Coyote Spencer Wetlands - saved

A public land trust buys the Coyote Spencer Wetlands

By Adeline Bash; The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon)
Saturday, March 17, 2012

Oregon white oak and white ash trees grow side by side in a swampy, forested wetland along Coyote Creek west of Eugene — a type of soggy ecosystem that’s on the decline in the Willamette Valley.

The endangered northern red-legged frog has been seen along the banks of this creek that, come summer, will be blanketed in purple Camas blooms — a flower whose roots were a staple food of the valley’s Native Americans.

Now, thanks to the purchase of the 161-acre plot by the McKenzie River Trust, the Coyote Spencer Wetlands — home to an assortment of some of Oregon’s most important and threatened plant and animal species — will offer sanctuary.

“We’re a public trust,” said Ryan Ruggiero, land protection manager for the local nonprofit land trust. “We do this by protecting special lands that have unique value. This is a really special place.”

The land, along Crow Road west of Eugene, contains over three miles of streams winding through mixed forest and wet meadows that the trust has been working for nearly a decade to protect.

The nonprofit organization first tried to acquire the property in 2003 but was beaten out by another buyer, Ruggiero said.

In the following years, Ruggiero said, the area was targeted by housing developers.

However, those projects went nowhere, giving the trust the opportunity to buy the land now.

For years, the property was owned by Roseburg resident Stanley Stevens, who about a decade ago sold the land to a Eugene development group. The development group, however, failed to make purchase payments to Stevens.

So in 2009, he took back the land through foreclosure, according to land records filed with Lane County.

That same year, the trust again sought to buy the property. But the deal was delayed when the trust learned that the property had been under investigation by the state since 2005 for unauthorized waterway filling activities.

The Oregon Department of State Lands had issued an enforcement order and potential fine of $3,000 against the development group for building several roads and a bridge in the wetlands without permits.

Last fall, as the enforcement order was being resolved, the trust contacted Stevens once again about purchasing the property. As part of the enforcement resolution, the state waived the fine, one of the access roads was removed, and a concrete bridge over Coyote Creek and some rock used to stabilize an existing access road were permitted to remain in place.

The trust paid Stevens $375,000 for the land, using federal and state funding. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided $225,000 and the Department of State Lands the remaining $150,000, the trust said.

The purchase was finalized March 1.

Since its founding in 1989, the trust has been acquiring and preserving important tracts of land across Lane County.

Between 1994 and 2005, the Willamette Valley suffered a net loss of 3,932 acres of wetlands, according to the trust. Many wetlands in the Long Tom Watershed — of which Coyote Creek is part — have been converted to farming, making large, intact expanses of wetland such as the Coyote Spencer Wetlands increasingly rare, the trust said.

“It’s a new anchor site,” Ruggiero said of the property. “From here, we’ll work with private landowners to grow a network of protective lands.”

The trust wants to continue to acquire land through voluntary conservation easements and donations from landowners, as well as purchases. The hope, Ruggiero said, is to protect a big swath of land from Fern Ridge Lake south to the upper reaches of Spencer and Coyote creeks.

So far, the trust has identified, in addition to the red-legged frog, at least one federally endangered plant species — Bradshaw’s lomatium — at the new site.

In the next few months, the trust will enlist the help of local botanists to identify more rare plants in the area as well as any invasive plants that might need to be removed. Much of the work will be fueled by volunteers, Ruggiero said.

The property attracts a diverse animal population, including coyotes, bobcats, bears and several bird species, he said.

“In the springtime, this place is just going to be alive with bird activity,” Ruggiero said. “There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on.”

The trust will host guided public tours of the area starting this summer. Several University of Oregon classes will visit the property throughout the year. In the spring, Ruggiero will lead his UO wetlands landscape architectural design class that will take at least two trips to the property.

Because of the trust’s limited staff, the wetlands will not be open to the public apart from the guided tours.

To help manage the area and prevent trespassing and littering, Ruggiero plans to meet with residents in the surrounding neighborhoods to encourage them to keep an eye on the property.

