The Well Done Foundation Is Plugging 100-Year-Old Oil Wells at Deep Fork  And They're Just Getting Started

A National Nonprofit, a Wildlife Refuge, and a Mission That's Already Changing Our Backyard

There are an estimated 2.15 million abandoned oil and gas wells scattered across the United States.

They don't show up on most maps. Nobody maintains them. Nobody's legally responsible for them. Most people have no idea they exist.

And for a long time, nobody was doing anything about them.

But somebody decided that wasn't good enough.

One Well at a Time

The Well Done Foundation was born in 2019 with a mission that sounds almost impossibly big — find every orphaned oil and gas well in America and plug them. Every single one.

Not because it's easy. Because somebody has to.

Since then they've quietly gone to work. State by state. Well by well. So far they've plugged 46 high-priority orphaned wells across five states, eliminating methane emissions measured at over 1.5 million metric tons in the process.

That's not a small number. But with 2.15 million wells still out there, they knew they needed to scale up.

So they partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — and Oklahoma just made the list.

Our Backyard Is on the Map

In late 2024, the Well Done Foundation announced a major collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to plug more than 110 orphaned wells across four National Wildlife Refuges in three states.

Two of those refuges are right here in Oklahoma.

The Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge — just west of Okmulgee — and the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge are both included in the project.

If you've spent any time out at Deep Fork you already know what's out there. About 9,600 acres of wetlands, bottomland hardwood forest, and river habitat winding through Okmulgee County. Deer. Wild turkey. Migratory birds following the Central Flyway. Some of the best fishing spots in the region.

It's one of those places that still feels a little wild and unhurried. People bring their families out there all the time.

Honestly, I've been out there several times myself and never noticed a single one of these old wells. Most people wouldn't. They blend into the landscape like they've always been there.

But that's kind of the problem.

Some of These Wells Are Over 100 Years Old

Long before Deep Fork became a protected wildlife refuge, parts of the area were actively explored for oil and gas. Wells were drilled during Oklahoma's early oil boom — some as far back as 1918.

When production ended, many of those wells were simply abandoned. No cap. No cleanup. Records lost. Companies gone. Some were swallowed by vegetation and seasonal flooding over the decades until they were nearly impossible to find.

One of the first wells the Well Done Foundation sealed here — known as Cover #5 — had been sitting in that refuge since around 1918. Over a century underground, untouched.

In March 2025, they finally sealed it.

That was well number one. Thirty wells later, they're just hitting their stride.

What Exactly Is an Orphaned Well?

An orphaned well is an old oil or gas well that was drilled, used, and then abandoned without ever being properly sealed.

Over time, unsealed wells can pose real risks — to the air, the soil, and the groundwater and wetlands around them. It's not a disaster hiding in plain sight. It's more like a slow, preventable problem that just keeps getting kicked down the road.

The wildlife feel it too. Even small leaks can affect the soil and water that migratory birds, deer, and other species depend on when they pass through.

Until someone decides to stop kicking it.

Barges on the Deep Fork River

Here's the part that stopped me when I read it.

Some of these wells aren't just in the woods. Some of them are underwater — sitting beneath the Deep Fork River itself.

Think about that for a second. A well drilled before World War I, now submerged under a river, in the middle of a wildlife refuge.

To reach wells like that, the Well Done Foundation built an entirely new marine operations division. 

We're talking barges, floating platforms, and specialized drilling equipment — carefully staged on the water to locate the wellbore and pump cement thousands of feet underground. On the Deep Fork River. Right here in Okmulgee County.

If that doesn't make for a picture worth seeing, I don't know what does.

This Goes Way Beyond Just Plugging Holes

For every well on the list the Well Done Foundation team will:

• Locate documented and undocumented wells, old tank batteries, and buried pipelines
• Test methane emissions and water quality before and after the work
• Remove and properly dispose of any contaminated soil
• Fully restore the land surface at every single site — grasses, trees, wetlands reclaiming the area naturally
• Monitor each site annually after completion

Once a well is sealed and the site is restored, nature does the rest. Grasses grow back. Trees fill in. Wetlands reclaim what was theirs.

Thirty wells in, you can already see the difference out there.

They Opened an Office Right Here in Okmulgee

This isn't a fly-in, fly-out operation.

As the project expanded, the Well Done Foundation opened a field office right here in Okmulgee. It serves as the hub for field crews, logistics, and coordination with refuge staff and local contractors across the mid-continent region.

That means local jobs. Local contractors. Local people involved in the work.

And they're not stopping there. The Foundation plans to partner with local nonprofits, educational institutions, and tribal communities to create internships and volunteer opportunities throughout the project.

Real opportunities. For people right here.

Why This Feels Different

Curtis Shuck, Founder and Chairman of the Well Done Foundation, said it best:

"Every well we plug represents methane emissions, dangerous and toxic fluids stopped at the source and a risk removed from the landscape. But it also represents the work of a lot of people — engineers, wildlife managers, equipment operators and field crews — working together to protect a place that matters so much."

Oklahoma understands oil. It's woven into the history of this state — the land, the economy, the identity of entire communities.

But Oklahomans also understand the land itself. The creeks. The refuges. The spots where you take your kids fishing on a Saturday morning just to get away from everything for a while.

This project doesn't pit those two things against each other. It just says — the work was done, the wells served their purpose, and now it's time to take care of what's left behind.

Thirty wells down. Eighty more to go.

Deep Fork deserves that. So does everyone who loves it.

For more information about the Well Done Foundation and their mission across the country, visit welldonefoundation.org.