The Register-Guard: EditorialsLetters: Commentary
The city of Eugene’s acquisition of 200 acres in a broad strip southwest of Lane Community College builds upon a series of land purchases dating back 70 years that have created the splendid Spencer Butte/Ridgeline Trail complex.
The new addition has the further benefit of making it possible to think in terms of connecting the Ridgeline Trail to the Howard Buford Recreation Area near Mount Pisgah.
One day, this system of trails and open space could be as significant a public amenity as the Alton Baker Park/Skinner Butte Park complex — one at the city’s core, the other at its periphery.
Spencer Butte came into public ownership in 1939, when Eugene residents were invited to give $5 to “buy a piece of the butte.” That was the first in a long series of acquisitions and grants of easements for what has become the Ridgeline Trail, a 14-mile-long urban trail and bikeway that currently extends from Mount Baldy to Blanton Road. A spur leads to the top of Spencer Butte, at just more than 2,000 feet the high point of the southern Willamette Valley.
The trail was designated a National Recreation Trail in 2006. It’s notable for its wild character, botanical diversity and scenic vistas, all within a few minutes of the heart of the city.
The Ridgeline Trail is not complete. One day, it could stretch in a semicircle around south and west Eugene from Hendricks Park to Fern Ridge Lake. The latest acquisition opens a fork in the trail to the east, from Mount Baldy at the top of Dillard Road toward LCC. From there it’s reasonable to contemplate ways of gaining trail and bicycle access to Mount Pisgah.
The 200 acres are a valuable addition to Eugene’s inventory of recreational land and open space in their own right, and not just as a connecting link. The property has fir forest and oak-dotted grasslands with ridgetop views.
Members of the public will be able to enjoy the intrinsic value of the property soon, because the seller — Arlie & Co. — has donated $600,000 of the $3 million sale price back to the city, and that money is to be used to build and maintain a trail and other amenities. Without this donation, the city would have lacked the means to improve access to the property.
The city paid for the land with $2.5 million from a voter-approved 2006 bond measure for parks and open space, and with $500,000 from parks-related systems development charges. The bond measure included $7.75 million specifically for the purchase of 60 acres to 100 acres to expand the Ridgeline Trail, along with other acquisitions. The purchase more than doubles the amount of Ridgeline Trail acreage the voters were promised, without exhausting the budget for further acquisitions.
It has taken 70 years for the Spencer Butte/Ridgeline Trail complex to reach its current state of maturity. Imagine what the system might be like 70 years from now.
The Arlie acquisition, significant by itself, extends the trail system and brings further growth within closer reach. It’s a good bargain today, and one that will seem even better with each passing year.