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.”
