Friends of Tugman – May 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 May:  5/3, 5/17 & 5/31
  • May 3rd highlights:  weeding of the plaque circle bed and adjacent areas in the park’s north end; trash pick-up park-wide
  • May 17th highlights: weeding of the picnic shelter and restroom area beds; trash pick-up park-wide; participation in the SEN Gardening Get-Together (social and plant/seed exchange) in the early afternoon at Tugman
  • May 31st highlights: weeding of the basketball court bed; finalization of plans/projects for the Springtime Spruce Up volunteer work event on Saturday, June 3rd from 10 am – 12 noon; assisted in the bark chip/mulch delivery from P&OS
  • Following the 5/31 work event, we met with Kelsey Irvine (P&OS) to discuss:
    1. Removal of the dead Douglas Fir tree in the north end with hopeful retention of a snag for wildlife benefit. Kelsey agreed to move this request forward with pertinent P&OS (and possibly Urban Forestry) personnel, including arborist(s).
    2. Status of our proposed Fawn Lily Rise (south slope of the park) native tree and shrub planting project with hopeful inclusion in the P&OS tree budget for late 2023. Kelsey is still working on getting approval for this proposal.
    3. Status of our request to list our Tugman restoration work with the non-profit organization Homegrown National Park (https://homegrownnationalpark.org/). Kelsey has not yet initiated approval of this request but agreed to move this forward once she identifies the appropriate P&OS personnel.
    4. Possibility of uncovering or installation of a water tap in the park’s north end in order to facilitate our watering efforts there for our newly planted native trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses. This doesn’t appear possible for 2023 so we are planning to irrigate this portion of the park utilizing Amazon Creek with bucket brigades.
    5. Initial thoughts as to how we Tuggers can contribute to any possible mitigation and restoration efforts at Tugman that may come about due to the demise of ash tree species from the Emerald Ash borer insect. This is a very complex issue but we all agreed to keep in contact and to further explore what can be done at Tugman, including the planting of other tree species in the near term to replace possibly affected ash trees.
    6. The use of P&OS electric powered weed whackers for our 6/14 event whereby we plan to weed and water the young native oak trees along the Fawn Lily Rise trail.
  • Periodic watering of our native plant beds park-wide has started and will continue summer-long as needed.
  • Park Watch (https://www.eugene-or.gov/2411/Park-Watch—Report-A-Safety-Issue) request postings have been made recently regarding graffiti activity in the park’s north end.
  • In an effort to grow our volunteer ranks and to be even more productive in our efforts at Tugman, we are hosting a Springtime Spruce Up volunteer work event on Saturday, June 3rd 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 has been included in our May SEN digital mailing and more recently on the SEN Facebook page.
  • Our regularly scheduled bi-weekly Wednesday volunteer work events for June 2023 are:  6/14 & 6/28 (10:00 am – 12 noon).
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