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April 2, 2008 <br />Oregon Parks and Recreation Department <br />Local Government Grants Program <br />Attention: Michele Scalise <br />725 Summer St. NE, Suite C <br />Salem OR, 97301 <br />Re: Letter of Support for City of Eugene's East Fork Amazon Headwaters Land Acquisition <br />Grant Application <br />Dear Ms. Scalise and members of the review committee <br />Southeast Neighbors is an active city- recognized neighborhood association representing about <br />13,000 residents and some 6200 households in Eugene, Oregon. Our neighborhood is bounded <br />roughly by Willamette Street to the west, 30th Avenue to the north, and by Spencer Butte and the <br />ridgeline hills to the south and east. <br />This area of the City of Eugene includes most of the primary headwaters of Amazon Creek. <br />Amazon Creek, in turn, defines the primary watershed for some 60% of the total area of the city, <br />extending through town from the southeast to the north and west, out to the well -known West <br />Eugene Wetlands. <br />We are writing in support of the City of Eugene's East Fork Amazon Headwaters Land <br />Acquisition Grant Application. For several years our neighborhood has studied and documented <br />the special values of this area, while working to build public awareness of the crucial value of <br />this property for both outdoor recreation and ecosystem services. <br />The East Fork Amazon Headwaters Forest is one of the most pristine habitat areas in and around <br />Eugene — which also happens to be in a unique location. It is rare and wonderful for residents of <br />our steadily- densifying city to be able to walk among 500- year -old trees, home to pileated <br />woodpeckers and rare mosses and lichens, and crisscross native streams connecting upland <br />pocket wetlands, home to red - legged frogs and other threatened plants and animals. <br />Our neighborhood has organized volunteer trail improvement projects around the bowl of the <br />Amazon Headwaters, and we are very aware of the potential for enhanced park use from trail area <br />protection. From the suburban streets below, to above timberline on Spencer Butte, impacts on <br />our local open space areas are increasingly significant from heavy use by hikers from across the <br />region. Acquisition and conservation of the East Fork Amazon Headwaters will help preserve the <br />entire regionally - significant hillside trail and open space system, by helping to accommodate the <br />wear and tear created naturally by so much loving use. <br />Because of our immediate location, our neighborhood sees itself as a steward, on behalf of the <br />entire community, of the Amazon Headwaters and the Eugene Ridgeiine Trail and open space <br />system. Preservation of the few remaining undeveloped reaches of the Amazon Creek <br />headwaters is the very highest priority identified repeatedly by residents of our neighborhood. <br />Sincerely, <br />Lisa Warnes <br />Vice President, Southeast Neighbors <br />isawarnes&efn.ocg <br />Box 1588, Eugene, OR 97440 <br />(541) 484 -2210 <br />www.SoutheastNeighbors.org <br />