The lakes and streams of southeast Oklahoma are vital to the area’s economy, and Broken Bow resident Charlette Hearne has made it her mission to stand in the way of attempts to move water out of her part of the state.
It’s been 10 years since the state of Oklahoma sold hundreds of acres at Texoma State Park to a private developer that never fulfilled its promise to build an elaborate lakeside resort.
A decade after the state-run Texoma Lodge and Resort was sold to a private company that never fulfilled its promise to develop a multi-million dollar resort there, Gov. Mary Fallin and the Chickasaw Nation on Thursday announced plans for the tribe to build a resort hotel and casino instead.
About half the U.S. states don’t have a national park — including Oklahoma.
That wasn’t always the case, and the story of what happened illustrates a changing view of what national parks are for.
Despite losing their homeland, and being pushed aside to build southeastern Oklahoma’s lakes, a connection has developed between the water and the people here.
