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• f 1 { 3 � J ti d t l • \ \ ., - , ...... . ._ j "."*"."". 4 \ Camassia quamash NEWSLETTER OF THE WEST EUGENE WETLANDS PARTNERSHIP A; MARCH 1994 r Welcome to Camassia • 1 Welcome to Camassia (ka ma' se a), the in west Eugene. This small, blue - flowered, spring- • ` ' redesigned newsletter for the west blooming bulb is an apt symbol for this project. Not ,,,,$) ^ s'' Eugene wetland partnership. We've only does camas grace our wetland meadows with its .` x,. given the former West Eugene Wetlands beauty each spring, but it also played a key role in the Newsletter a facelift and a new name history of the local wetland landscape. to reflect a new phase in this exciting Camas bulbs provided an important food source project. As you'll read in these pages, to the native Kalapuya tre who lived in the we have taken several steps toward our Willamette Valley prior to European settlement. His - vision of balancing wetland stewardship and economic torical accounts tell us that the Kalapuya set fire to the development in west Eugene. As a result, we have at- wetland prairies to enhance their hunting grounds and tracted an audience of regional and even national fol- to improve their harvest of camas bulbs. This periodic lowers. We thank you for your interest. burning helped maintain the prairie nature of these You may wonder how we chose the newsletter wetland areas by preventing the growth of invading name. Camassia is the Latin genus name for a wetland tree saplings. So, we are clearly not the first people in wildflower called small camas (Camassia quamash), west Eugene to practice wetland management! which is found throughout remnant prairie wetland We hope you enjoy reading Camassia. as INSIDE Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan Adopted CAMASSIA Wetland areas are an important component of plant and animal populations, some of which are con- Entering Wetland Zone Eugene's Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan, sidered threatened or endangered. Portions of Ama Code Changes Proposed which went into effect on January 1, 1994. zon Creek, Delta Ponds, and Bertelsen Slough are The stormwater plan is a multiple- objectives ap- among the wetland areas that are now recognized as New Look at West Eugene proach for addressing a wide variety of stormwater- important parts of Eugene's stormwater system. Wetland related issues within a comprehensive framework. It is this balance between flood control, water qual- Inventory Revised Historically, stormwater management in Eugene ity, and natural resources that the stormwater plan's has focused on drainage and flood - control objectives. goals and policies address. The initial program emphasis Restoring a Resource The city's conventional stormwater system has quickly will be on education, identi- Study Examines and efficiently conveyed runoff away from the urban fying illicit connections to the Lower Amazon area and into local channels, streams, and wetland ar- storm system, monitoring in eas. As the urban area has grown, runoff volumes have dustrial discharges, develop- At Home in Wetlands increased. This has resulted in the replacement of natu- ing water -based standards for Meet the ral waterways with stormwater piping and engineered, new development, and man- Western Pond Turtle open - channel ditches. aging the west Eugene wet- Wetland areas play an important role in land system. Funding for the Building for the Future stormwater management because they store and slow programs will be through a combination of stormwater Mitigation Bank the release of flood water, help improve water quality user fees and, possibly, other sources of revenue still Inititated by filtering out pollutants, and support a variety of under review by the City Council. as'