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Volunteer Program IMPACT REPORT 2021

Better and Stronger than Ever

After a year of shutdowns and budget cuts, we are proud to say that the Parks and Open Space Volunteer Program has made a huge come back, better and stronger than ever before.

Total volunteer hours - 20,653

Valued at - $589,437

*hourly rate is valued at $28.54 per hour per independentsector.org

758 events at 77 locations

592 trees planted

17,991 shrubs/forbs planted

180 cubic yards of litter collected

28.5 miles of trail maintained

631 miles of waterway maintained

New Adoption Groups

Eugene Mountain Bike Stewards

Eugene has an active mountain biking community but very few trails dedicated to the sport in the Ridgeline system. In collaboration with Disciples of Dirt, Eugene Composite Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League, other avid bikers and Parks staff, we created an adoption agreement named Eugene Mountain Bike Stewards that set to work designing and building a new mountain bike trail called Green Room in the Ridgeline.

At their first event in November, 35 volunteers salvaged hundreds of Sword Fern and Oregon Grape along the new trail alignment (pictured on the left). Those plants were replanted by Obsidians volunteers around the trail head for Spencer Butte. The salvage event was such a success it inspired a second event two weeks later where the trail was further grubbed out and widened.

Parks is proud to support this all-ages sport while educating participants on the importance of native habitat and restoration, and we look forward working together to improve the mountain biking experience in Eugene.

Gilbert Park

Gilbert Park is a small park in the Bethel neighborhood featuring a shady grove of trees, lawn and a play area. Despite being surrounded by many households with children, Parks staff and neighbors rarely saw any playing there. This year, a joint effort between Parks and local neighbors is turning things around.

Parks applied new rules, increased safety team visits and added a new fence to the back of the park. Neighbors have formed a new adoption group - the Friends of Gilbert Park – and host family-friendly gatherings every month. In December, 35 volunteers planted trees in the park and boosting the tree canopy in the Bethel neighborhood.

West University Park

West University Park is a stone's throw away from the University of Oregon yet high school students, not college students, have formed the backbone of our volunteer power here. Bridgeway House provides programs for students with autism. Their adoption at West University Park has been a great education opportunity for students to learn about native wildflowers. They spend one afternoon per month weeding, mulching and pruning.

Additional Groups

Thank you to our other adoption groups newly formed in 2021: the Sheldon Community Center at Sheldon Park, Scobert Park Neighbors, Friends of Charnel Mulligan and Petersen Barn Community Center at the new Petersen Barn Herb Garden.

"We’re Back!"

Returning partners packed a punch this year.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS Day has historically been a big, annual day of service when hundreds of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members split up across the park system to give back. This year the LDS Church showed up in full force. 130 members spread across 5 different parks to help make our parks shine.

This year, they doubled down on their commitment to parks by setting up a weekly event for youth missionaries. Once a week, a group of 15-20 missionaries work in different areas of the park system. They have restored beds in community gardens, planted native shrubs along waterways, hand-pulled invasive weeds and spread hundreds of yards of mulch. We are so grateful for the many ways the LDS Church is keeping our parks safe, clean and green.

Rachel Carson School of Environmental Science

Parks has long history of partnering with the Rachel Carson Environmental Science Academy where students participate in a variety of restoration projects as a part of their programming. After pausing our joint events, we were able to resume our partnership in the fall of 2021. With their help hundreds of plants were added to the Whilamut Natural Area and the Fir Butte wetland site. More to come in winter 2022.

UO Environmental Leadership Program

After missing a year of field work due to COVID-19 restrictions, students from University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program returned to complete data collection on a Hendricks Park forest tree health assessment, started in 2019. Student volunteer researchers spent over 1,500 hours measuring and reporting on characteristics of tree health to help staff better understand how to manage our urban forests with climate change impacts. These volunteer scientists reported their data as management recommendations to our staff, strongly emphasizing the importance of planning for biodiversity when considering climate change. Our parks offer many opportunities for community-science and we’d love to hear from you if this is the kind of volunteer-project that you’d like to help with.

