Opinion: Mega-ads cloud Ozarks landscape

It was the same road, the same vehicle, the same route, the same landscape. Then I realized: The view out of my windshield was different.

Take a drive on the Ozarks Mountain Highroad off of Highway 65 north of Branson. You will notice the difference.

The same rust-colored leaves dapple the autumn hills and the same ribbon of concrete dips like a rollercoaster track through the Ozarks. But on the Highroad, there are no billboard signs.

During the drive from Springfield to the Highroad, I was consistently solicited to buy. Splattering my windshield were sales pitches for knives, a log house, tickets to watch horses gallop just inches from my dinner, a show with singing dogs, a cruise on the Titanic, a trip back to the 1880s, a 2007 condo with water views from seven stories high, a ride on a duck, a new set of eye glasses, an outhouse, automobile insurance, an evening in a cabin with a wood-burning fireplace and the option of shopping at four – that’s right, four – outlet malls.

The visual forest of signs on the way to Branson is reprehensible. We seem to have accepted the fact that we cannot realize our financial dreams unless we replace our trees for trade.

And before you crank up the diatribe, “If it wasn’t for the business you would not enjoy the quality of life in the Ozarks,” I openly admit I love living in the Ozarks and the quality of life is exactly what I want to protect.

I’m not sure if the Highroad is on some advertiser’s hit list, but the sanctity of those pristine hills never should be defiled by a blinking neon barker pitching panty hose and pecan rolls.

This is the classic clash of bucks vs. beauty. Our Missouri history indicates the bucks are winning.

In the state of Missouri, there are approximately 15,000 advertising billboards on primary roads. In 2000, the citizens of our state defeated Proposition A, which would have prohibited the construction of new billboards on primary highways, affirmed the right of cities and counties to regulate billboards, prohibited the replacement, rebuilding or relocation of existing billboards, and prohibited sign companies from cutting trees on highway rights-of-way to make signs more visible.

So we have spoken, and it is getting harder to find Missouri.

If you think my position is another rant from a frustrated tree-hugger, look again. People across the United States are deciding that slathering our landscapes with concrete and neon is sucking the marrow out of our quality of life.

Twenty-five states have full or partial bans on billboards. Vermont, Hawaii and Maine have removed all billboards from highway rights-of-way by law. Alaska’s constitution prohibits billboards. Rhode Island prohibited new billboards in 1990. Oregon placed a cap on billboards on state and federal roads in 1975. At least 19 states prohibit new billboards in unzoned areas along interstate highways.

If you own a business that is dependent on tourist trade, you are probably on the verge of a coronary event at this moment. You are screaming, “How will my business survive if I cannot tell people where I am or what I offer?”

Take a trip to Hilton Head, S.C. This robust seaside community has no billboards. The lush pine forests have not been bulldozed into a wood chipper. The signage is low and woven into the stands of trees, so the consumer can find a place to spend his money and, at the same time, savor the natural appeal of Hilton Head.

My worst fear is that 50 years from now, the trip to Branson will look like the New Jersey Turnpike near the Newark exit.

People from all over the nation are lured to the Ozarks because of our relaxed lifestyle, educational opportunities, renowned health care, prosperity and our land. The eye candy of undulating, forested hills is a treasure that we cannot sacrifice on the altar of net worth.

If you are like me, what keeps us in southwest Missouri is not just a paycheck; it is quality of our lives in this visually rich environment. We all lose if we cannot see the environment.

Take a drive on the Ozarks Mountain Highroad. Look carefully. That view is clean and uncluttered – and it’s the best billboard you will find in our great state.

Cal LeMon of Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.