The North Canadian River is a 440-mile-long tributary of the Canadian River, the longest tributary of the Arkansas River (Stop #23). Following a series of floods in the 1920s, Oklahoma City and USACE redirected and straightened portions of the river that significantly reduced water flow through the city. In 1999, a $54 million project was undertaken to restore flow through this portion of the river within the city; the state legislature renamed this seven-mile stretch of the river the Oklahoma River. Following completion on the project in 2004, one straight 2,000-meter length of the river was recognized as an ideal location for rowing races. The site is now home to the $10 million, 33,000 square foot Devon Boathouse and the USRowing National High Performance Center. In Yukon, OK, just a few miles west of Oklahoma City, the river looks much different. For me, the open question is how nature could be more integrated into urban river designs to simultaneously support engineering, recreational, social, and aesthetic functions and value.
