Oregon Lottery Investments in Parks and Natural Resources 1999-2010

A report to the Northwest Wildlife Conservation Initiative and The Nature Conservancy

Submitted 3/22/2010

Abby Haight

503.804.8317

abhaight@gmail.com

Oregonians have always shared a deep love for their state -- its 100,000 miles of rivers and streams, the wildlife that grace its forests and waters, a shoreline of sand dunes, estuaries and rich marshes. Salmon were food and spirit for our First People and a treasured icon for modern Oregonians. A state system of parks and nature areas provided more than just recreation -- they put Oregonians in touch with rock and water, Douglas fir and prairie bunchgrass, the beauty that makes our state special.

But by the mid-1990s, salmon were in trouble. Some 30,000 miles of Oregon’s rivers and streams were considered polluted or degraded. Streams had been straightened, cleared of trees, stripped of fallen logs. The federal government added Pacific salmon to the list of endangered species, in large part because their habitat was blocked by dams or had become inhospitable from warm and polluted water, erosion, channel straightening and invasive species. Native wildlife and plants -- rare and less-visible species like Fender’s blue butterfly and Kincaid’s lupine -- faced extinction as their habitats were razed for development. Land cleared for farming and homes in the rich Willamette River valley threatened habitat of the once-common Western meadowlark. Even the sweet song of Oregon’s state bird was being silenced.

Meanwhile, the Oregon parks system was struggling under funding cuts. Even as Oregon's population rose -- the system sees 40 million day-users and 2.2 million campers annually -- no new campground had opened in 30 years, and no significant new park had opened in 28 years. Sixty-five parks faced closure because there was no money to keep them open. All of the state's parks and campgrounds were falling into disrepair from years of financial neglect, with an estimated $118 million needed for basic maintenance such as repairing dry rot, filling potholes and replacing failing plumbing.

In 1998, Oregon voters agreed to amend the state’s Constitution to dedicate 15 percent of lottery revenue to parks, beaches, salmon, wildlife habitat and watershed protection. Until then, lottery dollars had been used to create jobs, to boost economic development and aid public education. With the overwhelming approval of voters -- Measure 66 passed 742,038 to 362,247 (more than 67%) -- the lottery would now aid a state parks system on the brink of collapse and environmental programs struggling to protect the state's most precious treasures. Half the 15 percent dedicated funding was directed by the measure to parks, the other half to restore and protect important habitats.

This report looks at what has happened since that 1998 victory for Oregon's outdoors. It draws on statistics kept by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the agencies most responsible for channeling lottery dollars to projects that protect, enhance and enhance Oregon's wildlife and green spaces.

Over the years, most of the 15 percent of lottery money allocated to the Parks and Natural Resources Fund has been given to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board through the Parks and Natural Resources Fund, but the Oregon Legislature has also directed some of the money to other agencies. The funds have been used to help finance state troopers who combat violation of natural resources laws and to support a variety of activities undertaken by the state’s natural resource agencies. Since 1999, $149.8 million has been allocated to:

Oregon State Police: The enforcement of fish and wildlife laws.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: Technical assistance to private landowners, monitoring, salmon recovery plans.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality: Development of regional water quality plans and standards, water quality monitoring.

Oregon Department of Agriculture: Agricultural water quality management plans, landowner assistance, control of weeds and other invasive species.

WATERSHEDS AND HABITATS

Since 1999, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) has received $273.6 million in lottery funds to help restore and conserve Oregon’s native fish and wildlife.

The watershed board has invested a total of $354 million in grants to non-profit organizations for projects that restore streams and lands for habitat for native fish and wildlife. Of that, $219.2 million was lottery money; the rest includes federal funds, money from the Salmon License Plate and other sources.

About half of OWEB’s grant money (and 76% of granted lottery funds) goes directly to on-the-ground conservation, including restoration work and purchases of lands and water rights. The rest is distributed as grants that support restoration projects, such as technical assistance; investing in local community groups that provide the on-the-ground work; education and outreach; and monitoring and collecting data to determine whether the work achieves its intended ecological benefits.

Local watershed councils and soil and water conservation districts are the primary vehicle for organizing local efforts to put lottery funds into on-the-ground projects. OWEB’s financial support and project grants have helped make the grassroots approach to watershed improvement pioneered by Oregon in the mid-1990s a national model for community-based conservation.

