top of page
Happening Now.
Most Recent Blog Posts.
Jonny’s Gifts
When I met Jonny Skye , the Peoria tribal citizen, she allowed LEAD to choose one of her paintings to visually represent this year’s Tar Creek Conference, only to discover the title “It is in the Water” would also serve as our theme. The other paintings needed to be seen and I was pleased when she agreed to allowing us to host an art show for the public. Downtown Miami came to life one night this week at the time most towns close up. LEAD Agency held space open to the public
leadagency
Oct 293 min read
Reflecting on the 27th Tar Creek Conference
Earlier this month, LEAD Agency held our 27th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference on Oct. 7, 8 and 9 at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami.
To kick off this year’s conference, on October 4 we co-hosted an inaugural disc golf tournament, the Tar Creek Open, at the Veterans Memorial Disc Golf Course, located near Tar Creek in what used to be a residential neighborhood before residents were forced to move due to repeated flooding. It’s been our dream for many
Kim Barker
Oct 223 min read
The Project: What’s in the Air in Your House
The investigation of what’s in the air inside homes in Miami, OK in the far NE corner of Oklahoma is based on a discovery made 28 years ago.
A family moved into a home in a nice neighborhood, moving from a state that required childhood blood lead testing, both testing negative. After living in their home only 6 months 2 of the children tested positive. Upon investigating the playroom, the air vent cover was lifted and the HVAC duct had deteriorated and what seemed like gr
Rebecca Jim
Oct 123 min read
Newsletters.
All Blog Posts.
Find out what we've been up to and how you can help
Search
A Cold January Day
Carter will be remembered that he waged peace not war. And that he added solar panels to the White House and wore a sweater if the...
Rebecca Jim
Jan 123 min read
Clear Your Throat
Most creeks and rivers in the country have been exploited, used for profit, dammed for recreation or flood control and yet people claim...
Rebecca Jim
May 15, 20243 min read
Be There for Tar Creek
For over 25 years children have been creating Tar Creek Fish. What? Yes, on one side was a wounded, perhaps sick or deformed, oddly...
Rebecca Jim
Sep 27, 20233 min read
Walking Wake
When a dear friend called to ask me to come honor her husband’s life after his long struggle to live, I said, “yes.” But the ask was for...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 25, 20233 min read
Work and Play
New friends see this place with new eyes. They pose the questions we no longer ask, having received only silence decades before. I made...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 4, 20233 min read
A Random Photograph
The 1968 photograph showed me standing on the edge of a roadway somewhere in west Texas. I had caught a ride overnight in a semi owned by...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 7, 20233 min read
Something’s Wrong
Those words woke me at 4 this morning. I rose to find nothing wrong. The clarity of the voice bridged the chasm of the place between...
Rebecca Jim
Jun 29, 20233 min read
Another Big Week
I like to say it starts with water. But actually, it started in New Jersey. NEW JERSEY? Yes, the Picher Project was going to be...
Rebecca Jim
May 24, 20233 min read
I deferred
The image in my head is of the me standing up midst and among the rows of Waterkeepers and yelling the words that 20 years ago Earl...
Rebecca Jim
May 4, 20234 min read
I Come Back
Many years ago, my dad experienced a moment that occurred one afternoon in downtown Vinita. Two old Cherokee men were walking toward each...
Rebecca Jim
Mar 26, 20233 min read
A Night Out
Red Dirt and Brownfields was not a place but a time. A Geography professor, a filmmaker, an author, a photographer and an activist met...
Rebecca Jim
Nov 21, 20223 min read
The Game
There are lots of comparisons to life itself being a "game." But the greatest example I am aware of is played in our area and was being...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 16, 20223 min read
Dams Can Be Removed
"There are places you will remember"... are words from a song you may remember. But the places you remember, yours and mine, may differ...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 4, 20223 min read
Think WATERSHEDS
We can get our head around the Tar Creek watershed, we know those ephemeral streams who catch up to her and add their flows to her...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 30, 20223 min read
A Real Summer
It has begun. A real summer. Like the ones we remember, those hot and drier days that barely cool even deep in the night. These are the...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 16, 20223 min read
Home Grown
We raise our own. Tar Creek has been part of Nick Shepherd's life since before he could legally drive a car. He competed in high school...
Rebecca Jim
May 7, 20223 min read
Valued Home
I never been to Spain ... but I been to Oklahoma ~ Three Dog Night I have never been to Columbia either, so when the Tulsa Global...
Rebecca Jim
Apr 14, 20223 min read
Words
Not everyone can put together a book of poetry about a place. It takes time and relationships with the land, the water, the individuals...
Rebecca Jim
Apr 14, 20223 min read
Act 50
Is that something like, "Act your age?" No, ACT50 is Waterkeeper Alliance's collective celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Clean...
Rebecca Jim
Mar 29, 20223 min read
bottom of page