Tag: EWEB

Voluntary Incentive Program Became the Answer to the Problem

Posted on by Julia Havens

My name is Erik Forsell, and a Community and Regional Planning graduate student. I am enjoying the summer weather that has recently arrived, and I am ready to get to work on my exit project over the summer. Currently, my (Community Planning Workshop/CPW) team is working on a program that provides incentives to landowners for protecting healthy riparian habitats along the McKenzie River. The McKenzie is an amazing resource and a beautiful river. It often reminds me of the Mountain Rivers in the Appalachian Mountains, my former home.  The McKenzie is the sole source of drinking water for Eugene, and the quality of the drinking water withdrawn from the river is exceptional.

The public utility of Eugene wants to maintain this excellent water.  Therefore a voluntary incentive program became the answer to the problem, where landowners can join a program to receive incentives for protecting land that is on the McKenzie. It is a ‘nip it in the bud’ idea, that could also potentially save utility ratepayers and Eugene citizen’s money in the future. This is important because significant scientific evidence suggests that healthy riverside forests do wonders to maintain water quality.

There are myriads of examples of degraded habitats and water-bodies across the country. Unfortunately, the habitat has to become degraded in order for the amazing restoration projects to occur. The program that we are working on seeks to protect and maintain healthy habitats so that the restoration projects will never be needed.

This is an innovative project, which makes it exciting to work on—many of the concepts that are employed are cutting edge in the world of conservation. I am looking forward to seeing how it becomes actualized in our watershed.

 

About the Author: Erik Forsell is a Community and Regional Planning graduate student with interests in renewable energy and sustainability. He enjoys fishing, skiing and gardening when not working or studying.

A Walk in the Woods by Scarlett Philibosian

Posted on by Admin
Photo by Steve Rafuse

A Walk in the Woods by Scarlett Philibosian

What is healthy riparian habitat along the McKenzie River?  Is it a lot of trees lining the banks of the river?  Do they have to be native tree species?  How far from the waterway does riparian habitat extend?  What about plants growing close to the ground?

My Community Planning Workshop (CPW) team is working with the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) and local organizations to find the answers to these types of questions.  Talking about what makes up a healthy riparian forest is part of our work in designing a project called the Voluntary Incentive Program (VIP).  Under this program, EWEB will reward landowners who maintain healthy riparian forest habitat on their land.  The program is designed to build positive community relationships, both among neighbors in the lower McKenzie River basin and between landowners, EWEB, and partners in the VIP such as the McKenzie Watershed Council.

Most people living in Eugene drink McKenzie River water, and the VIP will incentivize maintaining land next to the River in ways that translate to better water quality.  But what exactly constitutes habitat that will filter pollutants out of water?  To find out, my CPW team visited the Bergrenn Demonstration Farm, and walked around different types of riparian land.  Here are several pieces of information we learned from VIP partners about riparian forests along the McKenzie River:

  • While nonnative plant species do take up pollutants from the water, some provide less of a filtration service than native species.  For example, the invasive reed canary grass (top picture) has shallow roots, while native clumping grasses have deep root systems that anchor soil and pull pollutants from several feet beneath the surface.  Therefore, minimizing nonnative species on riparian land is important to maintaining good water quality.
  • The canopy of larger trees tend to take up more surface area than do smaller trees.  Canopy cover over the river banks helps slow down the speed at which rain falls on the ground, which reduces erosion and therefore reduces sedimentation, a type of pollution.
  • Leaf-fall and rotting logs results in a rich topsoil layer above the finer soils.  This layer provides habitat for burrowing creatures such as insects and salamanders, and burrowing makes soils more porous.
  • Lastly, different native plant species work in harmony to take up pollutants and protect the riparian land from severe flooding.  Therefore, maintaining many different plant species in the riparian zone is important to good water quality.

Other posts about Scarlett Philibosian

More about the Community Planning Workshop(CPW)