Beyond the Backyard
Throughout Tulsa our neighborhoods are blessed with an overlooked lattice of 
small creeks. My backyard has been chosen by one small stream and I have accepted the unending responsibility to keep it free of logjams and clear of trash. I don’t mind this new task; in fact I rather enjoy walking the tangled banks and gravel bars, seeing a muddy bank explode into a hundred tiny frogs or sense the eyes of a young raccoon watching me from the high bank.
This unexpected wild land, squeezed between and through our neighborhoods, holds a cornucopia for the small creatures that make their homes here. Almost devoid of predators, it is home to an abundance of birds from Carolina wren to green heron; brown creeper to wood thrush. Looking closely you’ll find signs of birth in a robin’s eggshell, and death in a mass of feathers pressed into the mud. Occasionally larger wildlife will test their skill, braving the traffic to haunt these woods. Coyote and turkey have foraged along these banks. Once I found the plants matted down where three deer had spent the night.
Mostly I find evidence of our society: plastic bags, bottles and Styrofoam, tennis, golf and baseballs. I also find the detritus of the previous culture. Glassware from dishes and bottles, teeth from a harrow, bones from a cow and a tractor tire. I once found a spear point, made by a craftsman of an older culture. He apparently enjoyed hu
nting this creek. His culture lasted a thousand years longer than ours has in this place. Who knows where our culture will be, given a thousand years of local knowledge.
Some of my neighbors see only an unruly wasteland, a breeding ground for mosquitoes, snakes and the source of spring floods. They say, “It would be better if we just paved the channel”. Truth is the creek does an excellent job of flood control, regulating the rush of water from a downpour, slowing it to save those who are downstream from flooding while allowing the soil to soak up some of the moisture. Minnows, swallows, and bats do their part to control mosquitoes and other flying insects. Nature in balance is a beautiful thing.
These hidden oases are important to the creatures we share our neighborhoods with. If we foster an appreciation of them, our neighbors will also see what a wealth there is just beyond our own backyard.
- David Porter
