October 29, 2003

LCOG's Steve Gordon Receives Nature Conservancy Leadership Award

Portland, OR—On Wednesday, October 29, at a luncheon awards ceremony at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Steve Gordon of Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) and the City of Eugene each received Conservation Leadership awards from The Nature Conservancy of Oregon for their work in the West Eugene Wetlands. The community partnership award recognizes the City of Eugene’s and Gordon’s contributions, in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy and other partner organizations, to the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership. Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey will accept the award in behalf of the City.

According to The Nature Conservancy, the City of Eugene “shaped a future in which streams and wetlands would be protected while well-planned development proceeded.” Some of the most significant programs and strategies that were implemented include an inclusive approach that involved collaboration with other environmental agencies, developers and the community; density transfers, a technique that diverts future development away from environmentally sensitive areas; and the mitigation bank, a system that allows developers to build in one area in exchange for the commitment to protect or restore wetlands in other areas.

Steve Gordon, an LCOG planner, has been instrumental in planning and lobbying both at the local and national level, beginning with the adoption of a comprehensive West Eugene Wetlands Plan in 1992. His efforts, in conjunction with the partnership, have yielded more than $35 million dollars in public and private funds and resulted in the restoration and protection of more than 2,500 acres of the globally imperiled Willamette Valley wet prairie habitat in west Eugene.

The West Eugene Wetlands Partnership is a collaboration between the City of Eugene; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; The Nature Conservancy; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Oregon Youth Conservation Corps; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; McKenzie River Trust; and Willamette Resources and Educational Network (WREN). Since 1995, the partnership has acquired and restored wetlands in west Eugene, creating open space recreational and educational opportunities for the residents of Eugene and contributing to improved natural habitat and water quality. It has one of the most successful track records of any similar program in the region and is considered a national model for innovative and collaborative wetlands management.

For more information about the award or The Nature Conservancy, call (503) 230-1221 or visit www.nature.org. For more information about the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership, call 682-4888. For more information about Lane Council of Governments, call (541) 682-4283.