The Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 10am Hideaway Bakery. The meeting was held on April 18^th and 5 people were in attendance.

We discussed:

• Gas Powered Leaf Blowers (GPLB)
• An educational article for SEN neighbors regarding GPLBs will be reviewed by the SEN Board in early May, in anticipation of it being broadcast to the neighborhood. This article is a result of the GPLB survey sent out earlier this year.
• Senate Bill 525 (at the state level) has been referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. This bill directs the Environmental Quality Commission “to adopt standards prohibiting engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small nonroad engines beginning January 1, 2026, unless a later date is required by federal Clean Air Act.” Full information about the bill can be found here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/SB525
• The City of Eugene Sustainability Commission put forth a proposal for a Gas-powered Leaf Blower Exploratory Committee at its most recent monthly meeting on April 19^th.
  • The Committee voted unanimously to create the GPLB Committee and is awaiting Council approval. 

• Monthly ESC educational pieces
• In line with the GPLB educational material coming out in May, future monthly environmental stewardship articles will be created and sent to the SEN Board for approval prior to dissemination to SEN neighbors.
  • Topics will include home composting, waterwise tips, ways to increase biodiversity in one’s yard, and how an idea becomes Oregon law.

• Plastics Reduction, locally and state-wide
• Current progress on state legislation on plastics reduction was briefly discussed. Two of the three bills (SBs 543 and 545) have now passed the House and are working their way to Oregon’s Governor.

Friends of Tugman – April 2023 Report

The Friends of Tugman (aka The Tuggers) typically meet every other Wednesday from 10:00 am – 12 noon somewhere in Tugman Park. Exact time and park location is dependent on weather conditions and current project.

• We held two volunteer work events in April:  4/5 & 4/19
• April 5^th highlights:  the ground preparation work for the north end natural area (adjacent to the plaque circle bed) restoration project was completed by tarping and fencing the area to be restored along with appropriate signage placement.
• April 19^th highlights: spring weeding was initiated in many of our natively planted beds and other areas throughout the park
•  P&OS notified us that an order of approximately 7 cubic yards of bark chip mulch was ordered for our use at Tugman in the near future. We’re not sure of the exact delivery date at this point. This is welcome news since there is a major shortage of mulch in the P&OS inventory.
• A new planting plan utilizing native trees and shrubs for the Fawn Lily Rise (south slope) section of Tugman Park has been submitted to P&OS for hopeful inclusion in their next planting season (late 2023) budget and approval process.
• I’ve inquired again as to any details related to the remaining 2018 bond/levy funds earmarked for Tugman Park. Specifically, I asked about the timing and process involving planning, design, and construction phases for Phase 2 of Tugman improvements utilizing the remaining bond/levy funds. 2027 is now listed as the completion date for Tugman Phase 2. P&OS agreed to look into this issue further.

• We’ve initiated communication with P&OS to list the restoration work we have been doing at Tugman with the non-profit organization Homegrown National Park (https://homegrownnationalpark.org/). HNP is a new organization promoting habitat restoration on private and public lands. It is the brainchild of Prof. Doug Tallamy, who has been advocating restoring habitat for many years.
• In an effort to grow our volunteer ranks and to be even more productive in our efforts at Tugman, we decided to stage a Springtime Spruce Up volunteer work event on Saturday, June 3^rd from 10 am – 12 noon. Hopefully, we’ll get some new passionate volunteers to help us in our beautification and restoration endeavors at the park. A notification of this Saturday 6/3 volunteer work event will be included in our upcoming (late April) SEN digital mailing (mail chimp) and on the SEN Facebook page.
• Our regularly scheduled bi-weekly Wednesday volunteer work events for May 2023 are:  5/3, 5/17, & 5/31 (10:00 am – 12 noon).

