Hall a leading county in the purchase of Wildflower tags

ATLANTA - Hall and Gwinnett counties led the way in our area in the purchase of Wildflower license plates last year.

Twenty-four of the one-time $25 fee for the tags goes to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for use in planting wildflowers along roadsides. And, based on the high demand in the first quarter of this year, GDOT predicts sales of the Wildflower tags will increase by at least 50 percent this year.

"The public's overwhelming response to the Wildflower Auto Tag will have highly visible results-more wildflowers on Georgia's state routes," said GDOT State Maintenance Engineer Bryant Poole. "Since the tag's inception, we now plant more wildflowers statewide and made terrific strides in conserving native species such as the Trumpet Pitcherplant near the Okefenokee Swamp and the flowering Gentian near Brasstown Bald."

Over an 11-month period in 2003, 286 Wildflower Auto Tags were sold in Hall County. Since December 2003, over 400 tags have already been sold there.

Motorists in northeast Georgia can see numerous acres of wildflowers funded by the Wildflower Auto Tag. Some areas include:

- State Route 365 in Habersham County on the Arrendale Interchange;

- State Route 365 in Habersham County on the 441/365 Interchange;

- State Route 15 in Rabun County.

The wildflower program began in 1974 and since has grown. Other participants in the Georgia DOT Wildflower Program include the University of Georgia and The Garden Club of Georgia, who remains a key partner today.