CC Newsletter - 03/17/05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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"The fence came out very nice, and these young people from Northwest Youth Corps deserve a pat on the back for a job well done," says Ginny Alfriend, head gardener at Hendricks Park. For more information about Northwest Youth Corps, call 349-5053. For more information about the maintenance of Washburne or Hendricks parks or to participate in future improvement projects at Washburne Park, call Ginny Alfriend at the Hendricks Park office at 682-5324. Ashland Interested in a Stream Team of/ts Own A delegation from the City of Ashland Parks and Recreation Department recently visited staff from Eugene Parks and Open Space to find out how to create their own Stream Team program. The group spent four hours interviewing Eugene Stream Team Coordinator Lorna Baldwin on all aspects of the volunteer, environmental education program. Their visit included watching a PowerPoint presentation about the history of Stream Team, visiting the native plant nursery at Alton Baker Park and discussions packed with how-to information. "It was intense--one question after another--but it was gratifying to be part of helping them set up their own program," says Baldwin, who met one of the members of the Ashland delegation at the Mending Natural Systems workshop in fall 2003, a forum sponsored by the City and other community organizations that dealt with community stewardship, ecosystem repair, and environmental education in urban areas. "At the end of the day, the delegation felt very positive about what they had learned and were very 'revved-up' about successfully implementing something like Stream Team in their community." Many of the questions centered around recruiting and sustaining volunteers and community partnerships, one of the key components of running a successful volunteer, community-based program. The group was convinced that hands-on, grassroots organizing was the most effective way to protect and enhance area streams and waterways, and were particularly interested in establishing adoption groups to achieve this. In addition, Ashland staff are already growing native plants but want to expand their efforts and create a native plant nursery, similar to Eugene Stream Team's two native plant nurseries at Alton Baker Park and the wastewater treatment facility, and grow-out native plants for the entire area. Baldwin shared forms, databases, educational curriculum, and many other aspects of running a volunteer, educational, environmental program. For more information about Stream Team, contact Lorna Baldwin, the program's coordinator, at 682-4850 or visit the program on the web at www.ci.eugene.or, us/parks/stream. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 March 17, 2005