Latest news ... Action Alerts ... Contacts
Mary O'Brien essay on Amazon Park Choices
Amazon Park public workshop: the missing documents
What Ballot Measure 20-03 actually said
A sampler of comment letters
Self-guided issues tour of Amazon Park
Compatability of Amazon Park developments with watershed restoration initiatives
The Green Peoples Alternative: vision statement for Amazon Park
What's happening to our frogs?
More park natural history: birds, butterflies, dragonflies, plants
Last updated 19 Nov 03. Send corrections and suggestions to webmaster.
What's New: article by Mary O'Brien in 6 Nov 03 Eugene Weekly
Aerial photo time series 1936-1995
Bird, butterfly, and dragonfly lists
What's this all about? Eugene Parks has begun a citizen review process to determine the best use for $550,000 of Bond Measure money allocated to Amazon Park. The City needs to hear from you today! Let them know how you use the park, what facilities you want (and don't want!) there, and that you are interested in a more natural Amazon stream corridor.
The next public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 20th, 7:00-9:00 pm at Hilyard Community Center at 2580 Hilyard. We need a vocal turnout at this meeting!
Improvements suggested so far (see full restoration alternative in LCOG study):
Did you know? Nearly 3000 people polled said their priorities were "improving existing parks and open space areas by upgrading park features and improving habitat" (Eugene Outdoors, Summer 2003). We have an opportunity to balance people use and aesthetics in this park. Please make your voice heard by contacting:
682-4930 Johnny Medlin Johnny.R.MEDLIN@ci.eugene.or.us Parks Manager Send written letters to: 682-4909 Andrea Riner Andrea.G.RINER@ci.eugene.or.us Parks Planning Andrea G.Riner 682-4800 Carolyn Weiss Carolyn.J.Weiss@ci.eugene.or.us Landscape Architect Parks Planning Manager 682-4800 Renee Grube Renee.L.GRUBE@ci.eugene.or.us Rec. Superintendent City of Eugene 682-4800 Carrie Peterson carrie.a.peterson@ci.eugene.or.us Park Planner 1820 Roosevelt Blvd. 682-4800 Angel Jones angel.l.jones@ci.eugene.or.us Park Staff Eugene, OR 97402 682-4800 Dawna Miller dawna.a.miller@ci.eugene.or.us Park Staff 682-5291 Kurt Corey kurt.a.corey@ci.eugene.or.us Director Public Works 682-5010 Dennis Taylor dennis.m.taylor@ci.eugene.or.us City ManagerKnow who your city councilor is? See the City Council ward map or call 682-5010 weekdays.
Ward 1 Bonny Bettman 344-3150 Bonny.S.Bettman@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 2 Betty Taylor 338-9947 Betty.L.Taylor@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 3 David Kelly 686-3343 David.S.Kelly@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 4 George Poling 517-3110 George.A.Poling@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 5 Gary Pape 349-9939 Gary.D.Pape@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 6 Jennifer Solomon 461-3518 Jennifer.L.Solomon@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 7 Scott Meisner 338-9946 Scott.Meisner@ci.eugene.or.us Ward 8 Nancy Nathanson 686-3446 Nancy.L.Nathanson@ci.eugene.or.us Mayor Mayor Jim Torrey 682-5010 Jim.D.Torrey@ci.eugene.or.us
| Groups supporting natural amenities at Amazon Park: | |
|---|---|
| Citizens for a Natural Amazon Marcy Cauthorn, President Paul Cauthorn, Treasurer Jan Wilson, Attorney 2739 University | Jocks for the Environment Tom Pringle Offensive Coach (president) 3295 Kincaid Eugene 97405 |
By Mary O'Brien 6 Nov 03 Eugene Weekly.Mary has worked as a public interest scientist for the past 22 years.I remember the day I learned to distrust the word "development." I was in high school, walking near downtown Whittier, my town in Southern California. I paused at a fenced lot of bare dirt -- and about 75 improbable rose bushes blooming in a dozen colors. Some neighbor had anonymously planted and tended the bushes for years.
A construction company's sign on the fence said, "This site soon to be developed." I realized that meant, "This place of roses soon to disappear."
Recently, I was crouched in an October Oregon wetland, which means it wasn't wet. The dark clay soil had contracted during summer into blocks of pea-gravel clay separated by deep cracks. A frog called from inside one of the cracks, hidden.
A friend was showing me native plants that have been restored to this wetland, after lawn and fill had been removed. Spike primrose, coyote thistle, Oregon sunshine, blue-eyed grass, tufted hairgrass. They had all regained a once-lost neighborhood. I particularly wanted to see a panic grass that grows there. I love the wildness of its name, and how its small seeds park far out from the main stem on gravity-defying, horizontal threads. We couldn't find the panic grass, but I learned of another one there: American slough grass, with thick, flat seeds ducks admire.
A dragonfly cruised past. A scrub jay flew. Another hidden frog called from inside its clay-crack sound chamber, inches from my foot.
My friend walks here often. Last year, he says, a marsh wren stayed through the winter, though they usually migrate far south. Tree frogs will begin calling in January. Crows mass in the nearby ash grove, migratory birds nest (and are sometimes eaten by crows) in the restored willows, butterflies locate host and nectar plants -- all this and more in one small patch of nature.
