By Rhett Morgan

Tulsa World

SKIATOOK - Vandals bent on destroying fences, along with trespassers on four-wheelers, are causing headaches for property owners along a proposed recreation trail that could eventually stretch from Tulsa to Barnsdall.

Most of the reports of trespassing on the Osage Prairie Trail, which sits up on a former railroad line, have occurred on roughly a 14-mile planned stretch between Skiatook and Barnsdall, said Mark Sontag of Land Legacy, a nonprofit conservation organization that acquired the land for trail conversion.

Ralph Claytor, who lives about four miles south of Barnsdall, owns about 27 acres that borders the pathway.

"Right after they removed all the track, it kind of turned into an interstate highway down there," Claytor said. "there were trucks, cars, everything under the sun."

Public access on the undeveloped portion of the trail is prohibited, Sontag said.

Landowners near the trail, however, continue to report all-terrain vehicles and dirt motorcycles on the path. Some trespassers have cut fences or ripped up fence posts, allowing cattle to escape.

"We've pretty much kept the bigger vehicles off it now," Sontag said. But we're still haivng problems with ATVs and dirt bikes."

"...the adjoining landowners have been very gracious. But their patience runs thin with this situation."

Funding isn't in place for the Skiatook to Barnsdall portion of the trail, Sontag said.

But the paved stretch running from downtown Tulsa to just north of Skiatook is expected to be completed by late this year or early 2006, said Rich Brierre, deputy director of the Indian Nations Council of Governments.

The Vision 2025 capital improvements initiative funds a 15-mile, $2.94 million portion of the recreation trail, which will be built on top of the old Osage Railroad line from 56th Street North to Skiatook.

The city of Tulsa's portion runs from the northeast side of the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus to the 56th Street North. The city work is funded by the state and third-penny sales tax.

Claytor's residence sits about 1,000 feet from the rail bed. During past deer seasons, he has seen hunters drive along the path, spotlighting for the animals.

"We could actually hear bullets once in a while go over the house," he said.

Claytor said he has spent hundreds of dollars building barriers and berms across the trail to prevent the noise pollution. Most of the time, they simply are destroyed. "If you put up no-trespassing signs, they either shoot them or destory them," he said.

Stan Kurczewski is vice mayor in Avant, where organizers want to incorporate the trail into a park.

Kurczewski said the town used to have problems with four-wheelers and dirt bikes on the undeveloped land -- until officials handed out a couple of citations.

"Once word got out that we weren't going to tolerate it, thankfully, it stopped," he said.

The trail will be the first non-automotive link to destinations north of the city, connecting Skiatook Airport, downtown Sperry, seven schools and three parks.

Rail trails are popular tourist attractions in other states.

Katy Trail in Missouri stretches 225 miles across some of the most scenic parts of the state along the Missouri River and through small towns that were once thriving railroad communities.