Oregon Coast today., January 03, 2019, Page 11, Image 11

get out!
It’s oPeN sEaSoN iN LiNcOlN CiTy
By MICHAEL EDWARDS
For the TODAY
‘In every deliberation, we must consider
the impact of our decisions on the next seven
generations.” — Iroquois Nation maxim
B
etween Th e Knoll’s coast rainforest in
the north and the Cutler Wetlands
estuary in the south, Lincoln City
maintains 350 acres of open spaces.
Th is inventory has been amassed
thanks largely to the city’s 1998 open
space bond, which aims to protect
municipal open spaces for future
generations, maintain water quality in
lakes and streams, provide educational
opportunities and enhance the city’s scenic
beauty.
In preparation for this article, I hiked
several of the open spaces and sat down
with Parks and Recreation Ambassador
LoRee LaFon and Parks and Recreation
Director Jeanne Sprague to discuss the
importance of — and the management
challenges inherent in caring for — wild
places in urban areas. Th e city’s open
spaces vary in size, human impact and
biological diversity and together provide
recreational and unseen yet vital functions
for a growing city, and in a small way, for a
warming planet.
Two of the city’s newest open spaces
located in Nelscott, Agnes Creek
and Spyglass Ridge, are lands under
rehabilitation. Up until the 1960s, both
of these spaces were used for timber
harvesting. Since being turned over to the
city, thinning of the forest’s dense canopy
has been the priority. As the trees here
are thinned, sunlight reaches the forest
fl oor, bringing ferns, salal and salmonberry
to life. Frequent visitors to these forests
will see a gradual increase in plant and
animal life. Time and sustained careful
attention by municipal staff , the Rotary
Club of Lincoln City, Cub Scout Pack
47 and garbage bag-wielding visitors
will ensure the future viability of these
regenerating forests. To see what Agnes
Creek and Spyglass Ridge will look like
by the end of the century, take your family
to Th e Friends of the Wildwoods, located
a stone’s throw from Samaritan Hospital
or Th e Knoll, located north of Chinook
Winds Casino Resort.
Western hemlocks coated in dense
mosses and lichens, enormous multi-
trunked Sitka spruce and thick groves of
red alder encapsulate hikers in a misty
canopy as they trudge across the soft
squishy path to Th e Knoll. Wildlife
here is plentiful, but to see and hear it
through the dense underbrush visitors
must stop and quietly observe their
surroundings. Within this riot of green,
The view from The Knoll
12 • oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • January 3, 2020
curious chickadees share their ecological
niche with a nuthatch, thrush and colorful
Townsend’s and yellow warblers. At
the termination and high point of this
hike, visitors have unobstructed views
of Lincoln City, Devils Lake, the Coast
Range and, beyond the pounding Pacifi c
surf, the spouts of migrating Gray whales.
It is a credit to the foresight of the city’s
Parks and Recreation Department and
voters that this quiet and wild public open
space was created less than two miles from
the bustling northern commercial section
of Lincoln City.
At Lincoln City’s southern boundary
where the Siletz River and the Pacifi c
Ocean collide lies the Cutler City
Wetlands. Th is small but vibrant open
space provides refuge to shore pine, spruce
and Douglas fi r. Even in late fall, songbirds
bring this refuge to life. Hidden within
the wetlands is a beautiful garden of moss-
draped rhododendrons. Visit here in April
with your children and grandchildren to
see this magnifi cent Hobbit-like forest in
full bloom. Unlike in the city’s other open
spaces, the trails of Cutler City Wetlands
are well-marked with creatively designed
signs and informational kiosks. Local
artist Nora Sherwood is working with the
city to improve the signage in the rest of
the Lincoln City’s open spaces. Visitors
will begin seeing her unique contribution
to the city’s open spaces this summer.
Along with providing the city’s
residents and visitors with free and
convenient recreational opportunities,
Lincoln City’s open spaces provide the
region with clean air, fi ltered water and
in a warming planet, space for giant
conifers to grow, thrive and store carbon.
During our discussion, Sprague informed
me that a recent scientifi c study from
North Carolina discovered that one acre
of trees remove two-and-a-half tons of
carbon from the atmosphere annually.
Th is means that Lincoln City’s 350 acres
of open space removes 875 tons of carbon
from the atmosphere every year. As more
cities in Western Oregon preserve and
rehabilitate their open spaces, the amount
of carbon sequestration by trees and
wetlands will only increase.
Th e Lincoln City Parks and Recreation
Department does a fantastic job of
managing its parks and open spaces but
because of the amount of territory that
it oversees, volunteers are instrumental
in maintaining its open spaces. If you are
interested in conserving Lincoln City’s
open spaces, contact LoRee LaFon at
LLafon@lincolncity.org and ask her about
the city’s ground-breaking Adopt-A Trail
program.
Now get out and enjoy your urban
forests.