Expanding Our Reach

Every Week at the Owen Rose Garden

While the Owen Rose Garden has always hosted many dedicated volunteers, this year the group strengthened their commitment through a formal adoption agreement. This allowed us to double our drop-in volunteer days, from twice a month to every Friday. The net impact was that between 2020 to 2021, the number of volunteer hours actually tripled.

We are excited to welcome our new Owen Rose Garden Docents in 2022. These volunteers have gone through a series of classes and will be offering tours of the Old Heritage Rose section at the Owen Rose Garden every Saturday starting in May 2022.

Forest Keepers at Hendrick's Park

Thanks to a generous donation from the Friends of Hendricks Park, our volunteer program was able to host an additional weekly volunteer event in the Hendricks Park Forest this spring. The new “Forest Keepers” ran for 16 Saturdays in the spring of 2021. Seasonal support staff Julia Metzler led small crews of Forest Keeper volunteers in detailed invasive species removal projects, less suited for our larger all-comer events. Forest Keepers was so successful in 2021 that we plan to bring it back for an extended period in 2022.

Obsidians Branch Out

The local hiking group, Obsidians, has a long history of leading monthly volunteer events in the Ridgeline Trail system. This year, they are branching out to work on the newly acquired North Bank property along the Willamette River. Two events took place in the fall of 2021 to help begin restoration after years of illegal camping severely impacted the soil and native understory. We worked with Obsidians to create ivy life rings on trees and planted trees and shrubs in the bare areas created by camping. We are thrilled to see this natural area thrive again.

Moving into the Right-of-Way

While our program has historically supported volunteers in parks, this year we are excited to share we have expanded our turf to include the right-of-way. Melinda Mulhourn is cleaning up the underpass at the Coburg Road 105 Exit: she picks up litter, cuts back vegetation, cleans the sidewalk and more. John Lockhart and his two sons are painting over graffiti and picking up trash around 4 Corners (Roosevelt Blvd. and Hwy 99) and along the Roosevelt bike path. These volunteers are helping keep the right-of-way clean and clear so it is safer for cyclists and pedestrians to use. If you need tools to clean up sidewalks, paths, or other right-of-way areas in your neighborhood, we can support you.

Equity in Volunteerism

Strengthening Relationships with Community Organizations

These events and partnerships tie into a broader focus on equity in our program. We are committed to strengthening relationships with organizations that serve BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and other underrepresented community members. We are always looking for ways to amplify the messages of marginalized communities.

Looking Glass

Looking Glass is a local nonprofit that provides assistance to youth facing educational deficits, behavior health issues, drug addiction and homelessness. Through a new partnership, we are providing a paid opportunity for one of their program members to help out at the Native Plant Nursery for six months with an expected extension. She has helped tremendously with nursery production tasks such as seed cleaning, hand weeding and garden maintenance.

Juneteenth

Our program is always looking for ways to bring current events and history together, especially when that history has taken place in our parks. This year, we celebrated Juneteenth and learned about the history of Alton Baker Park for a joint volunteer event/discussion circle. Alton Baker Park historically housed many of Eugene's early Black residents in what was known as the "Across the River" community, as they were prohibited from living within the city limits. This was a time when the Ku Klux Klan had a strong presence in Eugene. Volunteers gathered for an intentional discussion to learn about Juneteenth, the history of Alton Baker Park, and how the legacy of slavery persists in and continues to affect the African American community. The event also included volunteer tasks to clean up the Hays Tree Garden in the north section of Alton Baker Park.

Whale Mural by Mentores para Jovenes

In May, Centro Latino Americano's Mentores para Jovenes let their artistic energy flow as they painted the whale and stingray sculptures at Skinner Butte Park. The group looked at the painting Portrait of Martín Luis Guzmán by Diego Rivera, an interpretation of Frida Kahlo’s Tree of Hope by Arturo Martinez, and a hand-woven, Incan embroidery for inspiration. These art pieces influenced their use of geometric shapes and a bright color palette that resulted in a fun design for the well-loved play area.

