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6. Eugene Tree Foundation presentation Mr. Burke said that he grew up in Eugene and began spending time in Alton Baker Park in the 1970s when he lived in the Centennial Apartments near what is now Value Village. In 1986, he began to volunteer for environmental groups in town and got involved in changing the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space (POS) "mowing regime." He took Botany classes at LCC and at UO, where he got involved in plant walks and ivy pulls in areas now used by Nearby Nature, in the 1990s. In 1992, he gathered 1,000 signatures for the ballot measure which established what is now the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park. When he returned to Eugene from Corvallis, where he had attended graduate school, he got involved in the Eu- gene Tree Foundation (ETF) and the Stream Team. He was now president of ETF's board, and Director of Friends of Trees South. (ETF was becoming a chapter of Friends of Trees). Ms. Ferschweiler arrived at 6:09 p.m. Mr. Burke explained that Friends of Trees was based in Portland and was successful at community build- ing and coordinating volunteers for tree plantings and restoration work in urban areas. ETF was excited to join forces with this group. ETF had done primarily street tree plantings for most of its existence, and had been an all- volunteer group for most of its existence. ETF was in a transition period as it became a profes- sional organization that had paid staff, and becoming a chapter of Friends of Trees. ETF would focus on trying to learn, put into effect and build capacity for the Friends of Trees approach, which involved train- ing volunteers to take leadership positions in their work. Ideally, this meant that if a group of 200 volun- teers was planting 300 trees in a natural area, there would be two trained group leaders for every ten to fif- teen volunteers (a chief crew leader and an assistant crew leader). This was a very effective model. ETF events brought people together. Friends of Trees and Friends of Trees South had two major pro- grams, the Neighborhood Tree Planting Program in Portland (funded by Mayor Sam Adams' Grey to Green Initiative), which had funds to plant 83,000 street trees in seven years. The other program was the Green Spaces Initiative Program, which worked in natural areas around Portland to plant trees, conducted restoration work and planted trees along roadways and industrial areas. The City of Eugene had indicated that it wanted ETF to continue planting trees. There was a perception, which was not true, that those who planted trees were responsible for pruning them. ETF had received a lot of feedback about the importance of maintenance and restoration work. In response, ETF had one to five work parties each month, which focused on Amazon Creek between Jefferson and Chambers, and the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park. ETF had adopted the section of the WNA that was directly north and east of Nearby Nature's Wildflower Hollow and to the east of Walama Restoration's Butterfly Meadow. By doing this, ETF wished to make high - visibility areas beautiful and cared -for. This affected people's perceptions. Ms. Brand asked how Mr. Burke saw his future role with ETF, and if Willamalane and Eugene POS had given their blessings for ETF to play the role in the Whilamut Natural Area he had laid out. Mr. Burke said he had wanted to be sure ETF connected with the CPC as soon as possible to receive their blessing, and to contribute in any way they could. ETF had adopted the Eugene part of the park, through the Volunteers in Parks Program. ETF also had had several discussions with Willamalane. Mr. Hyde said that ETF and Willamalane had been working closely together, and that the ETF had coordi- nated with Willamalane parks maintenance staff. Their actions were fine as far as he was concerned. MINUTES— Citizen Planning Committee for the Apri121, 2011 Page 2 Whilamut Natural Area