But it's surrounded by developments. To the north of the patch lies a bus transfer station. To its west, a swimming pool. To its south, a maze of ball fields. To its east, a jogging/walking trail. Because this is Amazon Park.
Right now, there's a choice looming for the park: more open space of restored nature for children, old people, walking, and jogging; or the development of two more ball fields requiring extensive drainage at the edge of the wetland? The latter is being pushed by the Parks Department and ball players who run into an after-work baseball "traffic jam" three months a year. The former is being favored by a growing number of neighbors and other Eugeneans who use Amazon Park around the clock and year round, and have watched the park become stuffed with more and more developments, lights and parking lots, while open space has shrunk and shrunk and shrunk.
Currently, Amazon Park has five baseball fields (two of them guarded by offensive chain link fences); four soccer fields; four tennis courts; two in-line hockey courts; and two volleyball courts. And lights. Seventy-two bright, unshielded stadium lights above these 17 fields and courts. The park also contains a swimming pool (25 more lights) fenced dog park, wading pool, skateboard facility, two community centers, a bus transfer station and five parking lots.
However, if the chemically maintained lawns of two more fields are not built here, the creek could be allowed to meander, freeing it from its disheartening strait-jacket of concrete. The ash grove could be reconnected to the creek, expanding habitat for the bird and tree frog choruses, by simply moving the much-used jogging and walking path to the west side of the wetland (i.e., same length, more nature). A boardwalk could be built in the ash grove, elevated above winter ponds and spring camas, and under autumn colors and summer shade. Another boardwalk could snake through the wetland, giving a close-up view of the wetlands' remarkable seasonal changes. And all the lights could be shielded, so sunset and evening could come home to the park.
With this park, our community has a chance to do what communities too rarely do: consider the implications of alternative futures. We're much better at building one development after another, and then waking up one day to find we have drained frogs, wild grasses, and the rest of nature from our lives.
One way to help insure that options are considered for Amazon Park is to contact Citizens for a Natural Amazon at 513-8151. And please attend the public meeting scheduled for 7 pm Nov. 20, at the Hilyard Center.
Last updated 19 Nov 03.Why ask for public input at a September 25th meeting if City Parks staff has already decided the park's future months before? Were you identified as a stakeholder? We'll be posting full text of these documents here just as soon as the City responds to our request!
"Timeline for Amazon Park Improvements" "Identify field layout options Aug 15, 2003" "Project budget accounting August 15, 2003" "Identify project givens/options August 29, 2003" "Cost estimates for givens/options September 5, 2003" "List of stakeholders developed by City Parks September 5, 2003"Pdf reports detailing the Comprehensive Plan for Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) can be found here:
Community Survey Eugene Celebration Survey Stakeholder Interview Natural Resources Multi-Cultural April 2003 Msyor's Advisory Committee Miscellany...
The final report "Upper Amazon Creek Enhancement Study" and a long list of recommendations by consultant Salix Associates, was accepted by Public Works in October 2000. However the plan was never to surface again in the planning process! No mention of it was made at the first public meeting, even though the document serves as an excellent full-blown alternative to ballfield development.
One astonishing page of the document (pg 53) reprints a cost estimate memo fore removing the concrete channel that extends 5 blocks from 24th to 19th. That would only cost $75,000 - $85,000, small numbers indeed compared to the proposed $550,000 for new Park ballfields. That restoration would creat an additional 5 blocks of stream and help on flood control.
Elsewhere the study recommends channel widening at various places within the Park as well as daylighting the twin 60" culverts to make a tributary creek and wetland running eastward from the Amazon above the tennis courts. Here and elsewhere, ballfields conflict with and essentaially pre-empt the restoration alternative.
For balance, let's hope the next public meeting is devoted entirely to explaining this alternative (since so far it hasn't gotten mentioned at all!). Ballfields at these prices are an irreversible decision -- they close the door on ever restoring fragments of Amazon Creek into a functioning green stream corridor.
Last updated 9 Nov 03. Send corrections and suggestions to webmaster. Below is the complete text of the legal ballot measure itself provided in the official City flier:
The flier was a 4 page foldout that also included this highlighted section:"City of Eugene Ballot Measure 20-03 Here's the information as it will appear on the November 3, 1998 general election ballot for City of Eugenme voters: Eugene Parks General Obligation Bonds Question: Shall the City of Eugene issue $25,305,000 general obligation bonds to purchase parkland, build parks and youth sports fields and replace Amazon Pool? If the bonds are approved, they will be payable from taxes on propery or property ownership that are not subject to the limits of Section 11 and 11b, Article XI of the Oregon Constitution.Summary: If approved by the electors, the proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be used for costs related to purchase of lands for parks and open space, the construction of parks and athletic fields on public land, and replacement of Amazon Pool Projects will include the construction of neighborhood and community parks; construction of youth sport parks; replacement of Amazon Pool; upgrading existing athletic fields and parks on public land; acquisition of land for neighborhood and community parks; acquisisiton of open space; and payment of bond issuance costs."
