Oklahoma Agency Protecting Scenic Rivers Dissolved As State Funding Dries Up

Logan Layden Bio Recent Stories Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. He is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Logan spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman and six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017. Most recently, he was news director for McAlester Radio before returning to public radio in 2020.

Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

Come July 1, the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission will be no more.

Gov. Mary Fallin on May 11 signed a bill disbanding the small state agency, transferring its mission — and employees — to the Grand River Dam Authority, which now takes on the Commission’s role of keeping Oklahoma’s six scenic rivers clean and safe for tourists.

The Tulsa World‘s Kelly Bostian reported on an introductory meeting between GRDA and OSRC staff, including Commission Administrator Ed Fite, late last week:

“We’re here because of the state’s financial woes,” Fite said. “What is most important is, whatever the name of the organization, whether its OSRC or GRDA, that core mission continues for which there is no endpoint, the protection of our rivers.” …With an annual operating budget at less than $500,000 and minimal staff and expected further cuts given the state’s dire budget situation, Fite and GRDA Chief Executive Officer Dan Sullivan saw the move as a way to preserve Oklahoma’s mission to preserve its most precious waters and combine those efforts under one roof. GRDA has increased its work on water quality issues in recent years and initiated public outreach regarding water use and preservation in the Grand River drainage area. Now that role will expand, Sullivan said.