CAMP CREEK:  “Locally grown” could become more than a supermarket slogan, thanks to the recent $1.08 million acquisition of 92-acres along the McKenzie River in Camp Creek. Located between Bellinger boat landing and Lane County’s Vickery Park, the property purchase, completed on July 9^th, combined $310,000 from the Eugene Water Board and $777,000 from the Bonneville Power Administration.  The agencies funded the acquisition of the new Berggren Watershed Conservation Area, partly to mitigate for the impacts of the Willamette Valley Project and McKenzie River dams.  It will be managed by the McKenzie River Trust, which plans to build on its earlier successes at nearby Big Island.

But beyond the ecological significance of the acquisition, plans for the parcel call for a wide ranging list of activities. The property includes more than 50 acres (including nearly a mile of McKenzie River frontage) of riparian area with key side channel, island and flood plain forest habitat for protection and restoration. It also includes 34 acres of farmland with a house, barn and a large shop, as well as irrigation water rights for the farmland.

The latter portion would be the focus of establishing a demonstration farm that would be a model for transitioning current McKenzie Valley agricultural lands from conventional pasture to organic food crops (an estimated 70 percent of farmland in the McKenzie is now pasture).

EWEB has also received a Healthy Farms Clean Water grant designed to assist farmers protect water quality while increasing farm revenue through a variety of programs, according to the utility’s drinking water source protection coordinator, Karl Morgenstern.

The grant aims to aid the estimated 300 plus owners of farmland by helping them access local markets that tend to pay more for crops, while at the same time reducing chemical use. By transitioning to certified organic crops or engaging in “smart” practices such as nutrient management, manure management, or composting the grant program aims to show people they can save money. Other goals include reducing chemical storage on farms through a free agricultural chemical collection program and connecting growers with the programs designed to increase energy efficiency, incorporate renewable energy, and reduce water consumption.

The utilities bought the land from Richard and Sandra Hunsaker of Walterville, who have owned it since 2002. It has long been known as a refuge for juvenile Chinook, Oregon chub, great blue herons, osprey, beaver, and numerous other riparian species, the property contains many river features that create and sustain dynamic, healthy rivers: intricate side channels, mid-channel islands, subsurface gravel deposits, large wood masses, beaver ponds, and a floodplain that connects to the river on a regular basis.

Considerable subsurface flows also are present under the whole Big Island/Berggren complex, cooling the river’s water and making it more hospitable to native fish.

Ryan Ruggiero of the McKenzie River Trust said the organization will work with EWEB, the McKenzie Watershed Council, and the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife to enhance riparian bottomland forest conditions in some areas and re-establish it in other areas. Invasive species removal, large wood placement, and planting of native bottomland tree species such as cottonwood, Oregon ash, alder, cascara, western red cedar and big leaf maple is anticipated.

Other possibilities include the McKenzie Watershed Council utilizing the property as a site for its existing environmental education and monitoring efforts with the Springfield, Mohawk and McKenzie schools as a potential outdoor classroom.

Back on the farm front, Morgenstern notes EWEB will be holding a ‘Funding Fair’ in early November to officially kick off the Healthy Farms Clean Water grant project for all interested McKenzie farmers. “This fair will feature a short presentation explaining the components of the grant and how to participate. It will be followed by an open house with all of our project partners where you can find out more detailed information about each sub-project, how it works, and how to participate,” he said.

The property was named in honor of recently retired Eugene Water & Electric Board General Manager Randy Berggren, who had been a strong supporter of river conservation efforts during his 24-year career with EWEB.

Published July 22, 2010 in the McKenzie River Reflections