"The Mayor's Park and Open Space Committee recommends that if this measure passes the funds be used for the items stated in this publication. Fund allocations, land acquisitions, locations, and improvements may change based on a public review process."Commentary (webmaster) : People attending the September 25th public meeting at Hilyard Community Center have expressed concern that intensive developments proposed for Amazon Park (such as ballfield fills) in the last surviving natural area were presented as "done deals" by City staff, prior to public input and the public review process.
City Parks reportedly made disturbing representations of ballot and flyer language, possibly thinking public interest groups no longer had access to the actual flier. This section quoted above clearly refutes the notion that "our hands are tied, it's a done deal" put forth the other evening by Parks. There is no binding prior commitment to ballfield paving projects in the word "recommends" nor any inflexible finality if the project list "may change based on a public review process."
Five years ago, at the time of the Ballot Measure, the council ward representative stated that using the language "two more ball fields" on the advertisement was "moving a little too fast" and council minutes includes the statement "people in the Amazon area are not thrilled about two new ball fields...or more parking."
The vehicle for park industrialization is ironically a green bond measure many people mistakenly thought was directed towards expansion or enhancement of City park and natural areas but now appears to have been hijacked by brown developmental interests. There just isn't enough open space left any more to give everyone everything they might want.
This is taking place on public lands, so it may be helpful to frame the debate in the terms of clearly defined alternative packages and letting public sentiment determine the preferred alternative. We are proposing a green alternative assuming the same $550,000 allocated to this reach of the Amazon that will contrast strongly with irreversible developments in the City Alternative.
This is primarily a park for people, so the Green Peoples Alternative focuses on a healthy people-friendly landscape with a central focus on aesthetics, safety, and restoration of the creek and adjacent prairie wetlands. The direction is toward paths, benches, and better aesthetics, with compatibility with songbirds, frogs, dragonflies, and native plants. It shares some components, such as better landscaping, with the City alternative.
City Counsilor Betty Taylor writes:
"I am so glad you are working to save what is left of Amazon Park. Starting with the Parkway, one project after another has made the park closer to being just Parkway -- the disabled center (which could have been built elsewhere), the Park and Ride (which should have been built elsewhere), the expansion of the pool parking area (plus destructive parking on the adjacent grass). I agree that it is for people--not just nature--, but people need space for relaxation and a place to be in urban nature while being relatively quiet and relatively still. We need a place to communicate with other people, to read poetry alone or with a friend or lover, to listen to birds, to have a family picnic or eat an apple alone -- we need parks."
Last updated 9 Nov 03. Send your letter to webmaster for postingFrom: Paul Cauthorn
May I also point out that a ìbrainstorming workshopî on September 25 does not satisfy the need for a public review of the ball fields. Iím confused as to when the public has had an opportunity to discuss the need for additional ball fields at Amazon? Why would spending $550,000 (or a substantial portion) on a couple of ball fields become the first priority for Amazon park improvements when there were so many more highly desired improvements given at the Sept. 25 meeting? My understanding from your previous communications in regards to the meeting was that you didnít want to get too far ahead of public process.
Thank you for your willingness to stay open on these topics. We all share the same desire to protect and improve our parks.
Citizens for a Natural Amazon
Paul Cauthorn, Treasurer
2739 University Street
Eugene, OR 97403
Last updated 16 Nov 03. Send suggestions to webmaster UO photo library provides greater details and broader coverageThese historic photos capture the history of the park and its shrinkage over time. Print out your favorite photo and then hike the Park to better understand the issues and suggested improvements. Photo #2 is interpreted with overlying text. Aerial Photo 1: This is a late afternoon June 1995 satellite photo taken from the Terraserver. It shows the central portion of Amazon Park from 24th (at the top) to 31st. The wooded area is the main ash grove. Surface disturbances can be seen west of Roosevelt (constructed soccer fields), at the mitigation wetlands west of the pool and east of the bus station, below the tennis courts (purpose unknown), and south of the main ash grove (electric for jogging trail lights).
The upper Amazon, subject of a restoration project study by landscape architect Jeff Krueger, is shown in 1951 and 1960 aerial photos.
Last updated 9 Nov 03. Send corrections and suggestions to webmasterAmazon Park is merely an upper reach of a long creek that begins at springs on the slopes of Spencer's Butte, enters the swale at Martin St and then continues through a gallery riparian forest to its crossing of Hilyard where Amazon Park begins. The Park ends halfway between 24th and 19th streets, where the creek has been fatally channelized within a dreary concrete culvert until it reaches the Fairgrounds.
Amazon Creek then parallels the bike path for nearly 10 miles to the west eugene wetlands and Fern Ridge Reservoir. Historically, the creek continued north up the valley without entering the confluence of Coyote Creek and the Long Tom (= Fern Ridge). Below the dam, the water flows down the Long Tom to Monroe and then joins the Willamette above Corvallis. It then continues down to Portland where it joins the Columbia and eventually reaches the Pacific Ocean at Astoria.
