A cool and cloudy October morning greeted visitors from the Campbell Senior Center today on a walk through the wetlands.
Holly McRae led a leisurely walk with the group along the Fern Ridge Bike Path. These visitors had been out to the wetlands before, but it was a first time with WREN! The tour began at the Meadowlark Prairie Overlook where Holly filled us in on the history of the WEW Project, partners and wildlife of the wetlands. Then we packed up and headed to our starting point at Checkermallow Access. Along the way to Terry Street, we passed by several birds including three Cormorants, several elegant White Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Kestrels, a Northern Harrier, possibly a Red-tailed Hawk, Flickers, Killdeer, Meadowlarks, and several small birds flitting around that are here to winter over in our valley.
Not to discount the grounded organisms in the plant world...Holly pointed out several species dressed in their fall fashion including Lupine, Tufted Hairgrass, golden and shimmering against the dark sky, Cattails (some gone to seed), and Aster. Unfortunately, but inevitably, we also saw the nonnatives such as the stubborn reed canary grass, the prickly teasle, pervasive pennyroyal, and thorny European blackberry. On the bright side, we also learned about some of the ways the WEW Partnership is controlling these invasive species, such as solar blocks, and prescribed burns. There were no otter sightings this time, but we did pass by the active beaver lodge near DataLogic, and what we believe is a muskrat burrow along the bank of Amazon. And of course, no walk for Holly would be quite complete without some interesting scat! Some awaited her right in the middle of the path, and its characteristics, such as tiny bones, hair, and form told Holly it was most likely wild canine, such as fox or coyote.
It's easy to say gazing around at the vibrant, rich colors of fall foliage, surrounded by heavy, dark clouds and hearing the Canada (or were they Cackling?) Geese above herald a change in seasons, that fall is the best time to be in the West Eugene Wetlands. Well, at least until the next season arrives, and we remember the fantastic opportunities for viewing birds of prey, seeing the long-missed vernal pools return, and the winter drizzles that put the "wet" in our wetlands settle in.
Many times a year we walk with local students out in the wetlands near our Yurt. Were you one of our students?!? Here are some photos of our trip last week. O'Hara Elementary School joined us in exploring our wetlands. Can you find the cattails on this page? It sure was sunny that day! 
On Saturday, October 20, WREN hosted twenty-some local educators for a day of training on using the WOW! The Wonders of Wetlands curriculum. There were may teachers from local schools as well as Oregon State Parks staff from Silver Falls State Park, UO Environmental Leadership Project staff, and several WREN educators. Despite the cold temperatures in the un-insulated yurt, and intermittent driving rain, we all had a good time and learned a lot.
A cool and cloudy October morning greeted visitors from the Campbell Senior Center today on a walk through the wetlands.
Not to discount the grounded organisms in the plant world...Holly pointed out several species dressed in their fall fashion including Lupine, Tufted Hairgrass, golden and shimmering against the dark sky, Cattails (some gone to seed), and Aster. Unfortunately, but inevitably, we also saw the nonnatives such as the stubborn reed canary grass, the prickly teasle, pervasive pennyroyal, and thorny European blackberry. On the bright side, we also learned about some of the ways the WEW Partnership is controlling these invasive species, such as solar blocks, and prescribed burns. There were no otter sightings this time, but we did pass by the active beaver lodge near DataLogic, and what we believe is a muskrat burrow along the bank of Amazon. And of course, no walk for Holly would be quite complete without some interesting scat! Some awaited her right in the middle of the path, and its characteristics, such as tiny bones, hair, and form told Holly it was most likely wild canine, such as fox or coyote.
The wetlands saw 65 volunteers arrive last Saturday morning for a day of improvement and enhancement of our public lands here in west Eugene. 
The success of our wetlands relies on the collaboration of our community, working together to nurture our precious natural areas and improve them for future generations. Thank you so much everyone!!! 
Historically the prairies were burned regularly by the Kalapuya people to ensure stable populations of their most important food crops, primarily camas. Today, wetland scientists burn the prairies for a variety of reasons. Many of the native plants in this area have evolved with fire and are adapted to grow back quickly after a burn. Fire also helps to reduce invasive plant cover, such as pennyroyal and reed canary grass. Scientists are hoping to plant native nectar plants in one of the newly burned areas for the Great Copper butterfly, a native butterfly that was recently "re-discovered" in the West Eugene Wetlands.
Several sites in the West Eugene Wetlands and around Fern Ridge Reservoir have already been burned this season. On Thursday 24 acres were burned on the west side of Greenhill Rd., 15 acres at the Willow Creek preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy, and 120 acres of the West Fisher unit by Fern Ridge, owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. Fire fighters began burning at Meadowlark Prairie but the burn was shut down when the wind changed direction. On Friday, around noon, they finished the Meadowlark Prairie burn then headed to the end of Royal Avenue to burn there. They hope to complete burning at Dragonfly Bend sometime in the next week, as well. 
