2B | WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
BUTTERFLY from B1
D
thought. Hamann, who has
a background in nonprof-
it management and com-
munity development, was
thinking specifi cally about
looking into nonprofi ts
south of Cottage Grove.
“Literally as I had that
thought, I drove by that
sign,” said Hamann, ref-
erencing ECEC’s butterfl y
sign. “And I said, ‘Like this
place! Th at’s obviously a
nonprofi t.”
She continued to drive by
and on the return trip, was
again, drawn in.
“On my way back I saw
a sign for a native plant
nursery and thought, oh, I
should just check it out. I
come around a bend in the
road and it’s this place. So at
that point it was like clearly,
clearly I have to be here,”
said Hamann.
Aft er that, Hamann be-
gan volunteering her time
at ECEC. Th is random
stranger stopping in be-
came the answer to Beck-
ley’s prayers.
“Here comes this lady
that wants to help, she asks
me if she can help me weed.
So she was there every
Tuesday for a while and I
kept saying, ‘You know, I’m
to the age where I’m going
to have to stop weeding and
back off of this but who
would want this job?’ And
she said, ‘I would,’” recalls
Beckley. “She has 20 years
of experience in a nonprofi t
and she was on the board of
the nonprofi t organization
for the whole state of Ore-
gon. It was amazing.”
And while Beckley was
thrilled to have Hamann on
board, the feeling was most
certainly mutual.
“What attracted me to
ECEC was the amazing
community support and
the people that came to-
gether to make this happen
in a town of 200 people. It’s
amazing,” said Hamann.
With experience in this
line of work and a love for
Elkton, Hamann, who was
named executive director
in 2014, worked to continue
to grow ECEC while focus-
ing on the three pillars that
are at the core of the orga-
nization: community, youth
employment and tourism.
“I have heard so many
people say that they found
their community by com-
ing to ECEC. Th ey joined
the knitters or joined a
book club or something like
that. Th ey come to events,”
said Hamann. In a small
town, ECEC is oft en the
place to be.
For youth employment,
ECEC hires around 15 Elk-
ton High School students
each year to work in the
summer. Th e jobs vary and
include everything from
working at the café to serv-
ing as a tour guide. Th is has
been central to ECEC since
its inception.
“We’re isolated and those
kids from 14-18 have no
place to work. I really be-
lieve in work. I have a big
thing about work ethic,”
said Beckley. “I tell them
bring an empty skill basket
and we’ll fi ll it up. Th ey can
work here. It’s an education
as well as meeting the pub-
lic, that’s the biggest thing,
probably.”
Th e fi nal piece, tourism,
has been steadily growing
over the years in Elkton.
ECEC is funded about
equally via grants, dona-
tions and earned income.
But to grow as a tourism
destination, for Hamann,
this means people who visit
stopping at not just ECEC
but all around town. Grab-
bing lunch, visiting a win-
ery or planning a fi shing
trip in the future.
“In the past I would say
we’re a community center
that had a positive econom-
ic ripple. What we’re trying
to shift into is being a ru-
ral economic development
organization that happens
to operate as a communi-
ty center,” said Hamann. “I
look at everything we do
through that lens: how are
we bringing more people
to town, how are we en-
couraging them to connect
with the other businesses in
town, how are we generat-
ing opportunities to make
money through what we
do.”
While Hamann began as
an especially knowledge-
able volunteer, that is now
a role that is played by Bar-
bara Slott. Slott, who has
a Bachelor’s and Master’s
degree in Wildlife Biolo-
gy from the University of
Montana, was looking for
a way to get involved in the
community. Aft er moving
a couple miles away from
ECEC, she decided to see
what it was all about.
“I fi lled out a little card…
fi guring I’ll be pulling
weeds or watering plants, I
didn’t know. And then Mar-
jory, our executive director
is very good at matching
peoples interest, skills,
background with what’s
needed here,” said Slott.
