Visitors reach the new Cross Timbers Nature Trail through Tulsa Botanic Garden’s main entrance, not from a separate side-road access point. The route adds nearly five miles across 100 acres west of the garden’s existing gardens in the Osage Hills northwest of downtown Tulsa, where visitors can walk through prairie and woodland terrain, according to Tulsa Flyer.
The trail’s future length remains unclear. Tulsa Flyer reported that the system is planned to grow to eight miles, while an earlier description on the garden’s own site referred to a goal of up to five miles in total. Neither account explains whether the figures describe the same scope of expansion, and no completion timeline has been given.
Tulsa Botanic Garden CEO Chuck Lamson told Tulsa Flyer that visitors must enter through the garden and pay standard admission to use the paths. Admission is $10 per visit for people 16 and older and $5 for children ages 3 to 15; annual memberships start at $60 for an individual and $99 for families.
Funding the Next Few Miles
The garden says some admission and membership proceeds will support construction of the remaining trail miles and maintenance of the 100 acres.
The garden is working with the Oklahoma Native Plant Network, the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition, the Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture and Oklahoma State University on restoration and long-term land management, according to Tulsa Flyer.
Fire as a Restoration Tool
Prescribed burning is one tool the garden is using to restore tallgrass prairie and limit invasive growth, including juniper. Horticulturist Jacob Neptune told Tulsa Flyer that juniper is native, but can spread when fire no longer checks its growth.
The garden began this work in 2024 with its first prescribed burn on the Osage Hills property, intentionally burning 19 acres to clear underbrush and overgrown vegetation, according to News On 6. Cole Fagen said at the time that much of the Great Plains historically burned every two to four years, a cycle that kept prairies open before development and fire suppression disrupted it.
Prescribed Fire Across Oklahoma
The garden’s use of fire reflects a broader management practice in the state. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry says prescribed fire use has grown as natural resource professionals increasingly use it to manage forests, woodlands and range.
Matthew Blissit has described the goal as restoring the landscape’s ecological coherence over time. Neptune told Tulsa Flyer that the changes would accumulate year by year: “Every year is going to be more and more beautiful. Every year is going to bring it back to what it used to be.” The garden expects Oklahoma beardtongue, a wildflower found almost nowhere outside the state, to become more visible along the trails as restoration continues.
The Cross Timbers in Context
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry describes the Cross Timbers as a distinctive forest of central Oklahoma, alongside the state’s riparian areas of the Great Plains. Oklahoma State University Extension says native eastern redcedar has spread into Cross Timbers forests and open rangelands, where it can outcompete other native trees and grasses. These statewide descriptions offer ecological context, but do not establish conditions on the garden’s property.
Trail Closure Ahead of Holiday Lights
The timing of the trail's debut comes just before a scheduled pause. Tulsa Botanic Garden & Nature Trail will close Nov. 16 through Nov. 26 to prepare for its annual Botanic Garden of Lights display, which the same report says runs Nov. 27 through the rest of the year. Hikers hoping to walk the new Cross Timbers paths this fall have a narrow window before the lights takeover begins.
The new mileage adds to what the garden already offers elsewhere on its grounds, where, per a report from Tulsa Botanic Garden, its website lists 2.7 miles of pedestrian-only trail split between the Prairie Loop and the South Loop. Combined with the new Cross Timbers route, the garden's walkable footprint has expanded considerably for Tulsa-area hikers looking for a longer outing than the original loops provided.
