Eugene weekly., December 18, 2003, Page 14, Image 14

for arsenic, lead, and E. coli levels exceeding
the permitted standards. The Amazon
Diversion Channel, which splits off from
Amazon Creek just south of Royal Avenue
and flows to Fern Ridge Reservoir, was first
listed in 1998 for inflated levels of dissolved
oxygen and fecal coliform, which indicates
contamination by sewage or animal waste.
According to the DEQ, these pollutants
degrade the creek’s ability to support aquat-
ic life, render fish and water inconsumable,
and make recreation in the creek a potential
risk to human health.
Amazon Creek’s toxic report card
makes it easy to dismiss the creek as a pol-
luted ditch, good only for preventing
floods. But some people see it as an oppor-
tunity for local action.
Restoration Efforts
Gilmore stands by the bank of Amazon
Creek in huge plastic sunglasses and a
puffy blue jacket. His short red hair pokes
out beneath a fleece cap with earflaps, and
on his feet are pink tie-dyed socks and worn
tennis shoes. An active member of the Long
Tom Watershed Council, Gilmore recently
helped with the restoration of a section of
Amazon Creek in west Eugene.
Using Parks and Open Space funds, the
T HE E MERALD C ANAL
For decades now, a small group of Eugeneans has been advocating for an 11-block
canal connecting the Shaw’s Millrace near 10th and Ferry to what landscape architect
professor Jerry Diethelm calls “that concrete eyesore masquerading as Amazon
Creek” at 17th and Oak. Diethelm is a member, along with Charles O. Porter and Jerry
Rust, of the executive board of the Emerald Waterways Citizens Committee, Inc.
The Emerald Canal is getting closer to reality. Both the Eugene Planning Commission
and City Council have recently supported “daylighting” culverted water at the new fed-
eral building site, and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio is seeking $20 million in federal funding
specifically for the waterway in the Water Resources bill now before Congress.
What would such an canal be like? “Try to set aside the present urban drear and
call up a vision of a rich, local blend of historic millrace and San Antonio Riverwalk,”
says Diethelm. “Imagine a 35- to 40-foot waterway with broad promenades on both
sides meandering beneath native trees within an urban garden. Put yourself into one
of the water taxis, canoes and paddle boats as they pass under mirrored bridges and
14 DECEMBER 18, 2003
city created four braided channels in the
floodplain of Amazon Creek between Acorn
Park and Oak Patch roads. To control ero-
sion, they stretched jute and coconut fiber
matting over the soil. Gilmore proudly
points out the native species that he and other
watershed volunteers planted: Douglas spi-
raea, dogwood, willow, and Pacific
ninebark.
Gilmore says that he used to carry a lot
of anger about environmental destruction.
Even now, he gets worked up talking about
thoughtless polluters. “One of the things
that really bothers me is the way that people
just don’t clean up after their dogs. Or, the
other thing that I really can’t stand are these
leaf blowers,” he says. “You just want to
put sugar in their …” He stops himself.
“But I would never act on it,” he adds
quickly. “It sounds good to be radical. You
know?” He chuckles and lifts his ear flaps,
tying them on top of his hat.
After years of mounting anger, Gilmore
felt burnt out. “I just wore myself out
yelling and screaming at issues and realiz-
ing that you need to act instead of just talk
all the time,” he says. But the media hype
surrounding environmental issues didn’t
help. “When an article appears in The
Register-Guard, it tends to be either really
pro-development, or really anti-develop-
ment,” he says. “It just starts off with this
really big headline.”
The Watershed Council offered Gilmore
a constructive outlet for his energy, allow-
ing him to listen to other perspectives and
get involved in creek restoration projects.
While his involvement with the council
pushed Gilmore to compromise his radical
ideals, it also gave him a tangible way to
“think globally and act locally.”
It seems that Amazon Creek itself is a
lesson in compromise, changing us even as
we change it. We’ve turned it from a mean-
dering wetland creek into a polluted
“stream-ditch” flanked by blackberry bush-
es and willow trees. In return, the creek
offers us floods, ducks, and floating tires.
We walk, run and bike beside it; we absorb
its chemicals when we swim at Fern Ridge.
It drains our streets, carries our pollution,
and shelters our wildlife. And all the while,
Amazon Creek evolves, inspiring local gov-
ernment workers, business people, farmers,
and environmental activists to hammer out
ever-evolving schemes to contain it.
ew
To view a conceptual map of Amazon
Creek and other waterways in Eugene,
check out www.ci.eugene.or.us/wewet-
lands/images/Wetland-map-Dec02.pdf The
city’s comprehensive stormwater manage-
ment plan is available online at
www.ci.eugene.or.us/PW/storm/CSWMP.pdf
past urban townhouses, restaurant terraces, shops, parks and just pleasant places to
sit and marvel at the magic of light on water.”
Diethelm’s fanciful vision may be optimistic, but he says, “I think $20 million would
buy the major elements necessary for a return to the river: a significant underpass
under 6th and the railroad right-of-way, the basic water ‘plumbing,’ excavation and
construction needed, some important public plazas, walkways, plantings and places,
and some attractive waterworks along the way.”
He says the larger and longer-range public works “adjustments” to the urban
watershed will take more time and money. “I’m talking about filtering and cleaning
the water before it goes into the Millrace, returning it to the time earlier in this cen-
tury when it was not the area’s storm sewer.”
The canal link would allow fresh water to be brought from the Willamette into the
Millrace at Eugene, transported via the Emerald Canal to the Amazon, and carried
past the Fairgrounds to Fern Ridge Lake. It would then flow over the dam into the
Long Tom River and rejoin the Willamette north of Monroe. “A relatively short in-town
connection would create a very large waterway circuit that has contributions for the
community everywhere along its course,” says Dielhelm. — Ted Taylor