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WHILAMUT NATURAL AREA CITIZEN PLANNING COMMITTEE Supplemental Questionnaire. March 1, 2005 1. Have you been a frequent visitor to the Whilamut Natural Area? What do you most enjoy about the park?. Yes - I bike and walk through the Natural Area several times a week. I most enjoy the presence of a relatively und veloped area within an uban area (in contrast to EWEB and other, more utilized areas of Alton Baker park) and so central to the Eugene-Springfield downtown cores. In addition, it presents a wonderful educational resource for students in my environmental planning seminars, as well as an attractive recreation "resource" too often overlooked by city officials and planners when marketing Eugene-Springfield for economic development. 2. The Citizen Planning Committee (CPC) meets as a full committee on a quarterly basis and all members are expected to attend. There are additional opportunities for involvement which include sub-committees which focus on specific park issues and volunteer work parties in the park. Would you be able or willing to participate in these additional activities? Yes - particularly those related to parks, environmental education, and sustainable community d velopment. 3. Describe your top three interest areas or issues regarding the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park. 1) Ensure that Whilamut remains an open, natural area with only passive recreational activities allowed; 2) enhance the educational learning opportunities which Whilamut affords to community schools and organziations; and 3) continue the restoration efforts to ensure the survival of endemic plant and animal species. 4. The CPC works with the City of Eugene, Willamalane Park and Recreation District, and other organizations. What specific strengths and attributes can you contribute to the CPC. More than twenty years as a professor and environmental planner in parks and protected areas give me both the expertise and experience necessary to successfully and sustainably manage Whilamut Natural Area as a protected "greenway" in our metropolitan area. 5. Please cite an example in which a wide range of opinions surfaced within a group to which you belonged, and your role in bringing divergent sides toward resolution. Recently, I was asked by the US State Department to assist government officials and tourism operators in Serbia-Montenegro to promote sustainable nature- and culture-based toudsm programs after years of civil war had degraded the country's natural environment and discouraged foreign visitors. The challenges were many, including ethnic distrust, dilapidated facilities & infrastructure, disagreements over appropriate practices in hotels and visitor activities, and lack of funding. How ver, I was abl to develop a cons nsus among th div rg nt groups for an initial tourism master plan and marketing program, and have just been awarded a Fulbright grant to return latr this year to continu the public planning process and to institut a park natural resource manag m nt degree at the University of Montn gm.