Plan for botanical garden is unveiled

By David Zizzo

Published: January 21, 2006

TULSA - Promoters on Friday unveiled a master plan for a 300-acre botanical garden, saying it could be a jewel of next year's state centennial celebrations.

"We think this is going to be one of the most important projects celebrating the centennial year," said Pat Woodrum, interim director of the planned Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden Research and Education Center. "It honors the past, it celebrates the present, and it plans for the future."

However, Woodrum said, the $40 million project probably will have just gotten under way as the state kicks off official centennial celebrations in November 2007.

"It may be just construction under way," she said, "but we will have public on the grounds and we'll cut the ribbons."

Joe Sebestyen, general manager of Post Oak Lodge, a conference center adjacent to the planned garden site, said if all four phases are completed, the garden will be "one of the largest botanical gardens in the country. It is going to be a complete, comprehensive botanical garden." Supporters have been working on the idea for seven years, Woodrum said. They expect to soon receive the first real funding for the project, $2 million from the Legislature as part of Tulsa's share of centennial funds, Woodrum said. That will pay for construction drawings, hiring of staff and the beginning of work on the site, which is in Osage County but within Tulsa city limits.

The site, four miles northwest of the Gilcrease Museum and about seven minutes from downtown, has diverse terrain, Woodrum said.

Project depends on legislation
Work in earnest on the project depends mostly on Senate Bill 1381. The bill, filed by state Sen. J. Berry Harrison, D-Fairfax, would authorize the Oklahoma Capital Improvement Authority to issue $15 million in bonds. The money would pay for property to be leased to the state Tourism and Recreation Department until it was paid off, then it would be transferred to the department.

The $15 million would fund construction of a visitor's center, a 17-acre lake, some perimeter gardens and the beginning of the education center, she said. Plans announced Friday also call for construction of an interfaith chapel on an island in the lake that could be used for weddings and other services, Sebestyen said.

To reach the $40 million needed to complete the project will require $10 million in private donations, with most of the remainder coming from educational institutions, Woodrum said. She said the project has three "education partners" -- Oklahoma State University, Tulsa Community College and the Tulsa Technical Center. The plan is for the garden to be a center of education and research, she said.