Amazon Basin/Eugene Wetlands
Statement of Work and Budget FY2005-2006

BPA Project Number:  1992-059-00
BPA Project Title: Amazon Basin/Eugene Wetlands
Contract Number:  00008609
Contract Title:1 992-059-00 Amazon Basin/Willow Creek Phase II
Performance/Budget Period: April 1-March 31

Technical Contact:
Jason Nuckols
Willamette Valley Preserve Manager
The Nature Conservancy
87200 Rathbone Rd.
Eugene, OR 97402
Phone 541-343-1010 / Fax 541-343-1737
jnuckols@tnc.org

Contracting and Financial Contact:
Theresa Koloszar
Grants Specialist
The Nature Conservancy
821 SE 14th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
Phone 503-802-8100 / Fax 503-802-8199
tkoloszar@tnc.org

Project Goal:
The Willow Creek Mitigation and Management Project has been designed to provide protection and improvement of wildlife habitat for mitigation of habitat loss as outlined in the Northwest Planning Council's 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program.  These efforts would partially fulfill BPA's obligations to protect, mitigate, and enhance wildlife habitat affected by the development of federal hydroelectric projects in the Columbia River Basin, including the Willamette River Drainage.

Background:
The Willow Creek Wildlife Mitigation Project Environmental Assessment (EA) was developed in 1995 to guide the management of the Willow Creek Natural Area for wildlife mitigation purposes.  Prior to completing the EA, a habitat assessment was conducted of the Willow Creek site to document habitat units baseline conditions for the following target species: Beaver, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-tailed Hawk, Valley Quail, Western Meadowlark, Yellow Warbler, and Western Pond Turtle.  The EA also describes five management alternatives and quantifies the increase in habitat units for the target species that would occur under each alternative.  The alternative that was selected for implementation was designed to maximize wildlife and biodiversity values on the site.  This would be accomplished by restoring, enhancing, or maintaining sufficiently large areas of a variety of habitats occurring on the site.

Location of Project:
The Willow Creek Natural Area is located in the Amazon Creek watershed in and adjacent to the City of Eugene, Lane County, Oregon.  With the recent addition of the Cuddeback, Alvord and Rathbone parcels, an area of 492 acres is currently protected at Willow Creek through the BPA wildlife mitigation program.  However, the Willow Creek Natural Area comprises one portion of a larger wetland system in the West Eugene area that is protected through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, the City of Eugene, and the Eugene District Bureau of Land Management.  This larger wetland system includes over 1700 acres of protected wetlands as well as adjacent upland habitats that have been acquired by BLM and the City of Eugene.

Relationships to Other Projects:
The Willow Creek project is related to the Willamette Basin Mitigation Program (#9206800), which includes a number of sites elsewhere in the Willamette Valley that have similar opportunities for wildlife mitigation.  For example, the Mt. Pisgah site, which is located about 11 miles east of the Willow Creek site, supports some similar habitats and target species (wetlands and riparian habitats supporting species such as the western pond turtle).  Mt. Pisgah also provides some similar opportunities for wildlife habitat enhancement, such as removal of invasive non-native species such as Scot's broom.