A tremendous amount of money and human effort have been expended in the Amazon watershed to reverse poor planning, ill-conceived projects, poor code enforcement, and non-benign neglect from previous decades. It makes no sense to fund new initiatives that further degrade Amazon Creek-- like chemlawn ballfields right up to the banks -- because this flies in the face of all the ongoing restoration efforts. From a policy standpoint, consistency is needed. And that requires compatiblity with the overwelming restoration focus of the last decade. These efforts include:
Last updated 9 Nov 03.Draft document ... under daily revision!!! Suggestions welcome, send to webmasterThis is primarily a park for people, but we believe that park users of all persuasions are best served by a wholesome natural environment and that ever-diminishing opportunities exist to connect our school children to nature without busing. The Green Peoples Alternative primarily focuses on a healthy landscape with emphasis on improving creek water quality, widening riparian areas, mending adjacent prairie wetlands, and mitigating light, noise, and fume intrusions by asethetic plantings. This restoration does not ask for the impossible (grizzly and bison?) but rather dragonflies, songbirds, frogs, native grasses and flowers, and possibly beaver. It shares a few components, such as better landscaping (native plants if suitable) on park areas not of critical environmental concern (such as the dog park) with the city's alternative.
We are not anti-sport -- in fact, a major athletics group has endorsed the green plan -- but merely seek to locate facilities appropriately. We envision a win-win solution where high intensity developments are put where they are wanted -- for example, fixing decrepit, soggy ballfields at Adams Elementary instead of installing new unwanted ones at Amazon. There are no residual natural values left at Adams, no creek, no opportunities for connectivity and strong support from teachers and parents there.
On the connectivity and compatability side, we believe a reasoned alternative for Amazon Park should provide policy consistent with wholistic watershed management initatives already underway for Amazon Creek -- from the top of Spencer's Butte through Fern Ridge to the Willamette River. Of course, enhancements per se will be effectuated within the project area, but these can cmpliment and synergize with good works already underway on other reaches. These include trail damage repair at Spencer's Butte, land acquisition in the headwaters, blackberry removal, storm sewer hookup remediation, permeable surface code, fairgrounds water quality, West Eugene wetland mitigation, Fern Ridge wet prairie restoration, and the national wildlife refuge initiative on the Long Tom. These are expensive public works projects in which many agencies and people are already invested, so what we do on the Amazon Park reach should not conflict or undercut them.
If you "follow the money" on the Green Peoples Alternative, you will see it goes to some unfamiliar places: kids, schools, and small restoration businesses. Historically, bond measures -- and today nearly all City expenditures -- are income transfer programs to Sand & Gravel companies. Repaving 30th, parking lots at South and Roosevelt, a Highway to Nowhere through our best wetlands, $80 million for private runways, tearing down courthouses, hospitals, and freeway bridges -- the appetite for silly public works projects is insatiable. It's high time that we did something constructive with the money.
We envision instead contracts such as one with the Rachel Carson School to monitor declining tree frog populations in the bus mitigation area (lawn chemical runoff? raccoons? disturbance from path? drying out?). Roosevelt school kids could monitor bird use and nesting success and help adopt the excavated riparian culvert. Both of these examples will lead to adaptive management and fine-tuning of park enhancement placements, while putting earned bond money into the school system. We have the Walamas and Northwest Youth Corps for blackberry removal and willow planting, and local native plant nursery businesses to support. And yes there will be money for bulldozers and dump trucks in widening the channel and path relocations -- after all these sand and gravel companies do high quality work.
Fixing Amazon Park: design principles behind the Park improvement wishlist:
-- Good Neighbor Policy: the city shall conform to neighborhood asethetic standards and values (eg south of 19th Street and east of Willamette) in landscaping, lighting, and park appointments -- the park is our front yard and affects our quality of life and property values. This is a NIMFY issue rather than NIMBY! We make a non-negotiable demand that the city get into immediate compliance with its own code (eg floodlights, chainlink, garbage, weeds). Being a good neighbor also means working with upstream and downstream neighborhood projects (eg undo their efforts by being a weed, sediment, or toxics source).
-- Sexual Harassment Mitigation: the primary issues here are lewd remarks/ogling of female joggers by drivers on the Amazon Parkway (screening needed), veiled threats by alcoholic transients on the Susan Thayer Bressi memorial bench (move it again) and potential rapists in ash grove encampments by 24th (provide cell phone number on sign), juvenile gangs displaying rifles at the unlighted 30th/Amazon parkway underpass (lighting, police patrols), and sexual predators loitering at the toilets south of 24th (police patrols). While the City cannot change behavior or attitudes, poor park design currently fosters sexual harassment, contrary to city policy.
-- Public Safety: mixing of user groups on the sidewalk creates problems similar to cars and trucks moving at different speeds on I-5. At Amazon, high speed bicycle packs commonly come up behind joggers and walkers at high speed. Bikes cannot safely go off onto the grass because of abrupt shoulder dropoffs of 8" or more. At dusk and early evening, bicycle-bicycle and bicycle-pedestrian near-collisions are frequent (headlamp enforcement needed). Many daytime near-misses occur where the bicycle path passes through the middle of the toddler area (consolidate and fence the toddler area). The underpass at 30th and Amazon Parkway is another dangerous area (mitgate slippery pavement, draped blackberry vines, and darkness).
