County supports compromise on Fern Ridge bike path
By Karan Irmsher
Of tfc. IjmmM
lame County commissioners
agreed this week to support a
Kugene-to-Fem Ridge bike path
route they hope will please both
environmentalists and cyclists.
The compromise route avoids
disrupting the rare plant and
wetland areas that conserva
tionists have termed a prime
habitat for wetlands game and
non-game birds unique to the
Kugene/Springfiold area At the
same time, bicyclists got a com
mitment from the county that it
eventually will provide them
with a 13-mile path connecting
the city with Fern Ridge laike.
The controversy centered on
where the trail should enter the
lake area and how much of the
shoreline it should skirt. In
1974, when froth the county's
and the lake's master plans call
ed ftttf bike trails entirely circl
ing the lake, wildlife preserva
tion was not a major concern
But several years ago, when the
corps began an update of its
master plan, they scrapped that
circlet of cycling trails as in
compatible with conservation of
the lake's natural resources
"In 1974 they had soma dif
ferent concepts of what was ap
propriate development. That
plan was a recreation plan. It
didn't deal with the natural
resources." Pern Ridge Lake
Manager ]im Heal said.
Since then, he said, agencies
such as the Army Corps of
Engineers, which owns the
lake, and the U.S. and Oregon
departments of fish and wildlife
have become increasingly en
vironmentally conscious.
"Over the last nearly 50
years. Fern Ridge take has
developed into a prime
freshwater marsh habitat," Beal
said.
The area threatened by the
original bike path route passes
through an area that contains
rare and endangered plants and
wildlife and has fawn carefully
nurtured by conservation
groups for a number of years.
Fred Meiner. the president of
the Eugene chapter of the Izaak
Walton league, said members
of his group have volunteered
hundreds of hours in the past
few years developing the area as
a nesting area for ducks and
geese Many of these have not
previously nested in the
Willamette Valley, he said.
"Some people have tried to
make this an issue between
hunters and bicyclists, and it's
not,” he said. "It’s a bicyclists
versus conservationists issue."
Meiner has no objection to a
bike path as long as it doesn't
disturb this one estuary, about
three-quarter miles long, in
which he and other conserva
tionists have spent so much
time, money and energy
creating a wetlands nesting
habitat, he said. Putting a path
around the edge of the lake
through that area would have
the same effect as climbing up
your apple tree to examine the
contents of a nestful of eggs, he
explained “The mother will fly
away, and the babies will die."
An invasion of cyclists and
their dogs would have affected
the waterfowl the same way,
Meiner said.
Bicyclists were willing to
compromise on the originally
proposed route in view of
altered lake management needs.
What they were asking for at
this point was safe access to the
area and a commitment from the
county to include this leg of the
path in its master transportation
plan. In the 1974 plan, this seg
ment was part of a bicycle cor
ridor that would extend from
the Mount Pisgah Arboretum to
Fern Ridge.
Eugene Bicycle Coordinator
Diane Bishop said she is
delighted with the county's
decision But she hopes too
many years don’t pass before
the path becomes a reality, she
said, because the wait already
has been too long.
The county's decision to sup
port the path is not the last
word, however. A final decision
on whether to include plans for
a bike trail in the Fern Ridge
Flan of Management and
Development lies ultimatelv
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The right choice.
with the Portland office of the
Army thorps of Engineers. Beal
said the corps has been holding
off on writing the final draft of
the plan until they heard what
the county had to say.
"We're not bound by what
they decided, but we’re trying
to be receptive,” he said.
The Portland corps office will
make the final decision during
the next two months, Beal said.
He added that for him, the bike
path was just one of many deci
sions to be made in revising the
master site plan for the lake.
Beal sees the extensive airing
of the issue in recent weeks as
extremely valuable, he said.
“A lot more people are now
aware of the conflicts and
tradeoffs,” he said.
The county didn't make a
final decision on the exact route
of the last mile of trail, just the
decision to be supportive and
involved in path construction.
Cyclists would leave the
Amazon Canal and head north
at Fir Butte. An easement runn
ing from Fir Butte would feed
either Eaton. Spires or Shore
lane and go on to Orchard
Point.
No final decisions will lie
made on this until area
residents are consulted and
other relevant information is
gathered.
Construction could still be
ntanv years down the line, ac
cord i ng to the county
commissioners.
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