Amazon Park Rare Plants - Laserfiche WebLink

New Search

EUGENE Public Works Maintenance City of Eugene 1820 Roosevelt Boulevard Eugene, Oregon 97402 (541) 682 -4800 January 19, 1999 Dr. Rhoda Love 393 Ful Vue Drive Eugene, OR 97405 Dear Dr. Love: You called on January 15 to register a complaint that a park bench was installed last year within the area of Amazon Park delineated as a Lomatium bradshawii conservation easement. My answer to you at the time of the conversation reflected the fact that I did not have full knowledge of the details surrounding the bench placement. I've since checked with maintenance staff, reviewed the conservation agreement for the area, and reviewed the notes of the plant survey done by John Koenig and Ethen Perkins, and spoken by phone with John. With that review done I think the following comments are worth making. First, the Maintenance Supervisor informed me that our maintenance staff were asked to check the site for Lomatium before installing the bench. Contrary to what I told John by phone, it was someone other than our wetland specialist, Jesse Cary -Hobbs who checked for the plant's presence. Our staff who maintain the area, however, are able to identify the plant, and any plants present would have been visible in the spring when the work was done. The donor of the bench was informed that we had to choose a place that did not have the protected plants. The field notes of John and Ethen, who surveyed the area almost four years ago, did not indicate the presence of Lomatium at the bench site. Jesse did comment that the bench site is a little higher than the spot at which several plants exist to the west of this site, and on the north side of the trail. The odds of seed being transported by water or mechanically to this location seem remote enough to suggest that our staff probably did not overlook any new, plants since the original survey. Second, in our phone conversation you mentioned the need to mitigate for plants that were likely removed. I believe the evidence now shows that none were lost as a result of the bench installation. I nevertheless looked to see if the agreement contained anything about mitigating for any disturbance to the habitat area of concern and found nothing. Referring to the agreement and the City's 8th responsibility, the statement specifies that the other parties to the agreement shall be notified regarding proposed activity in high quality habitat (for the Lomatium). What distinguishes a "high quality habitat" from a medium or low quality habitat might be a contentious point in the future. Therefore, I hope that the NPSO might develop some descriptions, with accompanying actual site examples, for high, medium and low