-- No-Brainers: a number of significant clean-ups are long overdue, utterly lacking in controversy, and could be easily accomplished in a day by a volunteer committee at no cost to the city and taken off the discussion list. Yet the years go by. These fixes are important however for fostering citizen volunteer involvement and sense of stewardship of the Park. Suggested design changes are listed below clockwise from 33rd and Hilyard downstream to 24th and Amazon Parkway, then up the east side to the Albertson corner. These are numbered on the attached self-guided tour map.
1. Chainlink fence is unsightly, user-unfriendly with its sharpened spiked top, and a code violation if in a neighborhood -- it needs to be removed, mitigated with wood or masonry, or vegetatively screened throughout the park.
2. Trailing blackberries drape 15' down to stream at various street culverts. These blackberries are an obstinate problem arising from designing with chain link -- blackberry root systems have become established underneath the fence where metal makes them inaccessible and a hazard to mowing equipment. Blackberries need to be eradicated the entire length of the watershed, from 33rd down to 19th. The primary mechanism for this (after seriously setting back current patches) would be shading-out by willow and cottonwood, competitive upland plantings, removal of fill spoils and riprap, and annual hand-maintainence by youth or neighborhood work parties.
3. Reed canary grass picks up where the blackberries leave off. The primary problem with this exotic is its low value to wildlife and thick thatch that prevents establishment of native species such as willow. It has trapped massive amounts of sediment with consequent loss of fish habitat, followed by loss of green and great blue herons. Remedies are similar to blackberry; season flooding is another option (water level raised by check dam).
4. The dinged-up aluminum garbage cans on a chain at 33rd and also the dog park are completely unacceptable aesthetically. It is too easy now for schoolage vandals to empty its contents into the creek. They need to be put in attractive wooden shells like the one at 24th. The EWEB plaza provides a model attractive pebbled concrete liners that are far less visually obtrusive.
5. Small infestations of noxious invasives such as teasel and purple loosestrife need immediate attention, as they have the potential to explosively expand and take over from native species, to the detriment of wildlife and downstream restoration efforts. We cannot allow annual seed disperal as this only makes for hugely more work later, nor rely on haphazard visits by Native Plant Society members as in the past -- the Park needs scheduled comprehensive seasonal weed removal.
6. Remove the proliferating billboards. Volunteering means volunteering -- if you are buying space for corporate billboard, it ceases to be a volunteer activity. Thank them in a newsletter. Genunine volunteer levels are sufficient in this city to get the job done -- in conjunction with a $25 million dollar bond measure -- without compromising park visuals by selling corporate partnership logos. Remove the StreamTeam advertisements as well as the Adidas and Rexius billboards. The City is a huge volume purchaser, we do not need to beg anyone for a few units of bark mulch.
The signs are visually obtrusive, soon vandalized by spraypainters, and reference seldom-seen entitites such Miracle on 33rd Street (a neighorhood sub-group). How often do these groups put people down in the creekbed to remove trash -- shopping carts and soda bottles stay for months and two years ago a dead transient lay there for days.
7. The remnant camas prairie, a vacant lot to the west before the underpass, should be acquired by the city if it is not currently city-owned. This is a vanishing opportunity to buffer and expand the park and to restore a native plant community important to Native Americans in our community. This parcel needs defined access from the Parkway sidewalk to replace the steep muddy trail that is developing.
8. The park is extremely deficient and unimaginative in tree and shrub plantings. Five decades have passed with no forward progress -- the Amazon could be another Hendricks Park by now.There is very heavy traffic on certain adjacent streets so a top priority must be to screen park users from this urban squalor (visual, oral, and olfactory) -- the very reason people go to the park is to get away from the city. Little pedestrian use occurs along existing Hilyard Street sidewalks for this reason and they might as well be removed. Plantings are not costly to install, need little or no maintainence after the first year, and actually reduce annual costs compared to turf management. The east side of the creek between 33rd and 32nd is one of many places that could easily be screened.
9. The underpass needs safety lighting that comes on in the evening. Not garish industrial lighting or stadium arc lights that would be the City's first choice but something soft and tasteful, limited in visibility to the dark area proper of the underpass. This will lessen the attractiveness of the area to sex offenders and juvenile vandals.
10. The pipe fence at the underpass is ugly and excessive where it is not needed for safety. Several sections at both ends could be removed to improve the natural character of the willows. Similarly, the gross concrete block retaining wall is not retaining anything at its tops or ends, several dozen blocks can be removed, lessening the canvas for spraypaint vandalism and consequent maintainence, and the sense of entrapment.
11. One of most frequent user requests has been for a bark jogging trail connector between the ash loop and upstream jogging trails. There is easily room for this adjacent to the dog park (whose tacky sheep fence and rusting metal posts need shrub screening), no room in the underpass, then room again out to 33rd on the west side. Note the unenforced code violation of the 9' wooden private fence south of the camas prairie -- city code is 6'. Is the east wooden fence boundary actually on the lot line or on public land -- surveying might give room for the bark..