“She said ‘Oh, and what
are your passions now?’ It’s
still nature. And she said,
‘Well, one of the volunteer
positions we would love to
fi ll is the volunteer butter-
fl y steward. And I was like,
what’s that?”
At ECEC the butterfl y
steward is in charge of all
things butterfl ies. Th is is
everything from caring for
the caterpillars to giving
presentations to groups
that come through. Slott
was intrigued, said yes and
promptly went about learn-
ing all she could about this
animal. She approached
one of the high schoolers
who was giving tours about
the butterfl ies and had
them tell her all she knew
and from there she learned
all she could online, read
books and connected with
butterfl y enthusiasts.
Now in her fi ft h year as
volunteer butterfl y steward,
she is still learning but has a
fi rm grasp on this exciting
creature. At ECEC, Slott
takes care of painted lady
and monarch butterfl ies –
natives to the area and on
this particular day, there
was just one butterfl y in the
pavilion as they were be-
tween generations.
But as butterfl y popula-
tions globally ebb and fl ow
– with more ebbing then
fl owing as of late – they
have continued to be the
draw at ECEC which has
led to opportunities across
the park. Th e butterfl ies,
and ECEC, have provided
Elkton with a lot to off er.
!
ED R
IT FE
M F
LI E O
M
TI
there was just one problem.
“No one stopped. No one
stopped at all,” said Beckley.
Refl ecting on her own trav-
eling habits, Beckley was
reminded of all the butter-
fl y pavilions she had visit-
ed. “Everywhere we went,
we went to butterfl y pavil-
ions. And I said, ‘You know
what? If we had butterfl ies,
people would stop.’”
Needing to learn more
about butterfl ies, Beckley
hopped on a plane to New
Jersey – “Or maybe it was
Connecticut,” she says as
she thinks of the memory
– to learn more about this
animal. She had found in-
formation online about a
guy who knew how to care
for butterfl ies and went
to learn from him. Aft er
learning all she could, she
wound up in Ashland to
get milkweed – the lifeline
of butterfl ies – in addition
to butterfl y eggs that soon
turned into hundreds of
butterfl ies.
“People started stopping
in just to see what that was
about. And in the mean-
time, because there’s 30
acres and because this com-
munity is innovative and
they have passions of their
own, they started putting
their passions to work,” said
Beckley.
With Beckley comfort-
able with bringing commu-
nity members onto the land,
the property began to fl our-
ish. Th ere was someone in
town who was a landscapist
and he ended up donating
500 trees. Th en there was
a group of passionate indi-
viduals who created a repli-
ca of Fort Umpqua – a trad-
ing post built by Hudson’s
Bay Company in the 1800s.
Th ere was also interest in
a library, a café and even
some local art was donated
as well.
Th e answer to all these
questions on whether or not
it could be included was a
resounding yes from Beck-
ley. Th e community came
to her with these skills and
she wanted to share them
with everyone else.
“Because this community
is innovative and they have
passions of their own, they
started putting their pas-
sions to work,” said Beckley.
Much like plants across
the property, ECEC began
to bloom. Th e ambitious
ideas became staples at
ECEC. Th is once sprawling
30-acres of sheep pasture
now has a little of every-
thing. Th ere is the butterfl y
pavilion, native plant nurs-
ery, Fort Umpqua, produce
stand and the library. Th e
seven climate zones of Ore-
gon are represented, plants
and produce are sold, tours
are given to schools and
weddings are hosted.
What started with a sign
getting people to give the
area a second look has
turned into an institution
in the community. With
a sprinkling of good luck,
skill that transcends what
is typically found in a town
the size of Elkton and a lot
of hard work, the group at
ECEC has gone above and
beyond. Did Beckley even
think all this was possible?
“Not in a million years,”
she said. “Not in a million
years.”
riving to the
coast with her
dog,
Marjo-
ry Hamann was lost in
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A painted lady butterfl y rests on a fl ower at ECEC on
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