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Fec~era~Priorities 2007 Natura~Resources <br />Forest Legacy <br />Request <br />- The City of Eugene requests $460,000 from the U.S. Forest Service under its Forest Legacy <br />Program to purchase 25 acres of oak savannah and oak woodlands in the southwest .hills of <br />Eugene. This project made the U.S. Forest Service fiscal year 2007 priority list and was <br />included in the President's FY 2007 budget proposalfor.:$460,000.. This will be the first <br />Forest Legacy project in Oregon. <br />Background <br />This project- involves a willing seller, and the City of Eugene has a signed purchase option <br />with the owner. The City of Eugene will. match the 'Forest Legacy Program funds with <br />$456,500 of voter-approved Park Bond -funds toward the appraised. price. Furthermore, the <br />` ' property owner is donating $113,000 to meet the total appraised value purchase price. <br />.The State of Oregon now participates in the. Forest Legacy Program under a statute passed <br />in the 2005 legislative session. That law limits participation to properties within urban growth <br />boundaries and this site meets the criteria set forth in statute.- The project is consistent with <br />all applicable_Eugene planning and zoning regulations and statewide land use plans. <br />The South Eugene .Hills project is located in the oak savanna belt around -the foothills of <br />Eugene; (five potential tracts covering 230 acres). The project combines ongoing regional <br />efforts in watershed protection, wildlife habitat.- protection, open space preservation, and <br />recreation with the national program to conserve portions of the largest. remaining <br />undeveloped oak woodland, mixed-conifer, and oak savanna habitat in the Willamette- Valley. <br />The project is a multi-year effort to conserve a critically imperiled. habitat type located within <br />the highest priority Oregon Legacy Area. This area includes the best quality and most <br />t ~_ diverse oak woodlands, the most northerly stands of California Black Oak, and some of the <br />best remaining .oak savannas and mixed conifer woodlands in the Willamette Valley. The <br />area includes important habitat for many endangered species and species-of-concern, <br />~. including some endemic to these forests and woodlands. The ecological values are among <br />the highest in the state. <br />,, _ <br />Project Support... <br />{ This site is within the .top ranked Oregon Priority Forest under the .2001 "Assessment. of <br />Need" as approved by U.S. Forest Service national headquarters. This site was reviewed by <br />the Oregon Forest Legacy Committee and recommended to, and approved by, the State <br />~ Forester as the top Oregon priority. The site was ranked high in the Regional ranking system <br />E. and would be the first Oregon site funded under the Forest Legacy Program. <br />~ It abuts and connects the 123-acre Wild Iris Ridge site to The Nature Conservancy's 508- <br />acre Willow Creek Natural Area. - <br />t It will be an important addition to the 1,000-acre South Hills Ridgeline Park and trail system, <br />important habitat, and avital habitat connection_between two existing valuable natural areas.. <br />' 44 <br />