West Eugene Area – State Wildlife Action Plan

The West Eugene Area COA (264 mi²) extends from Camas Swale north along the foothills of the Coast Range to Cox Butte, including the West Eugene wetlands. This COA is adjacent to the Upper Willamette River Floodplain and Upper Siuslaw COAs.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Continue active management of restored habitats to conserve ecological values.
Maintain and restore riparian and wetland habitats ecological functions and connectivity, particularly along Long Tom and Coyote creek corridors; ensure sufficient habitat complexity for wildlife.
Minimize impacts of development on pine-oak woodlands.
Protect, maintain and enhance oak savanna and grassland habitats and their connection to adjacent habitats to ensure sufficient habitat complexity and connectivity for wildlife.
Remove invading conifers and non-native vegetation from oak savanna and woodlands.
Work with partners to acquire key properties and/or create conservation easements on key properties to ensure protection of important fish and wildlife habitat into the future.

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Special Features

General

This area contains some of the largest remaining fragments of the Willamette Valley’s native wet prairies (West Eugene wetlands).
This COA provides important habitat for native turtles and migratory birds.
There is ongoing land acquisition, protection, and restoration in the West Eugene wetlands by many local partners including: BLM, City of Eugene, Lane County Council of Governments, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and ODFW Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program.
This area contains many important habitat sites including Camas Swale, Fern Ridge Reservoir and Wildlife Area, and the West Eugene Wetlands. It also contains extensive, important habitat for oak and grassland-associated species.
This area has been designated as a Grassland Bird Conservation Area.
This COA runs through a landscape that is both very suburban and agricultural. As such, this area faces threats from municipal, road, and farming runoff and water treatment facility releases into the river. Despite this, the area still provides important habitat refugia for many fish and wildlife species.
There are plans in place to remove the Monroe Dam on the Long Tom River. The dam currently prevents juvenile salmon from many west-side tributaries of the Upper Willamette River.

Protected Areas

Andrew Reasoner Wildlife Preserve Conservation Easement (WWMP Property)
Balboa Park
Blanton Ridge City Park
Bloomberg City Park
Coyote Creek NW (WWMP Property)
Coyote Oaks Conservation Easement (WWMP Property)
Crest Heights City Park
Creswell Oaks Conservation Easement (WWMP Property)
Cuddleback / Willow Creek Addition (WWMP Property)
Dillard Skyline City Park
Edgewood City Park
Fern Ridge Wildlife Area
Hult City Park
Laurel Hill City Park
Melvin Miller City Park
Moon Mountain City Park
Orchard Point County Park
Rattlesnake Butte (WWMP Property)
Shadow Wood City Park
Skyview City Park
South Coyote (WWMP Property)
South Eugene Meadows (WWMP Property)
South Ridge City Park
Spencer Butte Park
Tugman City Park
Watson/Willow Creek Additions (WWMP Property)
Wayne Morse Ranch City Park
West Eugene Wetlands
Wild Iris Ridge Park
Willow Corner City Park
Willow Creek (WWMP Property)

Previous COA Associations

Previously Associated with (2006 COA IDs)
- WV-23 (West Eugene)
Size Change from 2016 boundaries: -2.0 mi²(1% decrease)

Specialized Local Habitats

Forest Openings
Off-channel habitat

Ecoregions

Coast Range

Oregon's Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley ecoregion is bounded on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Cascade Range. This long mostly level alluvial plain has some scattered areas of low basalt, and contrasts with productive farmland and large urban areas. It has the fastest-growing human population in the state resulting in challenges due to land-use changes.

Key Habitats

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Natural Lakes

Natural lakes are relatively large bodies of freshwater surrounded by land that were formed through geological processes, such as glacial scouring, tectonic movements, volcanic activity and river meander cutoffs. In Oregon, natural lakes are defined as standing water bodies larger than 20 acres, including some seasonal lakes. Depth is not a reference for characterization of …

Example of Oak Woodlands, which is a Strategy Habitat within the State Wildlife Action Plan

Oak Habitats

There are several oak habitat types in Oregon, where oaks comprise most of the canopy. These can include oak woodlands, oak forest, oak chaparral, and riparian oak. Oak savanna is covered in the Grasslands Key Habitat. Oaks may also co-dominate a canopy in oak/fir, oak pine, and oak hardwood habitats.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are habitats that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support vegetation typically adapted for life in sodden soil conditions. While dominated by periods of inundation, the natural ecological cycle may also include dry intervals. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, peatlands, …