Diversity in landscapes...Diversity in streams...Oklahoma has it!

One of the best things about my job with Blue Thumb is the chance to explore and experience many different parts of Oklahoma. While traveling over the past month, I was struck by the diversity in landscapes during two trips, one to Enid and the other to Tahlequah. The first trip, on my way to work at the KNID AgriFest in Enid, 100 miles north of Oklahoma City, took me through the Central Great Plains, an expanse of grassland known for being very flat with sparse vegetation, among other qualities. As I drove through it, it struck me how very wide-open it is, much different from other parts of the country I’ve lived in, such as New England, where I was born and raised. Here in the Great Plains, the landscape offers an entirely different kind of experience. The spectacular yellows, browns and golds, broken up by the occasional field of lush green, stretch as far as you can see, dotted by the sporadic form of a dark brown tree stretching skyward.
 
Not long after that adventure, I joined Jeri on a trip to Tahlequah and the Illinois River, to check out a riverbank restoration project. The drive to the northeast corner of the state offers a gorgeous view of a landscape that’s much different but just as beautiful as the Great Plains. We drove through the Cross Timbers and the Central Irregular Plains, two more of the many regions found in this ecologically diverse state. The Cross Timbers is a transitional area between Central Great Plains and the much more forested regions to the east. As we drove through, the change was clear as the scarce vegetation gave way to more hills and heavily wooded areas, with lots of trees, mostly bare from winter, but some still very green. We then passed into the Central Irregular Plains ecoregion, a north-south strip of prairie that separates the Cross Timbers from the heavily forested ecoregion which was our final destination, the Ozark Highlands.
 
Upon entering this ecoregion, the scenery became a bit rockier, with more hilly terrain covered by a majority of still-green trees. As we wound along one particular road, approaching the Illinois River, I remarked to Jeri that it reminded me of some of the mountainous country roads I’ve experienced while traveling other parts of the country. It’s another remarkable part of Oklahoma, an area I look forward to spending more time exploring on my own in the future. It was also a fantastic introduction to the strikingly beautiful Illinois River, which we got to visit on a picture-perfect weather day. Definitely something to add to the long list of places I want to get better acquainted with.
 
The natural diversity of this state is extraordinary and the chance to experience this kind of variety in nature is one of the many great things about living here. Check out more information on Oklahoma’s ecoregions at the links below and then explore them for yourself.
 
http://www.travelok.com/article_page/oklahomasdiverseecoregions
 
http://forestry.publishpath.com/websites/forestry/Images/OK%20Ecoregions%2011x17.pdf