So far, Ruggiero says, “We’ve experienced a lot of support for what we’re doing out here.”

Efforts by developers to put housing on the property most likely would have gone nowhere, Ruggiero said.

Still, he said, the trust made a good move buying the property.

“Leaving something be and hoping for the best is not the same as proactively protecting it,” he said.

“Now, there are so many opportunities for doing good things with it,” he said. “You miss that if the property doesn’t enjoy some sort of protective status.”

Salem, Oregon's urban OWO forest

From Willamette Live, by Helen Caswell

Englewood Forest is a term given by urban foresters and naturalists to a unique stand of trees in Salem and the life that accompanies it.The heart of the grove is Englewood Park, a 7-acre city property situated between 19th Street and 21st Street, and Nebraska Avenue and Virginia Street – in an older northeast neighborhood of town.  But Englewood Forest extends beyond official boundaries, across street divisions and into the civic life of Salem and its ecology and history.

The park in the forest’s center is historical and beloved.  Englewood is Salem’s oldest, located on land purchased in 1926 from the Kay family.  Its trees are primarily Douglas fir and Oregon White Oak, with two varieties of cedar intermixed in small numbers.  It contains paths, play equipment and a splash fountain and is tended by a band of passionate residents in the Northeast Neighborhood Association (NEN) as well as the City of Salem Public Works Department.

Jude Geist, Parks Operations Supervisor with the City of Salem, admires the “unique band of Douglas fir and oak of Englewood Park, because you seldom find that density of forestry stand in any city.”  Kristin Ramstad, urban forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry, highlights the tract’s importance further; “Englewood is what urban foresters call a ‘Native Remnant Park’ which means it is an area of older trees that are actually remnants of native forests.  They aren’t “old growth” but are certainly trees that predate settlers.“

“The value of an area like Englewood Park, from an urban forestry perspective, typically doesn’t focus on timber but instead on the value the trees give a neighborhood, and the environmental services they provide.  Mature trees like Native Remnants intercept greater rainfall and are good for mitigating steam water run-off.  They intercept particulates like smoke and pollution in the air.  They also have wildlife habitat values, since critters live in the canopies of mature trees that can’t exist in younger trees.”

Kasia Quillinan is a member of NEN and has been active in Englewood Park’s well-being for many years.  She also understands the ecological value of Englewood.  “Parks are important to our city,” she says, “because of all the oxygen they produce.”   Quillinan’s husband, David Engen, another dedicated park supporter, adds, “Cities raise the area temperature of regions like the Willamette Valley.  A city park serves as an “urban heat island,” because its trees cool and modify the warmer temperatures of concrete and buildings.”

The couple has picked up trash daily in the park and up and down 21st Street between Nebraska and Market, for more than three years.  When six Douglas fir were lost in 1996 rains, the two were part of a neighborhood effort to dig holes for replacement trees.  Another NEN member, Laura Sauter, actually donated a post-hole digger to the project.   When one tree didn’t make it to 1997, schoolchildren from Englewood Elementary, which occupies the same block, dug another.  Episodes like these account for Quillinan saying “the whole area community is involved.”

After the felled trees were cut by park staff, Engen took the opportunity to study the rings.  His count verified that the Douglas fir would now be between 80 and 100 years old.  The Oregon White Oak may be even older, according to foresters who say the taller, faster-growing fir may have shaded them over the decades.

The unique forest atmosphere draws neighbors in, Quillinan says.  “Practically everyone who has a child or dog in the area goes there.  Mothers take young children and it’s also great for middle school kids; there aren’t too many things Salem neighborhoods offer middle school kids, but this is definitely a positive one.  The toys are well used, and in summer the basketball court is well used.  And there’s almost no graffiti because it’s so beloved.”

Englewood forest is larger than just Englewood Park, because Native Remnants still live and grow in streets neighboring the park and extend to 21st Street, to along D Street, across D Street into the Jason Lee Cemetery and onto State Hospital grounds.  Residents have large trees in yards that they haven’t cut down, and those are part of the forest, too.  These trees can be seen clearly; they are distinct from surrounding buildings and younger trees, organisms of an earlier era.

