Woman strives to save endangered state park
BURNS FLAT — Amy Lovell has lived all 25 years of her life in Burns Flat, a small town in far western Oklahoma near the Texas border.
Located 105 miles west of Oklahoma City, her hometown has a population 2,057 and is home to the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark, a licensed spaceport.
It’s also about 13 miles south of a potentially endangered state park.
“I don’t know if you’ve been out here to Burns Flat, but there’s not a lot to do,” Lovell said in a telephone interview. “So, losing Foss State Park would be a really big deal for all of us that live out here.
“It’s a great place. We all use it. It’s really nice, and we really don’t want to lose it.”
Foss is one of 16 state parks that could be closed if the Department of Tourism and Recreation suffers another drastic funding reduction this year. Lawmakers have proposed cutting $2.5 million (14.5 percent) from the department in the current budget plan. Funding for the agency already has been slashed 38 percent since 2009.
The list of possible closures includes a handful of popular state parks near Tulsa, such as Grand Lake, Greenleaf (near Braggs), Osage Hills (near Bartlesville), Cherokee Landing (near Tahlequah), Natural Falls (near Colcord) and Lake Eufaula. In southeastern Oklahoma, Lake Wister, McGee Creek (near Atoka) and Talimena are on the list.
Foss Lake is on the proposed cut list in western Oklahoma, as are Great Salt Plains (near Cherokee), Alabaster Caverns (near Freedom), Boiling Springs (near Woodward) and Red Rock Canyon (near Hinton).
The list also includes a state park golf course and a travel information center in eastern Oklahoma.
Lovell is promoting an online petition on the website Care2 to let Oklahoma legislators know there is support to save Foss State Park. The petition, so far, has over 1,100 signatures.
She said she often takes her two children, ages 11 and 8, along with a 14-year-old niece to Foss State Park.
The park includes Foss Lake, fed by the Washita River with 63 miles of shoreline. Covering 1,749 acres, the park and includes 108 RV sites, 103 tent sites, horseback riding, hiking, picnic areas, a swimming beach and marina.
“My parents spend time with us in the spring and fall as they’re headed south for the winter or back north for the summer,” Lovell said. “They have an RV, so they go to Foss State Park and hook up while they’re staying here to see the grandkids for a few weeks each year.
“It’s just unfortunate that Foss is on the list. My daughter’s class went up there for a day to learn about conservation and buffalo. My son loves to pick up shells on the beach.”
When Lovell first heard about the possible closure, she and her children tried to think of ways they might be able to save the park.
“I understand there’s some budget problems. But I just wanted to make sure people knew we love Foss State Park and we’d like to save it if possible.
“We have so little out here that it would be terrible to close our state park. Please don’t take away one of the few things we have out here.”
Originally, Lovell and her children had gone around their Burns Flat neighborhood to collect signatures on a petition to save the park.
“That’s how we heard about the online petition,” she said. “So, we expanded it. We hope people will get on the site and help us.
“It may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but it’s a big deal to all of us out here.”