Item B: WEC Recommendations - Laserfiche WebLink

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ATTACHMENT A help contribute to the City’s portion of the habitat enhancement project cost share (35%). ? Undertake an assessment of west Eugene habitat connections needed by wildlife moving between wetlands, wet prairie, oak savannah and/or forest. Over the past 15 years, the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership has acquired about o 3000 acres of land in west Eugene that is comprised of wetlands and associated upland habitats. A key element of the Partnership’s acquisition strategy was to purchase properties that provide hydrologic and ecological connectivity. Connectivity is important for a variety of reasons, including to allow wildlife to move within and among the various habitat types. With this protected system in place, the Partnership has undertaken several studies to assess the ability of certain wildlife species to move within and among the habitat types. In particular, several studies have been conducted on Western pond turtle and Fender’s blue butterfly. Apart from these two species, there have not been any specific assessments of habitat connections needed to move in the west Eugene area. ? Support the construction and operation of the Environmental Education Center. The City of Eugene is a partner in the effort to construct and operate an o Environmental Education Center in west Eugene. As recently as January 29, 2009, Parks and Open Space Director Johnny Medlin provided an update to City Council on the status of this effort with a memo to Mayor Piercy and the City Council. ? Act to improve Amazon Creek water quality. Improving water quality in Amazon Creek is a key goal of the City’s storm water o program. Since storm water from 65% of Eugene’s land base drains into Amazon Creek, achieving this goal requires effective implementation of a very large suite of actions, including actions that can only be implemented by individual land owners. Having said that, there are specific actions that Public Works is taking to improve water quality in Amazon Creek. For example, the Parks and Open Space Division has been actively planting trees along the banks of Amazon Creek to improve shading of the creek, which helps reduce water temperature. In addition, multiple habitat restoration projects along Amazon Creek have occurred over the past decade, which have helped improve water quality, expand flood storage capacity, and improve habitat for a broad suite of native plant and animal communities. In the future, the City will be implementing planned capital improvement projects identified in the Metro Waterways Study, which will continue the trend of improving water quality, flood storage capacity, and habitat in the Amazon Creek system. ? Undertake a feasibility study of re-establishing cutthroat trout passage between Amazon Creek and Coyote Creek. It is suggested that a collaborative partnership be used to implement this study that includes the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management, the City of Eugene, and Lane County. There is currently no action underway related to this recommendation. o