12. Remove concrete sidewalks, replant, and build pedestrian bridge from NW corner of 30th/Parkway to connect to the main trail. This gets people off the arterials with heavy traffic onto the quieter park trails. It is nearly impossible for people to cross at the Albertson intersection -- the traffic light cycles rarely provide a walk sign. The street crossing at 32nd is badly mis-aligned and needs a concrete stretch by the curb removed. The city's street tree program could find some fertile ground here as well.
13. Neighborhood groups have put in three plantings between 33rd and 32nd. While species were not well chosen and plants too closely spaced, proof-of-concept have has established that soil and water are excellent on the slopes of the riparian area. These plantings should be o,[tpbrf by moving some species to new sites during the dormant season but mainly by vastly expanding the number of trees and shrubs. A small set of ponderosa pines were close to stream should be relocated back too the western property line with adequate spacing. Normal landscaping practise is to plant short objects (eg shrubs) in front of taller objects (trees) and to anticipate mature sizes when spacing.
14. The bus terminal was a poor use of precious Park space, diesal fumes and idling cars do not mix with workouts. Millions of dollares were expended to keep a mere 24 cars out of downtown. The fact is, buses run near-empty and it would be cheaper to simply provide free cabs. It is difficult to understand why patrons cannot take a 5 minute bike ride on flat pavement down to their workplace. An expensive flush toilet requires unknown computer code to enter. Screenins of the parking lot are urgently needed. A 6' planted berm to shield the stretching areamight make some sense. The perimeter fill around the dog park could be extended 30' to the north to block views of the intersection. Better still would be removal and restoration of the car lot while retaining the transfer station.
15. Upright metal boxes, the LRAPA chain link, stream team sign, derelict posts at the stretch area, the water quality testing area sign etc. all need to be removed -- they are ugly and frequent targets of vandalism. The LRAPA facility should be relocated outside of the basin because a local anomaly of high afternoon winds distorts (makes it look better than it is) the measured air quality. The unsightly power lines, with their gross toxic treated wood poles, should be put underground, if the crossing is in fact truly needed.
16. There is an opportunity to widen the channel across from the dog park. Riparian widening is one of the most important things that can be done for water quality, flood control, and wildlife value enhancement. The fill could be used locally to screen the bus area as described above.
17. The ash swale at the Albertson's corner should be expanded by heavy plantings to block the busy intersection -- a top priorities for traffic, noise, and fume reduction.
18. The stretching area has deteriorated markedly in a few short years. Wooden posts have rotted out from under sit-up benches, pec bars and tendon stretchers have disappeared. This is a very popular area -- it should be restored to its original design specifications. The north end stretch area has deteriorated; as it is less popular due to the busy intersection at 24th, probably simplification to a few basic but well-maintained features makes the most sense.
19. The soccer field needs to be moved way back (doubled up with the unused baseball field) so that a natural area buffer zone can be created for people not wanting chemlawn, noise, garbage, and crowds. Rarely is this field needed as two others on 4J property could be used. This heavily fertilized and treated field drains into the mitigation wetland with likely adverse consequences to frogs and amphibians.
20. The swimming pool is very visually intrusive. Ugly color schemes on awnings, slides, posts, and signs need screening or better, replacement. Landscaping on the west mound reaches a design height of two inches, whereas six foot screening is needed. Overflow parking on wetlands is completely unacceptable -- there is adequate parking on the street or at Roosevelt.
21. Harsh lighting at the tennis court and softball fields has been a horrendous problem for other park users. It has become near-impossible to enjoy the sunset or stars as the lights are often left on and appear to have no timer. Less than half the light appears directed onto the courts. It is bright enough to read a newspaper at the frog ponds. If light deflectors were used, the electric use could be cut in half with the same illumination. The combined effect of Ems, track, softball, and tennis lighting is absolutely a top priority to remediate.
22. What the Park needs is clear and permanent lines between heavily developed facilities, open space, and restored natural areas (eg a real master plan), rather than endless skirmishing battles with special interest groups like the pool or commercial sport companies seeking to seize territory. A boundary could be formed by extending the sidewalk behind the pool and community center to the Roosevelt parking lot and then out the the 24th and Parkway concrete path. This land could be used as open space for unstructured activities such as kite-flying. frisbee, or pick-up ball games, and not necessarily be restored. This open space becomes a transitional zone between buildings and structured sports fields and areas of wildlife and natural values.
22. Better interpretive signs are needed for the ash grove and created wetland sites. This could be modelled on what BLM has done along the 15th street bike path in the West Eugene Wetlands. Too many people misunderstand what is going on. The small pink signs on a stick provide at best a temporary solution. The ash grove could accommodate a boardwalk to get people into the prime flower areas without the current trampling. The mitigation area across the creek could use better connectivity with the creek, more extensive perimeter and peninsular tree plantings, better protection from rampaging dogs, and water supplementation in dry springs.
23. The created wetland could be extended to its north by a cattail marsh. These are better appreciated by the public than wet prairies and would vastly expand the diversity of wildlife habitats. This facility would also increase flood capacity.
24. Several storm pipes in the area could be daylighted and planted with willow to increase riparian areas, break up long fields, provide water to wetlands, and improve water quality prior to entering the main creek. It is important to recognize that these are not sanitary sewers but rather street runoff and that no filtration or amelioration can occur in pipes.
