  This is a connection of our beautiful environment and a connection with the our ancestors that lived and gave their lives for the land.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-couch-potato-completes-hike-along-trail-of-tears/multimedia/photos/gallery/3560291/1/1398058?custom_click=email_multimedia_gallery

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/oklahoma/placesweprotect/j-t-nickel-family-nature-and-wildlife-preserve.xml

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

If I told you that I did not wear my shoes, went on a walk with a dog and went around the OSU cross country 5k made me feel more enchanted with nature would you be shocked. In the past week I have had several occurrences with nature and our environment. The events that occurred came shocking to me that I have not done these things before. All these events happened in Stillwater surprise cool things can happen in Stillwater. Most of all this made me realize I need to get out more but in a different way.

On Tuesday my work decided to not wear shoes because of the Toms event to not wear shoes to see how it feels without shoes. I love not to wear shoes in general and if I had the choice to not wear them all the time I would defiantly choice to be shoe free. That is not my amazing moment with nature, but as I was walking through campus to class I could feel all the things I was walking on from gravel, mud and grass I could feel the different temperatures and textures it really gave me a shock that I really felt connected with the areas I was walking on. After class I was waiting for my brother to come pick me up and was standing on warm cement, the warmth on my feet was uplifting and hear warming. I know cement is not a living thing but the things around it I felt as they felt the same feeling.

On Thursday after my long day of being stuck in the basement of the NRC a walk around Boomer was calling my name. My friend Liz and I got her dog Kobe and walked from her apartment to Boomer so we had to along Perkins Rd. and was we were walking Kobe he is a HUGE black lab was just jumping around and enjoying his whole walk even though we were going along the loud busy street. Kobe he just kept looking back at us with such joy in his eyes. It made me start to think of why he is enjoying the walk so much, that we are out about in the fresh air and it was so refreshing. We all need that hour or so to realize we actually are taking in some clean fresh air not some NRC basement air or library air some good fresh Oklahoma AIR. Other than enjoying the fresh air I enjoyed the time getting to connect with Kobe, to see his freedom and happiness when he was outside.

On Saturday it was so beautiful and my boyfriend and I had to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Boomer was super packed when we decided to go somewhere for a rock and sometime we would go run the OSU cross country 5k, which when you run it you really do not take in everything that you are running past. We had arrived at the OSU 5k and it was HOT but still decided to walk it, where we start off it just a green straight way in and on the right you have a field to the left a ugly lot that just has a bunch of junk on it. As you go further into the course you get more deep into the wooded area and you can just hear all the bugs and the wind and smell all the plants and tress (bad for allergies but thank goodness took my medicine before). It is just so nice to get away from all the buzzes and beeps when you walk boomer or the neighborhood. Another great part is the big golden field you see when you come to the top of the hill. It reminds we of movies and I just wanted to go frolic and spin around it but of course it had a huge locked fence around it which was a bummer but I just cannot get over how beautiful that moment was.

My past week to me was very connected with my surrounding environment. I got to do one of my favorite things not wearing shoes and it surprised me beyond belief. Kobe and I had a unforgettable connection and we about got to enjoy the fresh air and I saw a golden field that will be my favorite spot to go to when I keep to take a breath to breathe and get away from everything for a minute. I am glad that I found these things this past week become a little bit more connected with our environment.   

Dreams Can Come True

Something that I always dream about is to build a “green” house or a home that is energy efficient and sustainable. The Lytle family in Oklahoma City is building their dream home; one that I wish someday to have, an energy efficient home. The home is “green enough for the Emerald green building standard of the National Association of Home Builders and Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification (Newsok.com Highest Green Standards).” This is something unique to the area and a model home to encourage surrounding people to go green. People can check out the house for a $9 charge, the collected money will be donated to state literacy organizations.

“The home is loaded with recycled materials and special touches, including the salvaged bar from the closed O’Connell’s Irish Pub & Grill in Norman (Highest Green Standards).” This home seems to be a symbol of the Lytle family, and how they want to keep our state clean. And try to help the environment as much as possible and not to have a home and say look I spent all this money to have a home like this I am so cool. They have gone to several conventions starting in 2008 to find the special green touches they can put into the house. I also find it very interesting that they recycled the bar from O’Connell’s; they could have found a bar at a convention that was built by all recyclable material. But instead they recycled in their own way.

Going to conventions was not enough for the Lytle family; they had to find the right builder, “we were looking for a builder that wanted to make this home their signature home (Highest Green Standards).”The Lytle’s said that finding a green builder was very difficult. Rose Creek the neighborhood the Lytle’s were planning to build in had ‘preferred’ builders, but once they took a look at homes they built the Lytle’s knew the shoe would not ever fit with them. In May 2008 the family finally found their builder the man known as Gilles. “Gilles was among the first in Oklahoma to build homes to federal Energy Star standards and with his Savannah Builders has specialized in homes with energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling (Highest Green Standards).

When they finally got the ball rolling with Gilles and his building company the family knew that the shoe fit and they made the right choice. The Lytle’s said that Gilles seemed to have an understanding of the home we wanted to build and seemed excited about building the home. It is uplifting to see that this family was able to find the right builder and one that is known for his work. Today the house is built and Gilles says “it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a ‘wow’ house. It’s totally different from anything Oklahoma City has ever seen (Highest Green Standards).” A family with a vision to be efficient and a builder with the right vision can make a small environmental footprint in Oklahoma City to help save our environment one day at a time.

The crews are now putting the last few little touches they need to do to have the house complete and ready for testing Tuesday April 17, 2011. If you are interested in seeing the home the Lytle’s built you can go to www.oklabuilt.com and check it out. We need more Oklahoman’s who have a vision like this, and put their small environmental footprint in Oklahoma. If Oklahoma could say thank you, I am pretty sure Oklahoma does in its own way to those that are protecting it like the Lytle family and Gilles’s Savannah Builders.

All photos are from oklabuilt.com

Article from http://www.newsok.com/article/3554835