More than 90 watershed councils around the state grew out of a desire to find local solutions for salmon and stream concerns. Most existed prior to 1998 and this conservation movement was boosted by the passage of Measure 66. The councils apply for and oversee grants that restore and monitor watersheds, as well as educate the public about the importance of watersheds. Historically a service for ranchers and farmers, soil and water conservation districts also work with local land owners and apply for lottery funded grants for programs that range from helping property owners restore streams to encouraging removal of invasive plants.

To date, OWEB has provided lottery-supported grants to almost 3,500 projects; about 75 percent are complete.

The steady flow of lottery funds also allowed OWEB to bring in an additional $106 million in federal dollars to give out in grants, from sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, all OWEB grants require a match of at least 25 percent. The typical match is much greater; the average match is 142%. For instance, OWEB's $3 million award to remove the Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River was one of the agency's largest grants. But it leveraged more than 12 times that amount in federal matching money. The $40 million project was one of the largest dam removals in the United States, and opened the river to endangered Rogue coho salmon and other anadromous fish.

From 1999 to 2008, OWEB grants have helped restore 2,600 stream miles through instream projects or riparian enhancement. Instream restoration includes adding large woody debris and boulders and rebuilding channels that have been straightened or degraded. The instream work restores streams’ natural complexity -- the bends, pools and sheltering logs that reduce water temperatures and enhance habitat. Riparian work includes planting trees that provide shade, stabilize soils and provide habitat for birds and other wildlife; fencing to keep livestock from degrading stream banks; and removal of invasive plants.

Grants from the watershed board help protect more than 38,000 acres around the state, from bunch-grass prairie to wetlands to coastal estuaries.

In addition, OWEB grants have made 3,000 stream miles accessible to fish by removing or replacing culverts, fish ladders, push-up dams, tide gates and dams – manmade obstacles to the free movement of fish.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Since 1999, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has received $408 million in lottery funds. More than $105 million has been used for repairs to existing state parks, but lottery funds have also allowed Oregon to create additional new parks for the first time in decades. The state parks department has used $42.9 million in lottery dollars to purchase and protect 11,269 acres. Parklands created by lottery dollars include the 1,654-acre L.L."Stub" Stewart Memorial State Park, the first new full-service park opened since 1972; and Cottonwood Canyon on the John Day River, destined to become the state's largest park at about 16,000 acres through future purchase of property. Lottery dollars also paid for critical repairs and upkeep at parks throughout the state.

Once facing $118 million in overdue repairs and upkeep, the parks system has reduced its backlog to $35 million and expects to eliminate the backlog of projects in 2014.

Part of the lottery funding for parks has also been awarded as grants for local parks projects including playgrounds and ball fields. More than 260 grant projects totaling $34.8 million have been completed; another 60 projects totaling $8.5 million are in progress.

ON THE GROUND AND IN THE STREAMS

Lottery dollars have been used for large and small projects. They have secured special lands for permanent protection, and made sure the bathrooms worked at popular campgrounds.

Lottery dollars have paid for the protection of native wildlife and plants that are federal- or state-listed as species of concern, threatened or endangered.

Although much of OWEB’s funding has been targeted to habitat improvement for coho and Chinook salmon, grants have also protected and enhanced habitat for the Fender's blue butterfly, Kincaid's lupine, Willamette daisy, Bradshaw's lomatium, Nelson's checkermallow, Oregon silverspot butterfly, vernal pool fairy shrimp and Spalding catchfly. They are used on a massive scale, restoring thousands of acres of watershed in eastern Oregon to help protect endangered Snake River Basin steelhead and Snake River spring/summer chinook. And they have been used to foster the tiny blooms of dwarf wooly meadowfoam, which grows only on the summit of Table Rocks in southern Oregon.

Oregon parks has used lottery dollars to purchase properties that are habitat for steelhead and bull trout (Bates Mills State Park); coho salmon (Beaver Creek State Park and Clay Myers State Natural Area); steelhead and Washington ground squirrel (Cottonwood Canyon SP); Spalding's catchfly (Iweternlaykin State Heritage Site); Oregon silverspot butterfly (Saddle Mountain SNA and Sunset Beach State Recreation Area?); Wolf's evening primrose and silvery phacelia (Sisters Rock SNA); steelhead and chinook salmon (Thompson's Mill SHS); silvery phacelia (Tseriadun SRA); Waldo gentian, large-flowered rush-lily, western senecio, Oregon willow-herb, Howell's mariposa-lily (Eight Dollar Mountain SP).

