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The Eugene City Council approved the purchase of EWEB's former riverfront headquarters property at a meeting on Jan. 30. The terms of the deal state that the City of Eugene will purchase the 4.4-acre property, which includes two buildings and parking lots, for $12 million.
Find Out MoreAn EWEB-supported program provides firewood for people affected by the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire. The McKenzie Firewood program was developed by Pure Water Partners (PWP) in 2021.
Find Out MoreAt EWEB, we do what we can to help others in need. That’s been the reality for several of our electric and water crews over the past few weeks as we’ve responded to mutual aid requests for storm response and drinking water restoration, locally, and out of state.
Find Out MoreAfter evaluating several proposals and opportunities, EWEB is focusing its negotiations to sell the former riverfront headquarters property to the City of Eugene. The exact terms and details of the deal will be negotiated during the next few weeks.
Find Out MoreDespite an ice storm and a few windstorms in Eugene and the McKenzie Valley in the past few weeks, EWEB has so far fended off widespread weather-caused power outages – largely because of investments in year-round system maintenance and infrastructure improvements.
Find Out MoreEWEB has 800 miles of transmission and distribution lines transporting your drinking water underground throughout the city. It eventually comes out of your tap as delicious thirst-quenching water. But what goes into maintaining all those pipes? And what happens when one gets a leak? We went to find out.
Find Out MoreEWEB makes electric mobility available to anyhone though e-bike rebates, car sharing and grants for local organizations with electric mobility projects.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners started off their first meeting of 2023 by choosing a new board president and vice president.
Find Out MoreIn response to a call for aid this week, EWEB’s water division jumped into action to assist the town of Mapleton after a leak in their water system left about 260 homes without running water.
Find Out MoreAt Alton Baker Park this week, Eugene 4J elementary students bid farewell to baby salmon they’d raised from eggs in their classrooms this fall. The activity was part of the Salmon Education Program funded by EWEB grants.
Find Out MoreCommissioners supportive of General Manager's recommendation to remove Leaburg Dam
Find Out MoreOn a chilly November day, third graders from Adams Elementary School in Eugene learned about the lifecycle of native salmon on a field trip to Lake Creek near Triangle Lake. The field trips take place all month as part of a program funded by EWEB grants. EWEB dedicates a portion of customer rates to inspiring kids to explore the wonders of science and learn about watershed health, water quality, and emergency preparedness.
Find Out MoreAt the Nov. 1st board meeting, EWEB Commissioners got an update on the budget and rates for next year and the EWEB quarterly report.
Find Out MoreImagine if heavy snowfall and freezing rain hit Eugene this winter. Imagine damaged trees, road closures and widespread power outages. What would you do?
Find Out MoreBy partnering with ShakeAlert and the Oregon Hazards Lab, EWEB gets an early warning of the effects of earthquakes on hydropower facilities.
Find Out MoreSeptember 08, 2021
The McKenzie River Trust, Willamette National Forest, and BCI Construction recently completed Phase One of the Finn Rock Reach floodplain restoration project.
The project along the McKenzie River above Quartz Creek enhances valuable floodplain habitat for endangered Chinook salmon, bull trout, and western pond turtles. The approach can also help buffer the river from debris slides and serve as natural storage for clean water.
"Rivers have been harnessed and confined for the last 150 years," says Joe Moll, Executive Director for the Trust. "Seeing the water reinhabit such an expansive, diverse floodplain offers some hope in trying times."
Finn Rock Reach is the latest testing ground for a creative approach to restoration that aims to bring back much of the complexity that makes floodplains such productive habitats and valuable water resources. These projects are designed to increase the breadth and depth of areas where water can move and linger among smaller channels, deep pools, islands, and jumbles of downed trees. That increased residence time helps cool, clean and hold water, providing a wealth of good for fish, wildlife, and people.
"Historically, wood and sediment would have settled out in this valley. The river was really dynamic, and multiple channels would move around, and change all the time," said Willamette National Forest Fisheries Biologist Kate Meyer. Floodplains allow water to spread out across the landscape and slow down. That not only mitigates fire and drought risk but allows sediment to drop out, improving water quality.
"The more floodplains the better," EWEB Water Resources Supervisor Susan Fricke said. "We increase resiliency when we let the ecosystem function as it's supposed to."
In recent years, the Willamette National Forest, McKenzie Watershed Council, and EWEB collaborated on a similar approach to restoration on the South Fork of the McKenzie and on Deer Creek. Those projects have been remarkably productive for fish and wildlife, and notably resilient to fire.
"The whole idea is to try to do this across as many of the creeks as we can," EWEB's Watershed Restoration Program Manager Karl Morgenstern said. "Our prime directive at EWEB is to provide reliable, safe drinking water to our community. That means protecting water quality at the source - miles upstream from the metro area - and all the way to the tap at community homes and businesses."
Wild Chinook salmon will move out of the mainstem McKenzie and spawn in these floodplain waters throughout September.
The Finn Rock Reach team is excited to see how they respond to these enhanced habitats. At South Fork and Deer Creek, salmon spawning bed (redd) counts increased by as much as twenty-fold in the weeks post-construction.
"What we're seeing for these valley-bottom restoration projects is, if you build it, they will come," Fricke said.
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