It is amazing what an impact a family-owned business in an isolated rural area can have on its environment when it tries. The Fin & Feather Resort, owned by the Cotherman family (Bill Cotherman is pictured to the right) on Lake Tenkiller has produced some impressive results since it voluntarily began a recycling program nine years ago.

Just placing collection bins in the resort’s 83 units has resulted in over a thousand pounds of aluminum and hundreds of pounds of glass and plastics recycled each year. The steel cans and cardboard generated by the resort’s restaurant operation adds another 26,000 pounds of materials to the totals. 

But it doesn’t stop there. They are replacing gas-powered “maid trucks” with electric carts and have successfully diverted the facility’s wastewater from the lake to nearby pastures to produce grass for their cattle operation.

The judges hailed the resort as “A superb example of a private company adopting a way of doing business that demonstrates its concern about the environment.” FOR TEACHING BY ITS EXAMPLE, FIN & FEATHER IS GOOD NEWS FOR OKLAHOMA’S ENVIRONMENT!