But the lottery money helps more. All lands and waters that are preserved or restored provide healthier habitat for birds, salmon and steelhead, elk and deer and other animals, and for the hundreds of native wildflowers that delight the eyes. Thousands of school children learn to appreciate nature in hands-on outdoor experiences, and thousands of volunteers are engaged in restoring streambanks and other habitats close to home. Oregonians have a greater sense of stewardship -- for lonesome mountain wilderness and urban green spaces -- thanks to lottery funds.

The watershed board has been involved in some of Oregon’s largest conservation efforts.

The City of Eugene used a $900,000 OWEB grant and matching funds to buy 317 acres of wetland and upland to add to its West Eugene Wetlands Project, an innovative effort that provides wetland mitigation bank credits for industrial development in the area. In addition to its natural cleaning and flood control, the wetlands provide habitat for seven federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Zumwalt Prairie, above Hells Canyon in northeastern Oregon, is the largest remaining bunchgrass prairie of its type in North America. A block of more than 33,000 acres protected by The Nature Conservancy with help from OWEB is home to one of the largest concentrations of breeding raptors in the country. Ferruginous and Swainson's hawks, increasingly rare in the West, thrive here. So do rare plants like the threatened Wallowa rice grass and Spalding's catchfly. OWEB provided a $3 million grant to The Nature Conservancy to purchase the original 26,920 acres in 2001. Large-scale restoration and management programs aid the endangered Snake River Basin steelhead and Snake River

spring/summer chinook, as well as at-risk species like bull trout and redband trout.

The McKenzie River Land Trust coupled a $750,000 OWEB grant with $1.5 million in matching funds to purchase 856 acres at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers. Green Island had been in agricultural production for decades; dikes and berms held back flood waters. The dikes were removed and volunteers with the trust have planted thousands of native trees and shrubs to restore the land to its natural functions, reducing flood risk to nearby communities.

One of the first major purchases by Oregon Parks and Recreation using lottery money was Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island, on Oregon's central coast. Of the $2.8 million price, parks contributed $1.2 million and OWEB added $917,500. The 180-acre site on Tillamook County’s Sand Lake estuary, left mostly undeveloped, includes pristine tidal wetlands, home to young salmon, as well as deer, bear and cougar. A simple trail lets visitors explore while preserving the land’s wild nature.

Eight Dollar Mountain State Park in Southern Oregon boasts the heaviest concentration of rare plants in Oregon, according to The Nature Conservancy. The 651-acre park, left mostly in its wild state, is home to threatened and endangered Waldo gentian, large-flowered rush-lily, western senecio, Oregon willow-herb and Howell's mariposa-lily. Stands of western azalea, chaparral and pine forest are broken by bogs, where the carnivorous California pitcher plant grows, and wet meadows that are home to tufted hairgrass. Oregon parks used lottery dollars to buy the land for $849,000 in 2008. At an adjacent property, an OWEB investment of $500,000 was matched by a $2 million donation from a private foundation to protect similar habitats while also providing significant community educational opportunities through the Deer Creek Center.

A $1.3 million grant from OWEB helped The Nature Conservancy purchase 1,710 acres at the summit of Table Rocks, two massive towers that rise out of the Rogue River Valley in southern Oregon. With the purchase, all of the summits and most of the flanks of the two landmarks -- some 16,000 acres -- are protected by The Nature Conservancy or the Bureau of Land Management. The grasslands, chaparral and oak savanna of Table Rocks support almost 20 bird species that scientists say are vulnerable to extinction. Seasonal pools on the summits are home to the endangered vernal pool fairy shrimp and the only place endangered dwarf wooly meadowfoam grows.

OWEB also funds small grants of up to $10,000 for on-the-ground restoration projects. Over the years, more than 1,550 small grants have helped property owners and small non-profit organizations restore riparian tracts and resolve upland irrigation problems. About 13 percent of the stream miles restored with OWEB funding were accomplished through the small grant program. More than 450 new off-channel watering sites moved livestock away from streams.

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pays agricultural landowners to restore riparian areas, which in turn enhances water quality and improves fish and wildlife habitat. Each state provides match funding to this federal program; in Oregon, most of this match is provided by OWEB. Often working with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, property owners receive annual conservation payments for fencing and resting areas of agricultural production for 10-15 years. So far, more than 35,000 acres are enrolled and more water is kept in streams.

In addition, lottery funds help educate and engage all Oregonians in protecting their state. Education and outreach grants fund Salmon Watch, which has connected kids to rivers and forests for a decade; training adults and watershed professions as Master Watershed Stewards; funding for the multi-media “Stop the Invasion” campaign against invasive species; and “Slough School,” which teaches students in Northeast Portland about the Columbia Slough watershed.