CC Minutes - 12/10/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elizabeth Paul , 3837 Potter Street, stated that she had emphysema and her lung capacity had been reduced to 25 percent. She said field burning affected her lungs and exacerbated her asthma, sometimes causing infections for which she was prescribed a heavy dose of prednisone. She related that at the end of the field burning season she usually found that her lung capacity had dropped perceptibly. Kathy Hoover , 1316 Audel Avenue, recalled the birth of her grandson in August 2002. She had helped to care for her daughter and grandson in the days after his birth. She related that one hot day when he was a few days old they were forced to close all of the windows because of huge clouds of smoke. It had been very uncomfortable and she promised her grandson she would fight field burning. While she acknowledged the “trials and tribulations” that farmers face she found nothing to convince her that the practice of field burning should be permitted to continue. Lisa Arkin , 1192 Lawrence Street, thanked Councilor Clark and Mayor Piercy for attending the town hall meeting on field burning. She said she had been asking since the 1980s for a stop to field burning. She stated that a legislative effort to stop the burning had failed. She noted that Oregon State University had conducted “copious” studies on grass seed growing and had determined that there were alternatives to burning. She believed it was unnecessary to burn fields to be a good grass seed farmer. She stressed that the issue was health. She presented a petition signed by approximately 650 people that asked the Eugene City Council to take the legislative steps to end field burning and to hold a work session on the issue. David Thor Johnson , 4986 Hunters Glen Drive, thanked the councilors and Mayor for their work. He averred that trees helped to filter the air and as such preserving the Amazon Creek headwaters properties would help to remediate burning practices. He opined that five of the elected officials were doing “the right thing. He asked the council to “stay the course, finish the job, do the right thing, protect the planet, [and] protect the ‘urban growth boundary’ forest.” Eric Selker , 3765 University Street, explained that he was a biologist. He thought it was “crazy” to burn fields, especially given the extended conversation about global warming and the criticism given to countries like Indonesia and Brazil for burning forest land. He said the main reason he wanted to testify was to support maintaining the Amazon Creek headwaters properties in a natural state. He appreciated efforts made to do so. th Samantha Chirillo , 157 East 27 Avenue, Apt. 3, co-director of the Cascadia’s Ecosystem Advocates and a member of the Climate Crisis Working Group, recalled that Mayor Piercy had said at a July meeting that the council would do “whatever necessary” to protect the Amazon Creek headwaters forest. She said the council also looked into how it could apply eminent domain proceedings in that situation without being too costly to the City. She related that the two organizations she belonged to had not forgotten this meeting and had been taking people on hikes through the properties in question as they believed it was an important “educational microcosm of a mature forest ecosystem.” Ms. Chirillo conveyed the organizations’ request to apply eminent domain proceedings to the property for its “unique recreational value” and “ecosystem services” it provided, such as “carbon MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 10, 2007 Page 4 Regular Meeting