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<br /> PAUL CARTER/The Register-Guard
<br /> America Indian elder Frank Merrill of Eugene,from the Karuk Tribe in Northern California,performs a blessing during the dedication Monday of the
<br /> Meadowlark Prairie wetlands observation point off Greenhill Road west of Eugene.
<br /> •
<br /> Ceremony celebrates wetlands project
<br /> ., ?' - Children were the perimeter of the wetlands have
<br /> The restoration completes a I invited to been erected.
<br /> decade of work by local, scoop up a Construction of the bike path ex-
<br /> hand ul o tension and wildlife overlook sig-
<br /> state and federal agencies x > f f naled completion of the
<br /> seeds of native P project's
<br /> main elements earlier this year.
<br /> BY JOE MOSLEY -,,,,,N., „. ai grasses and The new segment of the 12-foot-
<br /> BY
<br /> Register-Guard ;"' s `t Chen cast them wide concrete path extends from Ter-
<br /> ,,y,„;
<br /> . d,, ., ( 3,,-�+ T) onto the land ry Street in the Bethel area to Green-
<br /> Local dignitaries celebrated the s a ,, i 1 i during hill at Royal, and crosses four
<br /> undoing of work done by their prede- ' t � @ z? ° r' dedication
<br /> cessors when a restored 400-acre24.1#144"..,-,...-'-',4.1;',.....,,,,,-,--y,,,--,;.„..
<br /> #� .e ` bridges.
<br /> r.1t�` r a � p '3 wk Monday of the The overlook, on Greenhill just
<br /> chunk of the West Eugene Wetlands i ae 4"; , 4� e
<br /> was dedicated on Monday. 'r� i4, f'ti "'i i Meadowlark areah and bike r includes a viewing
<br /> y' „6 - sty :pils. .71.„-:,;;;17.,',/e.44.,,,,,
<br /> r- Prairie bike racks,covered viewing
<br /> Meadowlark Prairie, which lies j - t yes• std wetlands west areas,picnic tables and restrooms.
<br /> southeast of Greenhill Road and Roy- t 'r` � '" i: 6 .F ,
<br /> al Avenue,is the most recentlycorn- r� i .' y.. l of Eugene. Work on the overall project fea-
<br /> k " tured a partnershipbetween the
<br /> pleted portion of the 2,500-acre West ,_; �4 `' ELM,the city of Eugene,the U.S.Ar-
<br /> Eugene Wetlands area encompassing 4,. my Corps of Engineers and the Ore-
<br /> much of the Amazon and Willow gon Department of Transportation,
<br /> creek drainages. the meadow's northwest corner. since been drained for use as farm- with most of the funding coming
<br /> The$6.5 million Meadowlark res- "The changes that were made in land and other development, to the from federal sources.
<br /> toration took 10 years from planning the creek return it to its original pro- point that experts now estimate less "It demonstrates how much can
<br /> to completion and involved removal file,"Eric Jones,spokesman for the than 1 percent of the valley's historic be done,and shows how much more
<br /> of flood control levees built in the Eugene Public Works Department, wetlands remain. can be done in the future because
<br /> 1950s, along with rehabilitation of said Monday. "So this is not just a Planning for the Meadowlark these agencies now have a history of
<br /> the Amazon Creek streambed and re- matter of digging out some invasive Prairie restoration began in 1993, working together so successfully,”
<br /> placement of invasive plant species (plant)species." and the U.S.Bureau of Land Manage- Jones said.
<br /> with native ones. Before the area was settled in the ment began acquiring farmland for Monday's dedication included a
<br /> It also included a 2.5-mile exten- 1850s,much of the Willamette Valley the project two years later. Since ceremonial blessing of the site by
<br /> sion of the Fern Ridge Bike Path and was dominated by seasonal wet prai- 1999,flood control levees have been Frank Merrill, an elder in the local
<br /> construction of a wildlife overlook at rie habitat. Those wetlands have removed while new levees around American Indian community.
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