Eugene Weekly : Views : 06.08.06

Stepping Stones
Will a wetlands education center be built on crucial habitat?
BY MARY O'BRIEN

Following Wetlands Appreciation month in Eugene, here's a riddle with some surprisingly disturbing answers for wetlands-appreciators:

What do the proposed West Eugene Wetlands Environmental Education Center and the proposed West Eugene Parkway have in common?

The obvious answer: Wetlands! The education center will help teach us to treasure and understand life in west Eugene's almost-gone wetlands while the highway would be built in those wetlands.

The less obvious answers:

• The seven buildings, amphitheater, parking lot, and roadway proposed for the education complex would likewise be built in West Eugene Wetlands.

• Both the highway and education complex would be built on potentially crucial upland "stepping stones" for our endangered Fender's blue butterfly.

The central issue is the reality that West Eugene's Wetlands are a mixture of "wet" and "upland" prairie. Sometimes only a few inches' difference in elevation distinguish the two, with upland prairie perched slightly to moderately above adjacent, waterlogged wet prairie. Those few inches, however, spell the difference between home and not-home for certain plant species and their associated wildlife.

Fender's blue butterfly, listed nationally as "endangered," is linked inextricably not only to our Willamette Valley, but also to an exclusively Willamette Valley plant, Kincaid's lupine. This lupine, federally listed as "threatened," is an upland prairie plant. In the West Eugene Wetlands, Fender's blue butterflies lay their eggs only on Kincaid's lupine; their larvae (caterpillars) eat only Kincaid's lupine leaves; the caterpillars rest for the winter at the base of Kincaid's lupine, resume feeding on Kincaid's lupine the next spring, build a pupa and finally emerge as butterflies. During their 15 days of butterfly-ness, Fender's blue butterflies fly primarily within and among Kincaid's lupine patches, searching for a mate and egg-laying spots.

When wet and upland prairies still filled much of Willamette Valley, a Fender's blue butterfly could insure the genetic adaptability of its species by mating with a Fender's blue butterfly from a nearby Kincaid's lupine patch. (Butterflies, like us, need to look beyond their immediate relatives for mates.) Now, with 99.9 percent of all Willamette Valley wetland and upland prairies drained, plowed, farmed, paved or "developed" (i.e., eliminated) for homes and businesses, we are evicting Fender's blue butterfly from its home on Earth. Simply, neighboring lupine patches are too few and far away.

In west Eugene, we have one of the best chances to lure Fender's blue butterfly back from the cliff of extinction. The Nature Conservancy tries to protect one main population of Fender's blue butterfly south of West 11th in their Willow Creek Preserve. The BLM hosts another, more modest population, about 3.1 miles (5 km),.to the northwest, off Fir Butte Road. But Fender's blue butterflies mostly fly short distances within a lupine patch, with wanderers occasionally flying up to about 1.2 miles (2 km). In order to prevent the extinction of Fender's blue butterfly, "stepping stones" of Kincaid's lupine need to be restored between the two main West Eugene butterfly populations, along with certain native plants that provide nectar (butterfly fuel).

Unfortunately, both the proposed highway and education complex are sited for construction in upland prairie, directly in the northwest-southeast path in which Fender's blue butterfly needs every Kincaid's lupine stepping stone it can find.

Just as the West Eugene Parkway was planned before the values of West Eugene's wetlands were understood, so the education center was planned before upland prairie was appreciated as crucial habitat. However, alternatives to environmental destruction always exist. In the case of the Education Center, for instance, a more modest footprint of buildings on the western half of the site would allow for butterfly restoration and use of the eastern half, which is connected to still more upland habitat to the north. Alternatively, a donated site on some private land might be possible.

The Education Center's website notes that its "sustainable design features … demonstrate that humans can live responsibly with the land." If the Center decides to demonstrate that responsibility for location as well as design, it will provide an admirable example for Oregon Department of Transportation, Federal Highways Administration and us all.

It's about genuine appreciation of wetlands.

