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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 22, 2014 - City Council Newsletter City of Eugene 125 East 8 Avenue, 2 Floor thnd Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 682-5010 (541) 682-5414 (FAX) www.eugene-or.gov EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER May 22, 2014 IN THIS EDITION RECREATION RECEIVES GRANT TO CONTINUE BICYCLE SAFETY PROGRAM JOURNALIST SPEAKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE PROFITEERS AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS AMAZON CREEK, WJ SKATEPARK, SIDEWALK SAFETY AND MORE NATIVE PRAIRIES RESTORATION BEGINS AT SOUTH EUGENE MEADOWS AROUND THE CITY Recreation Receives Grant to Continue Bicycle Safety Program The Recreation Division of the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department has received a $22,000 grant from the Jane Higdon Memorial Fund through the Oregon Community Foundation. The funds will be used to continue the Bicycle Safety Education Program that teaches fifth- and sixth-grade students in the Eugene 4J, Bethel, and Springfield school districts how to be safer and more predictable cyclists. It is one of the first regional programs of this type in the country and reaches approximately 1,000 students annually. The City was also awarded this grant in 2012. The bike safety program provides extensive road and, specifically, on-bicycle education with the goal of increasing youth bike ridership and safety so kids can have fun traveling predictably, visibly, and legally through the community. An additional goal is to teach students lifelong skills about getting around in the community using active and healthy transportation choices. The Bike Safety Education program includes a 10-day curriculum for sixth- and fifth-grade students. It starts with classroom instruction on the rules of the road, how to ride properly and how to check bikes for safety. Next, students participate in on-bike drills conducted on school grounds and then on open streets. The class culminates in a community ride around local neighborhoods that is made possible with the assistance of community volunteers from each district’s Safe Routes to Schools program. For more information, contact Recreation Program Assistant Zane Wheeler at 541-682-6321. Journalist Speaks on Climate Change Profiteers at Eugene Public Library On Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m., the Downtown Eugene Public Library will host a free talk by journalist McKenzie Funk about his book, Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming. Funk spent the last six years traveling the world researching entrepreneurs who see the promise of profits in the climate change crisis. Environmental writer Elizabeth Kolbert says the book is "smart, daring, and darkly funny.” According to The New Yorker, "Funk's take on global-warming profiteering is as entertaining as it is disturbing." In its Best Books of the Month list for January 2014, Amazon’s Neal Thompson wrote, "Like a mashup of Michael Lewis and Mark Twain, Funk is an intrepid investigator and a lively, smart writer. From eco hedge funds to dam building to desalination plants, he shows how climate change is creating new opportunities and a potential boon for cowboy entrepreneurs. This is the rare book that’s both important and highly readable." EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 May 22, 2014 Funk is a journalist whose work has appeared in Harper’s, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, GQ, Outside, and the New York Times. A National Magazine and Livingston Award finalist and the winner of the Oakes Prize for Environmental Journalism, he was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where he studied economics and system thinking. For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at www.eugene-or.gov/library or 541-682-5450. Newsletter Highlights Amazon Creek, WJ Skatepark, Sidewalk Safety and More Amazon Creek has undergone dramatic transformations over the past 150 years. Prior to straightening, deepening and channelizing parts of the creek, areas near present day South Eugene High School, Civic Stadium and low elevation areas were frequently inundated by flooding following winter storms. This issue of Stormwater Connections explores changes to the creek over time, what has been learned and what is needed for a healthy creek. A second article provides some insights on a not-so-ordinary project that took more than a decade to complete. That project is WJ Skatepark, the largest covered, lit skatepark in the country now open in Eugene which features wheeled recreational activities for all ages and skill levels. Also under cover are basketball courts and tournament-quality horseshoe pits. This unique structure required creative thinking to address the challenges of managing stormwater runoff at this park. Learn more about this and the upcoming grand opening on June 21on National Go Skate Day. Other informative topics include tips for clean and safe sidewalks and how to learn more about rain garden workshops. Readers will find a reminder about the benefits of bees and the important contribution they make as pollinators. The focus of the Stormwater Connections newsletter is educating and informing community members about stormwater pollution and ways to protect the local waterways. Articles in Stormwater Connections typically address seasonal or current issues and include one page of interest for younger readers. Copies of the newsletter are now available electronically at www.eugene-or.gov/happyrivers. Eugene residents can also expect to receive the newsletter delivered via mail next week. For more information, or additional copies of the newsletter, please contact Public Information Specialist for the Stormwater Management Program, Kathy Eva, at 682-2739 or Kathy.a.eva@ci.eugene.or.us. Native Prairies Restoration Begins at South Eugene Meadows A project to restore regionally rare upland prairie, oak savanna, and oak woodland at the South Eugene Meadows site in the City’s Ridgeline Park system began on May 19. Restoration of the site’s prairies and oak habitats will greatly improve conditions for wildlife, reduce fuel loads, and preserve these native ecosystems for enjoyment by the community. Over 200 Willamette Valley species use these habitats, ranging from grassland birds such as Western Meadowlarks to western gray squirrels, native plant species that support pollinators, and Oregon white oak trees themselves. South Eugene Meadows hosts many acres of these habitats, which are considered conservation priorities in Oregon. These high priority habitats were the reason South Eugene Meadows was acquired with major grants from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), under the provision that the City would protect the site’s natural values. The oak and prairie restoration project implements the City’s management plan for the site, approved by the OWEB and BPA, as well as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The project will be funded with grant funds provided by the BPA as well as the value of the trees removed from the site. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 May 22, 2014 Project activities will run mid-May through early July. The City has selected a restoration approach that minimizes ground disturbance, provides the greatest protection to soils and ground-layer vegetation, alleviates the need to build roads into the site, and significantly reduces the need for follow-up maintenance. A small forestry crew will be on-site for three weeks, cutting trees that are encroaching on the savanna and prairie. A helicopter will begin operating on June 9, transporting the trees to two locations from which they will be loaded onto trucks and hauled from the site. Although there are no official trailheads or trails on the site at this time, for the public’s safety, the site will be closed for the duration of the project. Following the project, prairies will once again be characterized by grasses and wildflowers, oak woodlands will be opened up with light reaching the shrubs and ground layers, and large, legacy savanna oaks will be released from shading and competition with Douglas fir. For more information, please contact Trevor Taylor at trevor.h.taylor@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-4888. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 May 22, 2014