The River Parks Authority’s Ryan Howell has spent the last five years transforming Turkey Mountain into the regional recreation destination it now rightly claims to be. Last year alone, 270,000 users visited the urban wilderness area.

So it’s easy to understand why his voice cracks and his eyes well with tears when he talks about the ugly incidents that have occurred there in the last month.

In late July, a jogger was stabbed multiple times in the face . Earlier this week, a woman reported that she was raped while walking on a trail at night.

Howell spoke directly to Turkey Mountain users and the broader Tulsa community in a video posted on social media this week, saying it’s time to take the mountain back.

“Words cannot express the sadness and the shock that every one of the River

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