Greener Roadsides

Oklahoma's
Roadside Programs Encourage Community Pride

Honorable Mention: A future highway-user enjoying purple coneflowers during an Oklahoma annual Wildflower work-shop field trip.

Laurie Stillings
Oklahoma's Beautification Program

Wildflower Workshop: Oklahomans are enjoying a lengthy love affair with their native wildflowers. Evidence of this interest is shown by their attendance at the popular Wildflower Workshop. Every year the 2-day workshop is held in a different part of the State. This May the workshop will see its 23rd anniversary in Tahlequah, land of the Cookson hills, sparkling streams and rich heritage of the Cherokee Nation. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (OKDOT), Oklahoma Garden Clubs, Inc., and the Oklahoma Native Plant Society. It features a seminar on Friday with noted speakers on native plant subjects and a field trip on Saturday to local wildflower areas.

Wildflower Program: OKDOT has years of experience with public outreach. Along with the workshop, OKDOT offers its longstanding Roadside Wildflower Program . Although started at the same time as the Wildflower Workshop in 1976, the program underwent a hiatus due to lack of commercial seed source, planting equipment and know how. In 1988 the program was reactivated under the management of the OKDOT Beautification Office. It was intended to be an inexpensive way to landscape Oklahoma's highway since OKDOT had no landscaping budget. Individuals, communities, civic groups, garden clubs and others donate seed, or money for seed and OKDOT uses its equipment and personnel to plant on highway right-of-way (row). During the last twelve years OKDOT has planted over 1600 acres in 777 locations Statewide. OKDOT used approximately $80,0000 of ISTEA enhancement funds on a recent project to plant native wildflowers along the newly designated "Prairie Passage", a national wildfower highway extending from Texas to Minnesota.

Tree Grant Program: This popular, rule-changing program has just been funded by the Transportation Commission for another three years. The OKDOT Highway Tree Grant Program allows communities to use in-kind services to provide their 25 percent match and to use a less restrictive bid process. The Oklahoma Agriculture Department's Forestry Division is under contract to assist with record keeping and field inspections. A grant preparation workshop is offered before each round of applications are due. Highway landscape design as well as the importance of using appropriate species (mostly native) are emphasized. An installation and maintenance workshop is a requirement for all grant winners. Using ISTEA enhancement funds, fifty-one communities have planted a total of 3,881 trees and 4,636 shrubs in the last three years. The $1.5 million of new TEA 21 funding will allow the program to continue and to offer up to $27,000 for each grant. AND the funds are not part of the Statewide competition for enhancement funds.

Adopt-A-Highway Program: In another aspect of roadside beautification, OKDOT annually spends $4 million picking up litter. That alone would be a good reason for educating the public about litter. However, the Department also believes in community involvement and partnerships. This is demonstrated by OKDOT's partnerships with other agencies and groups like State Garden Clubs, the Cherokee Nation, and more. The Adopt-A-Highway (AAH) program partners with churches, civic clubs, scouts, extension homemakers, motorcycle clubs, store employees, bankers, firemen, and college students.

Media Campaign: Within the Adopt-A-Highway program, "Oklahoma - Keep Our Land Grand", an anti-litter media campaign begun in 1997. The campaign title refers to a line in the State song, Oklahoma. Television commercials use the well-known song as background music. A unique feature of the campaign is the use of federal enhancement funds for part of the financing. The $1 million funding for the first year's operation was split 80-20 federal to State. The campaign encourages State pride by reminding Oklahomans of Oklahoma's natural beauty, and cultural heritage.

Public Awareness: In 1992, a Trash poster contest for all Oklahoma school children was established. Corporate sponsors supply $2000 in State level prizes for 12 top winners. More than 14,000 entries are received in this popular contest in which students, K-12, learn about litter and solid waste. OKDOT produces one of the winning State posters for distribution. OKDOT partners with representatives from the State Department of Environmental Quality, and Education, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful, Inc., and the Cherokee Nation. The partners host an award luncheon, distribute contest supplies and information . Each year 34,000 copies of a calendar depicting the 12 State winners are printed and distributed free to schools, county commissioners, chambers of commerce, etc.