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Home My WebLink About02/09/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER February 9, 2012 City of Eugene 777 Pearl Street, Room 105 Eugene, Oregon 97401-2793 (541) 682-5010 (541) 682-5414 (FAX) www.eugene-or.gov IN THIS EDITION JUVENILE CHINOOK SALMON FOUND AT DELTA PONDS AND HERON SLOUGH NEIGHBORS ASKED TO MAKE PROGRAMMING SUGGESTIONS POETS PATTY AND VINCE WIXON AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY EUGENE PARK STEWARDS MAKING A DIFFERENCE AROUND THE CITY Juvenile Chinook Salmon Found at Delta Ponds and Heron Slough For the first time in over 60 years, juvenile spring Chinook salmon can swim freely through newly created side channels of the Willamette River at Delta Ponds and Heron Slough. With completion of the major restoration work this year, water can now flow through the ponds for 2.2 miles, before it meanders through Debrick Slough and back into the river. Across the river from Delta Ponds is Heron Slough, a quarter- mile of newly constructed stream-like side-channel, where river water can also flow during high water events like those Eugene has had over the past several weeks. Slow-moving side-channels, such as those recently restored at Delta Ponds and Heron Slough, provide areas of calm water during high winter flows. It is here that juvenile salmon are able to rest, feed, and grow larger before migrating to the ocean. Although the Delta Ponds and Heron Slough projects provide benefits to multiple wildlife species, both projects were designed specifically to provide overwintering habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. A grant from the NOAA Restoration Center has allowed the City Contractor’s crew monitors fish at Heron Slough of Eugene to hire a consultant to monitor fish in Delta Ponds and Heron Slough. The consultant has been running a rotary screw trap at the inlet at Delta Ponds. Since January, over 50 juvenile Chinook have been captured and released using the rotary screw trap. A handful of Chinook were also found in the interior ponds at Delta Ponds and hiding under submerged tree roots in Heron Slough. For more information about the Delta Ponds and Heron Slough projects, please contact Natural Resources Coordinator Lauri Holts at 541-682-4925 or lauri.j.holts@ci.eugene.or.us. Neighbors Asked to Make Programming Suggestions In addition to the dinner, crafts, and games usually provided at the monthly First Friday Family Fun Night at Petersen Barn Center, the Feb. 3 event also included a community meeting. Recreation staff asked the 116 neighbors who attended the event to suggest activities they’d like to see provided at the center. Recreation Services currently provides programs for children, teens, adults, and seniors at Petersen Barn, including child care, art, dance and fitness classes, and social activities. To ensure a good turnout, staff canvassed the neighborhood inviting residents to attend the event and local schools publicized the event in their blog. To give ample opportunity for input, attendees were able to offer suggestions as part of an open forum, by responding to a written survey or by submitting written comments. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 February 9, 2012 The neighbors’ suggestions included adding more social activities such as cards, cooking classes, access to the center’s garden and hunter safety classes. According to Petersen Barn Senior Programmer Peter Chavannes, the results from the meeting and how they link to Petersen Barn’s summer programming will be posted on Petersen Barn’s Facebook page, as well as being available in print at the center. For more information, please contact Peter Chavannes at 541-682-5521. Poets Patty and Vince Wixon at Eugene Public Library The Downtown Eugene Public Library will host poets Patty and Vince Wixon at the Windfall Reading Series on Tuesday, Feb.21, at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. Patty Wixon is the author of “Airing the Sheets.” Her poetry has appeared in regional and national journals and anthologies, including “Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon.” A retired teacher and school administrator, she was the first president of the Friends of William Stafford and is a researcher in the William Stafford Literary Archive. Vince Wixon is the author of the recent poetry collection “Blue Moon” and has published two previous books of poems, “The Square Grove” and “Seed.” His poem “Tornado Weather” appears in Garrison Keillor’s recent anthology “Good Poems, American Places.” He has co-produced documentary films on Lawson Inada and William Stafford, and has co-edited two books on writing by Stafford for the University of Michigan Press. Together, the Wixons are poetry co-editors for the public radio magazine, “Jefferson Monthly.” The Windfall Reading Series is sponsored by the Eugene Public Library, Lane Literary Guild, Friends of the Library, the Eugene Public Library Foundation and the Cultural Services Division of Lane Arts Council. Refreshments will be served at intermission. For more information, please contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450 or www.eugene-or.gov/library. Eugene Park Stewards Making a Difference Taking full advantage of the beautiful weather, more than 135 Eugene Park Stewards volunteers were out in force throughout Eugene last Saturday. In total, more than 486 hours were contributed at four different locations. Using the nationally recognized hourly rate for volunteer labor, this equates to a value of over $10,000. One volunteer was overheard exclaiming, “This is awesome. I’m having a great time!” The Friends of Awbrey Park hosted Lambda Chi Alpha, a University of Oregon (UO) fraternity, and Cub Scout Troop 104, along with their families, at their First-Saturday volunteer work party. The diverse group removed an impressive amount of ivy and blackberry from the park and planted 64 native shrubs along Spring Creek. Community members also joined Friends of Trees Eugene to plant and mulch 100 new trees on privately owned land along the north side of Amazon Creek waterway, as well as weed and mulch another 60 existing plantings on the south bank. Volunteers planted a variety of native species including oak, ash, pine, alder and hawthorn. These trees will provide a diversity of water quality benefits to Amazon Creek, including shade to reduce creek temperature, filtration to decrease pollutant concentrations and the provision of wildlife habitat. At Delta Ponds, the Lions Club hosted new potential partners in their on-going adoption of ponds effort. Volunteers did a restoration planting with over 200 native trees, shrubs and flowers. The Cascade Family Flyfishers have expressed interest in adopting the northern section of the Delta Ponds. Based on their positive experience on this weekend, the Eugene Park Stewards Program is hopeful adoptions of Delta Ponds will be expanding even further. A young volunteer digs in And finally, work continued along the canoe canal in Alton Baker Park where UO students along Amazon Creek helped plant and mulch 33 native trees. This area has been dramatically improved over the course of two volunteer projects with 50 additional plantings anticipated in order to complete the restoration of the area. Eugene Park Stewards is a revamped Parks and Open Space volunteer program. Its mission is to build an informed and engaged community dedicated to addressing the needs of Parks and Open Space through ongoing stewardship. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 February 9, 2012 The program has volunteer coordinators in each of the city’s three park regions. To learn more about the program, please contact Eugene Park Stewards Supervisor Jackie Hallett at 541-682-4844 or Jackie.c.hallett@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 February 9, 2012