The City of Eugene is one of 16 partners in the Rivers to Ridges Partnership. The Partnership evolved out of the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership and has been conducting important coordinated work in the South Willamette Valley since 2010. The Partnership just released its 2016 Annual Report summarizing its many accomplishments.
As highlighted in the report, the City of Eugene’s Parks and Open Space (POS) Division worked with the Long Tom Watershed Council and Bureau of Land Management to help rehabilitate approximately 60 acres of oak woodland and savanna. Also, the City of Eugene, Bureau of Land Management, and Willamette Resources and Education Network (WREN) partnered in 2016 to host National Public Lands Day at the Steward Pond-Bertelsen Nature Park complex. This family-friendly event included invasive species control, trash collection, blue bird nest box installation, and planting of native seed to grow habitat plants for the great copper butterfly.
These are just a few of the projects described in the report that support the Rivers to Ridges Partnership’s mission, which is to provide a connected network of habitats and trails across land and water to benefit the people and places of the South Willamette Valley through indispensable ecosystem services and compatible recreation and environmental education opportunities.
For more information, contact Shelly Miller, POS Ecological Services Manager, at (541) 682-4888.