Kristin Ramstad explains how a forest can extend beyond boundaries; “The way urban foresters view things, urban forests include street trees, riparian growth such as along the Willamette River, yard trees and the oaks you see in Bush Pasture Park.   Most people consider each part just a mini-forest, but they’re are all part of the urban forest.  But the Native Remnants are special.  It really is unique here to have an older conifer stand in a neighborhood.  The trees are extremely important to nature and the city.”

Englewood Forest contributes to the urban ecosystem in ways younger trees in new developments can’t.  The life it supports is varied.  Birds come down from the hills in winter and fly back in summer.  Native squirrels, opossums and skunks thrive.  A few of the many birds NIN members have seen include; Varied Thrush, Robins, Stellar’s and Western Scrub Jay, Oregon Junco, Black-caped chickadees and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, owls, Red-tailed Hawks and Ring-necked Pheasants.

The grove shows poignantly when it crosses D Street, which is almost lined with the tall old fir,  and into historic Jason Lee Cemetery.  The graveyard, established in 1842, has its west and southern edges still populated with Native Remnants.  The trees were already standing when Salem residents were buried on the grounds a hundred years ago.  Ramstad appreciates the qualities of the grove here.  “Often graveyard trees grow in the open, so we can see the natural form of them, the way they want to genetically express themselves.  It’s a wonderful metaphor for life; a place an organism can reach its best self, like all who were buried aspired to.  The forest (in Jason Lee Cemetery) conveys a sense of place and really connects us to our history.”

Englewood Forest has myriad facets. It gives Salem value by keeping our atmosphere cooler and our rainwater better managed.  It exists in the affection of elementary school children and in the respect of city park managers.  Its neighbors give it their energy and care.  Many of our ancestors are buried beneath it.  It is intertwined with Salem’s ecology, with its history and with its future.

Arborist has a say in an OWO's fate

Arborist has a say on oak’s fate: Report could save old tree in the path of light-rail project

By Raymond Rendleman 

The Clackamas Review, Feb 8, 2012, Updated Feb 8, 2012

A 60-foot Oregon white oak has been at the center of a debate in Milwaukie over the look of a TriMet light-rail line through the city. 

The city of Milwaukie will hire an arborist to determine if the 60-foot Oregon white oak in Kronberg Park is healthy enough to survive light-rail bridge construction.

The tree was going to be removed to make way for the bridge project that is part of the Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail work, but citizens came forward with an alternate arborist report.

Milwaukie City Manager Bill Monahan will select an arborist to deliver a report by Feb. 17. TriMet plans to begin rail construction activities in Kronberg Park, and enacting a plan to protect the tree, if required, on March 1.

“The city and TriMet are working with local residents in the selection of the arborist,” said Milwaukie spokesman Grady Wheeler. “The arborist’s report will not only weigh the biological health of the tree, but just as importantly, whether the tree poses a risk to personal safety or property, as it has been determined the city is liable for any harm or damage the tree creates.”

“This is a mighty good compromise,” said Councilor Dave Hedges. “If the tree is savable, I thought it should be saved.”

The process was put into motion when City Council made Milwaukie’s final decision on the Kellogg Bridge land-use application at its regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 17. Milwaukie’s elected officials, acting without Mayor Jeremy Ferguson who stepped aside because he is employed by TriMet, unanimously voted 4-0 to affirm the Planning Commission’s approval of the bridge with revised findings and conditions of approval specific to TriMet’s use of Kronberg Park for construction staging.

If the arborist determines the oak is healthy enough to survive construction and all possible safety issues can be addressed, TriMet will be required to take reasonable and necessary measures to protect it from harm during construction.

If the arborist recommends removal of the oak, the city is requiring that TriMet reuse wood from the tree in or near Kronberg Park. Also, TriMet would have to plant 24 trees and 116 shrubs in Kronberg Park — primarily along the bank of the Kellogg Lake — to mitigate for the loss of the tree.

That also doesn’t include other mitigation plantings required in the area for bridge construction impacts.