Mary O'Brien of Eugene has worked as a public interest scientist since 1981. She can be reached at mob@efn.org

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		Stepping Stones Will a wetlands education center be built on crucial habitat? BY MARY O'BRIEN Following Wetlands Appreciation month in Eugene, here's a riddle with some surprisingly disturbing answers for wetlands-appreciators: What do the proposed West Eugene Wetlands Environmental Education Center and the proposed West Eugene Parkway have in common? The obvious answer: Wetlands! The education center will help teach us to treasure and understand life in west Eugene's almost-gone wetlands while the highway would be built in those wetlands. The less obvious answers: • The seven buildings, amphitheater, parking lot, and roadway proposed for the education complex would likewise be built in West Eugene Wetlands. • Both the highway and education complex would be built on potentially crucial upland "stepping stones" for our endangered Fender's blue butterfly. The central issue is the reality that West Eugene's Wetlands are a mixture of "wet" and "upland" prairie. Sometimes only a few inches' difference in elevation distinguish the two, with upland prairie perched slightly to moderately above adjacent, waterlogged wet prairie. Those few inches, however, spell the difference between home and not-home for certain plant species and their associated wildlife. Fender's blue butterfly, listed nationally as "endangered," is linked inextricably not only to our Willamette Valley, but also to an exclusively Willamette Valley plant, Kincaid's lupine. This lupine, federally listed as "threatened," is an upland prairie plant. In the West Eugene Wetlands, Fender's blue butterflies lay their eggs only on Kincaid's lupine; their larvae (caterpillars) eat only Kincaid's lupine leaves; the caterpillars rest for the winter at the base of Kincaid's lupine, resume feeding on Kincaid's lupine the next spring, build a pupa and finally emerge as butterflies. During their 15 days of butterfly-ness, Fender's blue butterflies fly primarily within and among Kincaid's lupine patches, searching for a mate and egg-laying spots. When wet and upland prairies still filled much of Willamette Valley, a Fender's blue butterfly could insure the genetic adaptability of its species by mating with a Fender's blue butterfly from a nearby Kincaid's lupine patch. (Butterflies, like us, need to look beyond their immediate relatives for mates.) Now, with 99.9 percent of all Willamette Valley wetland and upland prairies drained, plowed, farmed, paved or "developed" (i.e., eliminated) for homes and businesses, we are evicting Fender's blue butterfly from its home on Earth. Simply, neighboring lupine patches are too few and far away. In west Eugene, we have one of the best chances to lure Fender's blue butterfly back from the cliff of extinction. The Nature Conservancy tries to protect one main population of Fender's blue butterfly south of West 11th in their Willow Creek Preserve. The BLM hosts another, more modest population, about 3.1 miles (5 km),.to the northwest, off Fir Butte Road. But Fender's blue butterflies mostly fly short distances within a lupine patch, with wanderers occasionally flying up to about 1.2 miles (2 km). In order to prevent the extinction of Fender's blue butterfly, "stepping stones" of Kincaid's lupine need to be restored between the two main West Eugene butterfly populations, along with certain native plants that provide nectar (butterfly fuel). Unfortunately, both the proposed highway and education complex are sited for construction in upland prairie, directly in the northwest-southeast path in which Fender's blue butterfly needs every Kincaid's lupine stepping stone it can find. Just as the West Eugene Parkway was planned before the values of West Eugene's wetlands were understood, so the education center was planned before upland prairie was appreciated as crucial habitat. However, alternatives to environmental destruction always exist. In the case of the Education Center, for instance, a more modest footprint of buildings on the western half of the site would allow for butterfly restoration and use of the eastern half, which is connected to still more upland habitat to the north. Alternatively, a donated site on some private land might be possible. The Education Center's website notes that its "sustainable design features … demonstrate that humans can live responsibly with the land." If the Center decides to demonstrate that responsibility for location as well as design, it will provide an admirable example for Oregon Department of Transportation, Federal Highways Administration and us all. It's about genuine appreciation of wetlands. Mary O'Brien of Eugene has worked as a public interest scientist since 1981. She can be reached at mob@efn.org






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