For years, Karen has worked with local and federal leaders to bring attention to vulnerabilities in Tulsa County’s levee system. The levees are critical to protecting more than 6,500 acres of property along the Arkansas River for about 26 miles from Sand Springs to Jenks. 

2019 was a year of reckoning for the aging levee infrastructure and devastating floods happened. Homes were flooded, roads washed out and lives disrupted.

 Working with leaders from Vice President Pence, Senator Jim Inhofe, the Army Corps of Engineers and local elected officials, Karen continued to push the issue for attention and funding. 

In April, 2020, Senator Inhofe announced that $3 million in federal funds had been secured to improve the system.