NEAT/Bilingual camp at Hendricks Park

Hendricks Park regularly hosts summer camps for youth from across the city and this year we had a special emphasis in making our camps more accessible and tailored to a diverse group of youth. Two cohorts of middle-school campers from the N.E.A.T Summer Camp for BIPOC youth spent time hiking in and exploring Hendricks Park. They learned about the urban forest and helped to collect seeds from the native plant garden to propagate future native plants. Thanks to partner org Beyond Toxics for making this possible. Additionally, the Friends of Hendricks Park and Nearby Nature partnered on the first Spanish immersion summer camp – La naturaleza silvestre. Campers explored all the park had to offer while building and expanding their Spanish language skills.

Climate Equity

Focused Efforts in Bethel

With a smaller tree canopy, Bethel is more susceptible to the heat island effects of climate change, resulting in hotter temperatures and negative health outcomes. Volunteers are helping turn that around by planting trees at parks around the Bethel neighborhood. We planted trees at Mangan Park and Gilbert Park, and look forward to planting 60 more in 2022 at Andrea Ortiz Park.

MLK Day Tree Planting at Mattie Reynolds

In honor of MLK Day 2021, POS staff, Friends of Trees and members of the Mattie Reynolds family gathered together to plant 17 trees in this future developed park in an underserved part of Eugene. A heartwarming speech by Pastor Deleasa from St. Mark Christian Episcopal Church kicked-off the event with more than 80 volunteers in attendance. NCCC Americorps members also planted 16 trees on the Amazon Creek behind the park during the event.

Veteran's Day Tree Planting

Just as veterans have made a lifelong investment to service, planting a tree is a lifelong investment in water quality and carbon reduction. "Trees for Troops" brought together veterans, families and members of the public to plant trees at Mangan Park and honor of those who have served. We were thrilled to strengthen our partnership with staff and clients of Easter Seals of Oregon, a veteran serving organization based in Eugene. We look forward to turning this into an annual event.

Donations

Tugman Tuggers

The Friends of Tugman Park, or as they call themselves “Tugman Tuggers,” formed in early 2020 to help with operations at Tugman Park. This past year, the Tuggers expressed interest in planting projects. In collaboration with POS staff, the volunteers designated planting location, created planting plans, purchased and planted hundreds of plants for the new sites. They have committed to maintaining and watering the new plantings for the future. This donation of time, money and energy is greatly appreciated by staff and park users alike. Moving forward, they hope to develop a test prairie restoration plot in the Fawn Lily Rise natural area of the park.

Furtick 30th and Spring

After a developer failed to replant a new connector trail at the Ridgeline Ribbon Trail South Trailhead, Parks staff stepped in to help.

In November, a retired landscape architect donated a planting plan that volunteers and staff used to add 450 new plants along the trail (pictured on left). EWEB has committed to help water the plants and volunteers will maintain them through the year. The partnerships from this project have gone a long way to restore good will with neighbors.

Friends of Hendricks Park

The Friends of Hendricks Park never fail to surprise with their generous support of all things Hendricks Park. New in 2021, the Friends made additional donations to support a part-time seasonal staffer to lead volunteer work parties and remove invasive species in the forest, generously provided funds for hundreds of new plants in the Rhododendron and Native Plant Gardens, and expanded their funding to educational day camps at the park. With friends like these, we can't lose.

Physical Items Donated

Native Plant Nursery: gate design and construction, shed repair, potting bench roof repair, lawn mower and shop vacuum. Hendricks Park: Rhodie Garden heated propagation box and sign restoration. Not to mention many, many snacks.

Do you want to volunteer at one of our regular events? RSVPs are required.

  • Every Tuesday (9 a.m. - noon) at the Hendricks Park Rhododendron Garden
  • 3rd Thursdays (9 a.m. - noon) at Alton Baker Park
  • Every Thursday (1 - 4 p.m.) at the Hendricks Park Native Plant Garden
  • Every Friday (9 a.m. - noon) at the Owen Rose Garden
  • Every Friday (1 - 4 p.m.) at the Native Plant Nursery
  • Every Saturday (9 a.m. - noon) at Hendricks Park Forest

Event details and RSVP information.

Go out, get dirty and give back in 2022. Visit our website to learn more see our upcoming events.