We’re offering a limited attendance, RSVP-only guided walk on May 17, 6-8 p.m., of scenic oak woodland and prairie habitat along the Long Tom River. This walk is in cooperation with our partners at WREN in the West Eugene Wetlands and will be led by local naturalist Rick Ahrens.
It’s been a while since our last outdoor event, way back at our Annual Celebration in 2019, and we miss seeing and interacting with you on the landscape! We are thrilled to be offering an opportunity for 12 community members to join us for a masked, socially-distant hike on a remarkable landscape a few miles downstream of Fern Ridge off Franklin Road.
**Registration is now closed**
Read our April/May 2021 Newsletter
The site of the May 17th tour is a habitat restoration project that is part of a
1,200-acre multi-ownership area of intact, native habitats including wet and upland prairie, oak woodland and savanna, riparian forest, and wetland. There are also vernal pools and remnants of the historic Coyote Creek channel. For over 10,000 years Kalapuyan people tended oak and prairie through the use of fire. Now these habitats are some of the rarest in the Willamette Valley and are stewarded by local agencies and passionate landowners. The properties connected to this tour site include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, McKenzie River Trust, and three families with which LTWC has worked closely.
One family is the Johnsons, and since 2000, LTWC has worked alongside them to enhance and restore habitat structure and species diversity through multiple project phases. The site harbors numerous upland and wetland plants, including extensive camas in the spring and the rare Bradshaw’s lomatium, the latter of which was recently downgraded under the Endangered Species Act as an example of a recent conservation success story. The site is also rich in bird life and supports a number of raptors, waterfowl, songbirds, and oak-prairie-adapted species. The vernal pools and wetlands support northern red-legged frog and western pond turtle, and there’s even a resident herd of elk! We’re grateful to the Johnsons for their ongoing stewardship and their generosity of spirit to share this special place during this tour.
Meet the walk leader: Rick Ahrens grew up in a birding family in Ohio and moved to Oregon in 1981, where he has been a volunteer naturalist with several local non-profits. He has been involved with the West Eugene Wetlands for over two decades, with a particular interest in insects and wetland ecology.Register for this event!
In order to ensure the safe distancing for all attendees, our maximum threshold for the guided walk is 12 people. We will be choosing participants via a lottery system. Those interested in participating can fill out a form to enter the lottery here: by Monday, May 10th at 5 p.m. If you are interested in attending the walk with someone, please submit one form with both of your names and contact information (limit one entry for a maximum of two people). Lottery winners will be chosen and notified by Wednesday, May 12th. All tour attendees will be asked to wear masks for the duration of our exposure to one another and attendees are asked to maintain 6-foot physical distance between households. There will be another drawing for those not selected to win prizes, including an LTWC hat, steel pint glass, and otter!
**Registration is now closed**