Your neighborhood preparedness program, Ready Southeast, is conducting our annual spring training on May 20.  We’ll be practicing our response to a simulated earthquake. There are opportunities for neighbors who are not already volunteers to participate in a number of ways. Please reach out to us if you have questions about the May 20 event or preparedness issues in general, by email at seneighborsprepared@gmail.com

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February 2023 SEN Transportation Committee Report

Eugene Parks & Open Space – April 2023 Newsletter

https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=6e8bb448f5dab8671ba5aedce&id=9a72747d0a

January 10, 2023 SEN Board Meeting Minutes
Call to order: 7:00 pm at Hilyard Community Center and via Zoom
Attending: Dennis, Devon, Emily, Ela, Gerry, Jess, John, Lynne
Absent: Christina, Kristin
Presentations:
Arjorie Arberry-Baribeault and Zach Mulholland, Beyond Toxics and West Eugene Community
Advisor
Arjorie reported that 95% of toxins in Eugene are in the 97402 area. Most people in west Eugene
are low income with higher rates of lung cancer and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She explained that a
Public Health Overlay Zone, modeled on the Clear Lake Overlay Zone would strengthen land use
rules to protect the health of people living in that area.
Zach said that the regulations would apply to new businesses and the expansion of existing
business, not change regulations on businesses already established in the area. Businesses closest
to schools and homes would only be allowed to operate indoor manufacturing facilities with no
external air emissions. They are trying to keep a buffer between industry and residential areas.
They would like us to endorse the projected regulations. We will vote on this at our February board
meeting.
Public comment
John Q spoke about the interpersonal problems out City Council is experiencing. He asked the
Board to encourage Matt Keating to work toward a resolution. Dennis said the Board will remain
neutral until more information is available.
Report from Co-Chairs
Dennis reported that our 501 C-3 is being renewed through ENI.
Approve Past Meeting Minutes– Lynne
Minutes from the December 6 meeting were approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s report – Christina
US Bank $516.82
City Funds $4489.79
We paid $160.00 for website hosting and will see about reimbursement for this expense from the
City.

Matt Keating, City Councilor Ward 2
Matt is serving his second year and Council Vice President. He outlined several issues the Council is
going to be discussing, including a proposed ordinance to limit the height of buildings in front of
Skinner’s Butte.
Committee Reports:
Disaster Preparedness – David Monk said the Disaster Preparedness Committee is looking for a new
Incident Command Leader.
Transportation Committee – Jess
Communications Committee/Website/FB—Jess
It was suggested that articles be to Lynne by February 10 for a newsletter to be published in early
March.
Land Use Committee—Dennis
Tugman Park Volunteers—John Ostrom
 We held two volunteer work events in January 2023:  Wed. 1/11 & Wed. 1/25
 January 11 th  highlights:  mulched in the park’s north end for weed and grass control; planted
camas and buttercup seeds in the newly planted beds in the north end; mulched several
trees in the central lawn
 January 25 th  highlights:  weeded beds in the north end plaque circle and in the south lawn
area
 (7) Tuggers participated in the COE-P&OS, SEN-ESC & Obsidians tree planting event along
Amazon Creek on Saturday, January 21 st
 We expect several Tuggers to participate in the next Amazon Creek tree planting event on
Saturday, February 25 th
 We still have yet to receive confirmation from P&OS regarding the remaining funds from the
2018 Bond/Levy to be used at Tugman Park. We would like to initiate public outreach
activities once we receive confirmation of the amount of remaining funds and the timeline
for their use.
 Renewal efforts of our Friends of Tugman park adoption contract with P&OS covering 2023-
2025 is underway

Environmental Stewardship Committee—Devon
The Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) meets on the third Tuesday of each month at
Hideaway Bakery. This month, the meeting was held on January 17th and included 10 attendees (a
great turnout!).
Two major items were discussed:
– How to approach reducing the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by the City of Eugene, residents,
and businesses. Metro Portland and other cities in the US have been actively working on and
passing laws limiting and phasing out the use of these machines. Recently, a new group called
Quiet Clean Eugene has been formed, a spin off from Quiet Clean PDX
(https://www.quietcleanpdx.org/). Two members of this new group eagerly joined our meeting to

