Awards

ONPS established the Anne W. Long Award for Promotion of Native Plants in 1988, the year after Anne’s death, in honor of one of the Society’s founders and an early state leader in wildflower protection. Anne was one of those non-professional botanists who contribute so much to our communities.

She led the development of the annual state Wildflower Workshop in the 1970s and in establishing roadside wildflower plantings. She served as president of the Tulsa Garden Center, co-chaired Tulsa’s Up With Trees program, and helped launch Operation Clean Sweep, Tulsa’s volunteer clean-up campaign. She earned her master’s degree in botany under Dr. Harriet G. Barclay in 1967.

Formerly the ONPS Service Award, this award honors Betty Kemm, one of the founding members of ONPS and the Society’s first State President. Betty was instrumental in the decision to organize ONPS into regional chapters, and she chaired the Northeast Chapter for ten years during the 1990s. Many members joined because of her friendship and her efforts to spread the word about ONPS.

Over the course of his life, Dr. Paul Buck inspired a love of botany and the natural world in thousands of Oklahomans. After serving in the U.S. Navy and working for a time as a Tulsa police officer and firefighter, Paul earned his B.S. and M.S. in botany at the University of Tulsa and his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. He taught at the University of Tulsa from 1964 to 1987.

His research covered prairie ecology, pollen records, airborne allergens across Oklahoma, and plant identification. He was a founding board member of ONPS and a prolific contributor to Gaillardia, helped start the Color Oklahoma committee, was a founding member of the Flora of Oklahoma project, and helped found the Mary K. Oxley Nature Center and establish The Nature Conservancy’s Redbud Valley and Tallgrass Prairie preserves. Paul passed away in January 2008. Through this award, ONPS hopes to continue his legacy of encouraging students to follow their passions in the natural sciences.

Dr. Harriet Barclay was one of the driving forces behind the founding of ONPS. She earned her Ph.D. in 1928 at the University of Chicago under pioneer ecologist Dr. Henry C. Cowles, and she and her husband, Dr. Bertram Donald Barclay, joined the faculty of the University of Tulsa. After Don’s death in 1953, Harriet became chair of the botany department. She retired from TU in 1972 and went on teaching at North Carolina State University, the University of Oklahoma Biological Station and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.

Her contributions to Oklahoma include early work on a roadside wildflower program, the establishment of Redbud Valley Nature Preserve (now home to the Harriet G. Barclay Nature Center) near Catoosa, years of work with Tulsa garden clubs, and her leadership in ONPS. Harriet died in 1990.

The ONPS Board created the fund in honor of Connie Murray, a lifelong educator and past president of the Society who has been active in ONPS since its founding. She has served as Northeast Chapter Chair, State Vice President and State President, and is the current Awards Chairman.

In 2026, ONPS partnered with the Oklahoma City Zoo to fund three schools through its Living Classrooms Grant Program. Teachers attend two professional development days on designing school pollinator gardens with native plants, and awards of up to $1,500 cover garden supplies, host plants and nectar plants. Schools commit to keeping a garden of at least 100 square feet as an outdoor classroom for at least three years.