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wetlands should not be rejected as restoration sites because the community did not have the foresight in the past to protect more wetlands. Jim Reed, 1732 Long Island Drive, identified himself as a fresh water ecologist and marine scientist. He said that Mr. Cornacchia's recommendation would eliminate protection for any wetland with a road running alongside of it, which constituted most of the wetlands in Eugene. He asked when a stream was considered natural and when it was not. Mr. Reed pointed out that most of the water channels and streams in Eugene had been ditched, moved, or put into culverts to accommodate road construction and agricultural. He said that a 1993 Nature Conservancy report for Lane Council of Governments analyzed historic waterway patterns and indicated that in 1850 there was a significant lack of natural waterways in the area. Mr. Reed said that when the area was drained, ditches were created. Further, the wet prairies that were characteristic of the plan area were flooded in winter and the streams that drained them were dry in the summer. He said that Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations would isolate already protected wetlands, lead to hydrological disconnection, and damage hydrological integrity. Mr. Reed asked the elected officials to follow the recommendations of the planning commissions. He said that the changes proposed by Mr. Cornacchia had no scientific merit. Mr. Reed noted that the remaining wet prairie in Eugene represented the last of a vast wet prairie system that reached all the way to the Puget Trough in Washington. One-third of the Willamette Valley was covered with wetland prairies when settlers arrived. The original acreage was reduced to about 900 scattered acres between Salem and Eugene, or about .03 percent of the total. Robert Moulton, 294 Sterling Drive, said that the Metropolitan Area General Plan provided for a balance between the economy and environment. The Metro Plan called for the community to broaden and diversity the economy while enhancing the environment. Mr. Moulton said that he had been involved with the development of WEWP since its inception, and it had been supported by the business community. The WEWP called for a balance of uses and the protection of the best wetland sites in the area. As a result, Mr. Moulton said, the community had protected most of the most valuable wetlands and that land is no longer available for development. He believed that the proposed amendments violated the intent of the WEWP and the Metro Plan. Mr. Moulton endorsed Mr. Cornacchia's suggestions as most close to intent of the original plan and said that they should be adopted Bayard McConneaghy, 1653 Fairmount Boulevard, UO Professor of biology, said that the plan was developed with the assistance of several regulatory agencies and many scientists, and a last minute proposal to scuttle the plan in favor of increased development would be a great mistake and a policy change that was not justified. He supported the public process used to develop the plan and noted his continuing participation in the process. Mr. McConneaghy found it upsetting that Mr. Cornacchia proposed to alter the balance of the plan. He believed that Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations were intended to accommodate Hyundai's proposed Phase III. He said that, if adopted, the policies proposed by Mr. Cornacchia would destroy the scientific basis of plan and open the way for decisions based on politics. He said that the plan intended to minimize adverse impacts and preserve endangered species. Mr. McConneaghy said that Oregon had lost most of the wet prairie habitat that would be protected by the criteria Mr. Cornacchia proposed to eliminate. He was also concerned that the proposal would eliminate the criteria that recognized natural underground hydrological connections. MINUTES--Joint Elected Officials-- February 18, 1998 Page 6 Eugene City Council/Lane County Board of Commissioners