discuss where they were at in the nascent phase of their work and were looking for input and ideas
as to how get the word out. They do not yet have a website but are actively working to get it up
and running with links to articles, ways to contribute and be active, and current legislation in the
works. This group is small at this point but hopes to meet with other neighborhood associations to
garner support for bringing this up to the City of Eugene. We expect to continue to hear more
about their progress in the near future.
– We went over the upcoming Amazon Creek tree planting logistics, which happened on Saturday,
January 21st.
Amazon Creek Tree Planting Project:
– The actual tree planting day was cold and a bit breezy, but despite the weather we had a HUGE
turnout of over 40 neighbors. On that morning, the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space personnel
introduced the project, explained how to properly plant the approximately 150 bareroot trees
(Cascara, Bitter Cherry, Chokecherry, and White Alder) we were tasked
with planting. The group quickly
got to work and we all took turns removing grass, digging holes, properly placing the trees in the
holes and backfilling with dirt, and then following up with mulch and water. This phase of the
planting took place between Fox Hollow and 33rd Avenue along West Amazon Drive. While we
didn’t quite get all the trees planted in the time scheduled, the City followed up on Monday with a
youth corps volunteer group who completed the project. The next planting, which will cover West
Amazon from Fox Hollow to Snell, is scheduled for Saturday, February 25th.

By-Law Committee Lucy Bambrey
Three different plans were presented to the board.
1. Expand the Neighborhood Association membership to include property owners, business
owners and all residents 18 and over.
2. Proposal #1 plus all tenants and renters would each have one vote.
3. In addition to each of the changes above, employees would be eligible for membership and
would have one vote each.
It was moved to table the discussion for now. Each of the board members will be provided with
a written copy of the proposed changes.

Old business:
SEN Advisory Committee – Discussion tabled.

New Business:
A motion was approved unanimously to use our MailChimp account to request bookshelves for
Nightingale.
A motion was approved unanimously to send out a survey about gas-powered leaf blowers.
The Communications Committee has scheduled three Meet and Greets at various south Eugene
restaurants and bakeries. Ella will send a formal motion about creating an announcement to let
neighbors know when and where, and that the events are no host.

Jess reported that there was an allegation of racism at the December 14 City Council Meeting. It
was moved that the SEN Board request a full and accurate account of the incident. The motion
passed with five votes in favor and three abstentions.

Adjourn: 8:55 pm

Friends of Tugman – March 2023 Report

The Friends of Tugman (aka The Tuggers) typically meet every other Wednesday from 10:00 am – 12 noon somewhere in Tugman Park. Exact time and park location is dependent on weather conditions and current project.

• We held three volunteer work events in March:  3/8, 3/22, and 3/29 (extra event).
• March 8^th highlights:  we completed the weeding and mulching of the (7) oak trees lining the Fawn Lily Rise path on the park’s south slope. Two other nearby trees were weeded and mulched as well.
• March 22^nd highlights:  we started our natural area restoration project in the park’s north end (adjacent to the plaque circle bed) with the mitigation of invasive grasses and weeds using battery powered weed whackers and grubber hoes provided by COE – Parks & Open Spaces (P&OS). Once the initial grass and weed mitigation phase is completed, we will cover three different plots (each 10’ X 25’) with plastic tarping to further mitigate the growth of grasses/weeds in the future so that these areas can be restored back to a more natural state with eventual planting of native plant species. Additional plots in this area may be restored via this method as well. We also did some weeding in the plaque circle bed and nearby areas.
• March 29^th highlights:  we completed the ground prep phase of the project described above in 3/22 highlights. These prepped areas are now ready for tarping which is scheduled to take place next week (the week of April 3^rd). Significant weeding took place throughout the park’s north end as well on 3/29.
• Three Tuggers participated in the second phase of the Amazon Creek tree planting event which was held Saturday, March 11^th.

SEN General Meeting Agenda, 7pm March 14, 2023

Hilyard Community Center 2580 Hilyard St. & Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85352675842

Call to order

Public Comment

Welcome and Introduction to the SEN General Meeting

Ratification of new SEN At-Large Board Member Gerry Meenaghan

Presentations by Rod Price, EWEB Assistant General Manager, Jeremy Somogye on the decommissioning of Leaburg Dam and Wally McCullough with an update on the E. 40^th St. Water Storage Project
Q & A will follow presentation.

Presentation by Ryan Skiles, Manager of the Crime Analysis Unit for the Eugene Police Department

Q & A will follow presentation

Adjourn