Getting to know Lake Stanley Draper

Lake Stanley Draper in January

If you’ve spent a day out at any lake in Oklahoma, it was at one of the over 200 man-made lakes mostly created in the last 50-100 years. Our natural water systems wax and wane through the wet and dry seasons of the year. This makes for uncertain living conditions for humans. Lake Stanley Draper is a reservoir serving Oklahoma City. Since 20% of the state’s human population lives in Oklahoma County, that’s a whole lot of people who depend on this water. Lake building is an inherently controversial and destructive process, with land and water rights disputes, human displacement, and ecosystem disruption. But whatever healing may be needed from the creation of a lake isn’t the lake’s fault. We can honor both the damage done in the past and the beauty of what exists today.

Lake Draper in the CrossTimbers

This particular lake is protected from seasonal dry spells by water pipelines from southeastern
Oklahoma, so the water in the lake is a mixture of pumped in water from the SE and local rainfall. It sits in Cleveland County, east of Moore and south of Midwest city off I-240 in the Cross Timbers ecoregion. The Cross Timbers is a transitional region where the forests of the east meet the prairies of the west. In Celtic mythologies, liminal, in-between spaces such as the seashore are especially magical places. I personally believe that the Cross Timbers has a particular liminal quality itself. Add to that the blending of two waters in Lake Stanley Draper and standing on those shores is sure to have a special energy of its own. All you magical people out there... do your respective things and let the rest of us know what you find! No one is gonna write this stuff down for us. We have to find it ourselves.

A tiny Rose Rock

Some other magical items of note: Lake Stanley Draper is one of the few places in the entire world where you can hunt for Rose Rocks. Stay tuned for a whole post on Rose Rocks. The Oklahoma City Audubon Society has a whole list of bird species seen in the area including just about any bird of myth you can see here such as hawks, herons, loons, doves, and owls. The Oklahoma Water Resources Board worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to improve the water quality and fish and wildlife habitat by bringing appropriate wetland plant species to the area.

Also, naming is an act of power so who is Stanley Draper? He came to Oklahoma in 1919 after serving in WWI, and began a long career with the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. He was involved in many projects that give the metro area their character today such as bringing in Tinker Air Force Base and the FAA, building the Civic Center, and the Lake Hefner Reservoir as well as the one named in his honor. I have no idea what kind of person he was or whether we would approve of each other’s philosophies, but he seems to have dedicated his life to his idea of prosperity for Oklahoma City and her people. That is an idea I can get behind even if my version might look different than his.

I can drink to prosperity. Cheers, Mr. Draper.

An Offering for the Lake