The South Fork Spencer Creek conservation area will preserve one of the Willamette Valley's most threatened habitats.
Courtesy of Steve Smith Photography via McKenzie River Trust
McKenzie River Trust has acquired more than 280 acres south of Eugene, to be protected in perpetuity.
The South Fork Spencer Creek conservation area sits between Willamette Street and Fox Hollow, south of Spencer Butte.
Sam Hillmann is McKenzie River Trust’s land protection manager. He said the property has mixed forests and river, or riparian, habitat, but is primarily oak savanna, which is the native, and threatened, habitat. “The oak savanna and oak woodland habitat is also the densest habitat of biological life in the state of Oregon,” he noted.
Hillmann said in addition to a resident black bear, the area is a wildlife corridor, and contains a variety of plant and animal species, including acorn and pileated woodpeckers, red legged frogs, and coastal cutthroat trout.
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He said the group’s initial work will focus on decreasing fuel for fires and restoring the landscape.
The land was purchased through a series of transactions. Forty acres were protected in 2022 using donor funds, and an adjoining 243 acre parcel was added this summer with funding from the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program, and contributions from the landowner.
McKenzie River Trust lands are not public, but community tours will be available in 2025, and there’s the long-term potential for an expansion of the Ridgeline Trail through the property.