25 Benches are the most common user request. There is a lot of park use by elderly and alter-abled. The ground in Eugene is often wet and uncomfortable. Some thought needs to be given to site benches at good locations and to select bench materials that won't rot, stain clothes, or attract spraypaint or drug users. Three locations often mentioned are the sunset hill northwest of the skateboard area, midway along the creek facing both east and west, and at the concrete rim at 29th looking downstream.
0. Reduce excessive areas of unproductive turf while lowering need for maintainence. Park design and plantings have been driven up to now by mechanical mowing capabilities. That is, pruning and hand-weeding are correctly viewed as too time-consuming for parks staff. Yet many native shrubs and trees could fill in channel slopes, shade out unwanted vegetation, and not create transient attractors, while not requiring any subsequent maintainence after initial establishment. (No one mows Spencer's Butte.)
Lots more could be done here to beautify the park and increase its utility to a broad spectrum of users. The years and decades go by and yet the park fails to come up to its potential. Instead it seems to be slipping more and more into urban squalor even as it shrinks dramatically in size with the increment of each new hardened facility. With the passage of the bond measure and $550,000 just for this stretch of creek, it is now or never for Amazon Park.
Last updated 9 Nov 03. Send corrections and suggestions to webmaster Suggestions and observations dated 07 Oct 2003 by Sharon Teague-Blick"I have been wading in the wetlands in Amazon Park probably more than anyone else has over the last 15 years. I have taught wetland classes in the park from1989 to 1995 and again from 2000 to the present. In each class, we use nets to catch critters in the creek and other park wetlands, which we then identify and release. Over this long period of observation, I have noticed many changes taking place and I wonder if anyone else is aware of them. Here is a summary of the changes I have noticed.
We used to always find treefrog tadpoles in the ponds by the tennis courts and now we hardly ever do. Also, in the new ponds by the swimming pool, treefrog tadpoles have declined over the last four years (last year I found only 2.)
The treefrog chorus there also seemed quite reduced this year. What might be causing these declines? Well, the treefrogs used to live in the ash forest and breed in the ponds there. Those ponds never dry up quite all the way in the summer. When the new wetlands by the swimming pool were constructed and I heard all the treefrogs there, I wondered how those little frogs managed to get to them across all those short-mowed lawns in between.
How many got eaten on the way there, with no place to hide? Or were they poisoned by lawn chemicals? And since there were few trees at the new ponds and the ponds dry up totally by mid-spring, the frogs had to trek all the way back across those lawns after breeding. Then the city kept scraping parts of the new ponds bare every year, so the frogs had few places to hide at the ponds, and I often saw flocks of crows feeding on them.
In order to promote an alternative to dredging, I organized several volunteer work parties through Nearby Nature to remove woody vegetation from only the creek bottom by hand. The City has continued with this practice, and it has been wonderful to see the riparian vegetation of native willow, cottonwood, ash, hawthorn, and even an alder tree grow on the channel sides and provide great bird habitat.
On the other hand, I see growing expanses of invasive non-native species which were once kept under control by dredging. These include himalaya blackberry, deadly nightshade, and reed canary grass. These plants are smothering out native plants like cattail, which has declined dramatically. The reed canary grass forms large mats, such as the one just downstream from the creek-crossing at 29th St. This area used to be a large pool, full of fish, tadpoles, and many kinds of aquatic insects.
Now the fish have been squeezed back into the shallow area between the concrete stuctures, where they have little food and no place to hide. (Amazon Creek through the park is home to at least 2 species of native minnows: speckled dace and redside shiners.) The diversity of aquatic insects in this area has also declined considerably. The mats of reed canary grass trap sediment and completely cover it, leaving less aquatic habitat and no exposed sediment for insects to burrow in and fish to nest in. The reed canary grass has changed the structure of the creek, reducing the size of pools and the depth of the water in many places.
Last updated 9 Oct 03. Send corrections and suggestions to webmaster
What about West Nile disease and crows -- aren't corvids notorious carriers of disease and with Amazon Creek right there breeding mosquitoes... Is there a plan for "controlling" the crows and spraying or draining the Amazon?
West Nile disease has not yet been found in wesern Oregon. The species of mosquitoes that carry the disease are not abundant here. There is no mosquito season to speak of along the Amazon. Mosquito fish, exotic minnows that very efficiently eat mosquito larva, were introduced into the Amazon in 1932 (to the detriment of the now-endangered Oregon chub). Lane County has done extensive planning in collaboration with the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides to ensure mosquito mitigation , if it ever becomes necessary, will be done in an environmentally benign way (long-sleeve shirts?), not in panic driven over-reaction.
Ringbilled gulls also collect in large numbers and forage in the fields at Amazon, where predator visibility is good and there is room for take-off. They do not roost in the park but rather on islands of the Willamette at the shoals below the Knickerbocker footbridge. On 20 October 03, the webmaster saw a couple hundred gulls occupying one half of the soccer field while a couple hundred crows took the other. However they were crosswise to the normal playing direction.
