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To: Division of State Lands and the Corp of Engineers <br />As the City of Eugene embarks on another exciting natural resource project we would like to invite your <br />participation in development of the Golden Gardens Ponds. These ponds were created during a gravel <br />extraction operation by Lane County for road construction. Turned over to the City as undeveloped park <br />infrastructure they have sat over time with little use other than local neighborhood awareness. Since their <br />creation, several deaths have occurred here from drowning. Two recent deaths have increased local <br />involvement and resulted in moving this project forward today. <br />One of many project enhancements is to "lay back the banks" of the ponds. This will not only improve <br />safety along the ponds edge but enhance the ponds natural elements for habitat. Re-contouring of land <br />will create a more natural land form by filling in undulated surfaces created during the mining of this site. <br />Construction of a maintenance and emergency gravel road will allow for better management of the site as <br />a natural resource area and provide access to the pond sites for emergency vehicles. A bark trail will be <br />installed around the ponds to help bring a greater public presents to the site. With this increased use we <br />will see safer activities occurring and a larger public awareness of the site which will lead to increased <br />ownership and pride over this resource. <br />Vegetation will be greatly enhanced with large pockets of native trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses located <br />in areas that will provide sanctuary for wildlife and create buffers between human and wildlife activities. <br />Large areas of emergent riparian habitat will be created to provide that element lacking in the ponds. <br />Wildlife habitat will be greatly benefited by root wads and trees placed in specific locations of the ponds <br />and Western Pond Turtle nesting habitat developed and enhanced. <br />~ <br />As you can see we have a lot of work ahead of us and we appreciate your efforts to help us achieve our <br />goals this year. We would like to be considered for a GA perniit for enhancements. We believe the work <br />we do here greatly improves the natural resource elements of this site and allows us to move forward as <br />our community has asked. We see your participation in this partnership a benefit and look forwaxd to <br />working through the regulatory requirements to achieve a better end product. I would be happy to provide <br />a site tour or sit down at the table to discuss the projects and all its elements. <br />Please feel free to contact me at anytime for clarifications or discussions of design elements. We are <br />anticipating construction to begin in July of this year with a bid date in early June: We hope to have all <br />agency approval by mid May if possible. I will be interested in learning how this might be achieved or if <br />we are overly optimistic. <br />Thank You for your efforts, time and expertise. <br />Best Regards, <br />Terry Colvin, Project Manager <br />City of Eugene <br />Pubic Works, Engineering <br />244 E. Broadway <br />Eugene, Oregon 97401 <br />terrv.r.col~~in~?ci.eu ~ene.or. us <br />(541) 682-5398 <br />Page 1 <br />