New Search
Ethen Perkins, Ph.D. <br /> 2410 Monroe, Eugene, <br /> OR 97405 <br /> (503) 345 -3944 <br /> in for the garden project. Similarly fresh dumping of soils from adjacent residential sites was <br /> observed on another occasion. The easterly extension of fill for 28th ( ?) street seems to have <br /> created similar degradation in the past. All these areas could be protected with signing, fencing _ <br /> and policies which would gradually remove nearby gardening activities through reassignment of <br /> abandoned garden plots and fencing the redefined community garden boundaries a bit further to <br /> the west. If garden plots are seldom abandoned, reassignment to higher ground southwest of <br /> the existing garden might also work. Habitat reclamation within buffer areas could be little more <br /> than reestablishing the surface to match the elevations of the adjacent areas where LB occurs. <br /> 3. Major gaps in knowledge regarding restoration autecology of LB might be <br /> simultaneously addressed by submitting a restoration study plan and permit <br /> requests for assisted experimental recolonization of identified and created new <br /> habitat areas. For example, seed germination field test treatments could include seed <br /> collection followed by scarification, stratification, exposure to heat, and fall planting in soil cracks <br /> of newly created habitat areas. Knowing how to reestablish colonies of LB from seed seems an <br /> important aspect of mitigating other sites in Eugene where LB remnants are so sparse that they <br /> are quite possibly final hold outs of once larger but now morbidly fragmented populations [e.g. <br /> "living dead "j. Such steps could be very hopeful early measures toward recovery of this species, <br /> especially in areas which are also being set aside and protected as wetland mitigation sites. I hope <br /> that NPSO can encourage the city of Eugene to undertake such planning and submit the <br /> necessary budget, permit requests, and retain an appropriate species restoration consultant [for <br /> example, Leach Botanical Garden ?j. <br /> 4. The best place to begin recovery planning is with a careful and thorough <br /> inventory and mapping of existing plants colonies and populations, with <br /> historical research into the extent of presettlement populations (their probable <br /> gene flow or local isolation) to use as models for restoration, and with <br /> knowledge and understanding of which populations are reproductive, <br /> genetically unique or are not reproductive. This information enables full use of local <br /> ecotypic adaptations and variations and helps set viable restoration goals. Our study this spring is <br /> a good example which enabled the above recommendations. However, this information is <br /> probably not likely to be complete or definitive before restoration efforts are undertaken. Even in <br /> its present partial state, lack of some important understanding can be an unnecessary block or <br /> brake on restoration efforts which are important to begin, considering the likelihood that doing <br /> nothing while waiting for more information will not decelerate the rate of the local extirpation of <br /> small LB colonies. Our restoration efforts will be our best guide and trainer for what works. <br /> Ethen Perkins, Ph.D. <br />