Expert birder Jerry Marsalo, who birds daily as he drives the #25 city bus along Amazon Parkway to the headwaters at Martin St., says the upper reaches of the creek have better bird diversity, probably attributable to a wider riparian corridor, less human impact, and greater structural diversity in habitat. Marsalo says the 10 birds most likely to be seen this fall at Amazon Park proper (beyond crow and ringbilled gull) include scrub jay, junco, mallard, song sparrow, black-capped chickadee, cedar waxwing, bushtit, goldfinch, house finch, golden-crowned kinglet, Bewick's wren, and great blue heron. Our 68 year-round resident birds (green herons don't make the cut, they migrate south):
| Steller's jay scrub jay crow raven black-capped chickadee chestnut-backed chickadee bushtit red-breasted nuthatch white-breasted nuthatch brown creeper Bewick's wren winter wren marsh wren Anna's hummingbird belted kingfisher acorn woodpecker red-breasted sapsucker downy woodpecker hairy woodpecker northern flicker pileated woodpecker Hutton's vireo | golden-crowned kinglet western bluebird robin wrentit European starling cedar waxwing orange-crowned warbler rufous-sided towhee savannah sparrow song sparrow white-crowned sparrow Oregon junco red-winged blackbird yellow-headed blackbird Brewer's blackbird western meadowlark purple finch house finch red crossbill lesser goldfinch goldfinch house sparrow | pied-billed grebe bittern great blue heron Canada goose wood duck mallard cinnamon teal northern harrier sharp-shinned hawk Cooper's hawk red-tailed hawk kestrel ring-necked pheasant California quail coot killdeer spotted sandpiper rock dove mourning dove barn owl western screech-owl great horned owl northern pygmy-owl northern saw-whet owl |
| More Water Needed for Larva and Food | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Skimmer Dragonflies Western Pondhawk Eight-spotted Skimmer Widow Skimmer Common Whitetail Twelve-spotted Skimmer Four-spotted Skimmer Flame Skimmer Blue Dasher Saffron-winged Meadowhawk Cardinal Meadowhawk Red-veined Meadowhawk Western Meadowhawk Striped Meadowhawk Yellow-legged Meadowhawk Black Saddlebags |
Spreadwing Damsels California Spreadwing Spotted Spreadwing Pond Damsels Bluets Western Forktail Darners California Darner Blue-eyed Darner Paddle-tailed Darner Shadow Darner Common Green Darner |
Even better, the plant list is broken down by zones (stream reaches). Zone 3 extends from Snell to 30th; zone 4 from 30th to 24th, zone 5 is the main ash grove, and zone 6 covers 24th to 19th. The main riparian restoration opportunities are in zone 3 and 4.
It is very easy to come up with a list of species appropriate to restoration planting -- they are the surviving native species in the targeted zone plus species in the bracketing zones.
A restoration projectshould use either cuttings of species upstream (such as willow and cottonwoord) or nursery stock derived from the south Willamette Valley to assure genetic adaptation to conditions on Amazon Creek as well as to not corrupt gene pools of surviving localplants through cross-breeding. Since no resources exist to remove blackberry root stock, the only option is to plant native trees and shrubs that can rise above the blackberry and shade them out over time.
| Plant Species Appropriate to Amazon Riparian Restoration 39th-24th | ||
|---|---|---|
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vine maple big-leaf maple red alder white alder serviceberry madrone incense cedar camas Pacific dogwood creek dogwood hazelnut douglas hawthorn Oregon ash cow parsnip oceanspray twinberry Oregon grape crabapple Indian plum mock orange ninebark ponderosa pine black cottonwood chokecherry douglas fir white oak black oak cascara red currant baldhip rose nootka Rose Pacific willow Scoulers willow Sitka willow blue elderberry red elderberry douglas spirea snowberry oval-leaf viburnum |
Acer circinatum Acer macrophyllum Almus rubra Alnus rhombifolia Amelanchier alnifolia Arbutus menziesii Calocedrus decurrens Camassia quamash Cornus nuttalii Cornus sericea Corylus cornuta Cratageous suksdorfii Fraxinus latifolia Heracleum lanatum Holodiscus discolor Lonicera involucrata Mahonia aquifolium Malus fusca Oemleria cerasiformis Philadelphus lewisii Physocarpus capitatus Pinus ponderosa Populus balsamifera trichocarpus Prunus virginiana Pseudotsuga menziesii Quercus garryana Quercus kelloggii Rhamnus purshiana Ribes sanguineum Rosa gymnocarpa Rosa nootkana Salix lucida laciandra Salix scouleriana Salix sitchensis Sambucus cerulea Sambucus racemosa Spirea douglasii Symphoricarpos albus Viburnum ellipticum |
"This is a small creek with a big name. Amazon Creek flows through the southwest part of Eugene and its waters eventually reach the Long Tom River. The compiler has been unable to get the facts about the original application of the name, but it was suggested by R. V. Mills of the University of Oregon that it was because the creek widened out over such a large area of flat lands during flood stages. After Fern Ridge Dam was completed a diversion canal with a dam and weir was constructed to connect Amazon Creek to Fern Ridge Reservoir. This was designed to help control flood waters in the flat plain including west Eugene." [Thanks to Mary Ann Hanson!]
