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In response to a question from Mr. Biggs, Ms. Baldwin explained that the funding came mostly from the Stream Team budget. She underscored that it was the enthusiasm of the volunteers that kept it going. In response to a question from Ms. Blick, Ms. Baldwin stated that some plants were watered but not all and she could not make a firm statement regarding the survival rate. Mr. McIntire added that once established the plants were fine. Mr. Taylor commented that they planted many thousands of plants without irrigation. 6. Staff Reports a. City of Eugene Mr. Taylor reported the following: • The natural resources maintenance crews had been seasonally watering restoration plantings along the Willamette. • The first mowing of the bicycle "margins" and some of the blackberries in the Whilamut Natural Area had been undertaken. • Several populations of false -brome had cropped up, several of which were too large to address manually. Herbicide may have to be used. • A contractor has been working on Pre's Trail in preparation for the Olympic Trials. There was also much work being done on the green loop by the Oregon Track Club. • Staff and a sheriff's road crew had been picking up trash and removing blackberries. • The sheriff's road crew had also worked in the community gardens and dealt with dog park gar- bage cans. • Erosion near the bridge over the Canoe Canal by the dog park was an ongoing issue. There had been talk about putting in fencing but this was deemed impractical. The most likely solution at this point was to try to restore the area as best as possible and to provide a single narrow access point to the creek area. • Mr. Sonnichsen, Ms. Jones, and Ms. Behm, and Mr. Taylor planned to meet with Kevin Finney to establish better protocols for the BMX track after the BMX event held in June. Mr. Finney has ordered a survey of the boundaries of the BMX area in order to keep the bicyclists in that area. • The last piece of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife grant was being used for educa- tional and interpretive signage. Several consultants were interviewed and PPI, a consultant firm out of Portland with a wealth of experience, was hired. He hoped to send Pdf files of the pro- posed signs to the CPC membership so that they could review them and then a smaller staff team would coalesce ideas and comments that were submitted and pass them back to the consultant. He said two weeks after this the signs should be finalized. There will be four interpretive signs in ki- osks, each one with two panels —one educational and one a new map of the area. The kiosks were planned to be located at four of the main entry points to the natural area. The Autzen Footbridge kiosk would focus on riparian habitat. The kiosk by the dog park would be focused on signs of wildlife and would encourage people to keep their dogs leashed. A kiosk located closer to the In- terstate 5 side would feature a landscape history and the kiosk by the Knickerbocker Footbridge would focus on prairie features. Mr. Taylor related that the Interstate 5 project had been postponed due to a change in the project schedule. MINUTES— Citizen Planning Committee of the July 26, 2006 Page 3 Whilamut Natural Area