A Refuge for Wildlife

The Wichita Mountains arise from the flat grasslands in Southwest Oklahoma north of Lawton. A wildlife preserve of 59,020 acres is home to bison, elk, longhorn cattle and white- tailed deer. These bison were grazing peacefully not far from the entrance, but they were the only ones we saw on Tuesday, June 9 when we visited the refuge.

Mt. Scott, at the eastern end of the mountain chain, is 2,464 feet above sea level. A two- lane road allows you to drive to the top, which we did. The area was sacred to the Wichita Indians and other plains tribes. One legend says that when the buffalo were about to be exterminated from the plains by over hunting, the last remaining animals walked single file into a cavern in Mt. Scott, where their spirits remain today.

...straight to Mount Scott the leader of the herd walked. Behind came the cows and their calves, and the few young males who had survived. As the woman watched, the face of the mountain opened. Inside Mount Scott the world was green and fresh, as it had been when she was a small girl. The rivers ran clear, not red. The wild plums were in blossom, chasing the red buds up the inside slopes. Into this world of beauty the buffalo walked, never to be seen again. (Kiowa legend.

I took the photo above from the parking lot next to the lake in this photo, one of many lakes on the plains outside the refuge. The area gets about 31 inches of rainfall a year on average, and thus is much greener than one might expect, for SW Oklahoma.

Once at the top of Mt. Scott, you can enjoy a 360 degree view of lakes, canyons, and more mountains. You can also see part of the Ft. Sill firing range in the far distance. We had heard explosions all day and I swear there was a scent of gunpowder in the air when we arrived at the top, but it quickly dissipated in the stiff wind that was blowing.

All of the lakes are human- made, but the Wichita Mountains were born about 550 million years ago, according to geologists. Lava bubbled up through sedimentary beds and cooled to form the distinctive pink and red granite backbone of the range.

This view to the west is toward the special use area, where most of the 500 bison, 280 longhorn cattle, and 500 elk can range without much contact with humans. A large part of the remaining range is open to the public for rock climbing, bird watching, hiking, and other activities.

Norm said he could imagine a young Wichita, Kiowa, Comanche or Apache warrior climbing Mt. Scott on foot as part of a vision quest and to prove his manhood. We were thankful for the auto route!

"To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at our back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where creation was begun." N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain.

Large granite boulders, located outside the visitor center on Highway 49 through the refuge, show the gradations of color from pink to red to gray. The center has fabulous interpretive exhibits about the flora, fauna, and habitats in the refuge. The refuge began in 1901 when President McKinley set aside part of the area as a Forest Preserve. In 1905, Congress established a tract of nearly 60,000 acres to be managed by the Forest Service. Later the area was managed by the Department of Agriculture and in 1939 went to the Department of the Interior, where it is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It has about 1.5 million visitors a year. It is one of 500 wildlife refuges in the 50 states, refuges that protect 44 endangered species. Our tax dollars at work in a very good way!

The buffalo herd that lives in these grasslands was begun in 1907, when 15 bison from a zoo in New York (some of the few remaining bison anywhere) were shipped in special box cars by rail to nearby Cache, Okla. Among the people there to greet them was the old Comanche chief Quanah Parker, who had been a scout for the Army and who still lived in the area. The elk were brought from Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 1912. The refuge is also home to coyotes, raccoons, prairie dogs, eagles, and many small songbirds such as the endangered black capped vireo. (We didn't see one, though.)

One Oklahoma feature I had not heard about was Cross Timbers, a name given to the very thick stands of oak and brush that cross the state from north to south. The timber is almost impenetrable on foot or by horseback. It marks a division between eastern and western habitats for species such as wrens, bluebirds, and hummingbirds. Washington Irving, exploring the area in 1832, said "it was like struggling through forests of cast iron." One of the remaining relict stands of Cross Timbers can be seen near the refuge visitor center.

We had also hoped to visit the Quartz Mountains, another range between Lawton and Sayre, on Wednesday, but bad weather forced us to change our route. Areas like this are very educational and helped broaden my understanding of my own native state, with its varied forests, mountains, lakes, rivers and grasslands. One final item I'd like to add is this quote from the Native American writer Louise Erdrich, which is included in one of the visitor center displays:

"I would be converted to a religion of grass. Sleep the winter away and rise headlong each spring. Sink deep roots. Conserve water: Respect and nourish your neighbors and never let trees get the upper hand. .. Bow beneath the arm of fire. Connect underground. Provide. Provide. Be lovely and do no harm."