ENHS Nature Trails Nov. 97 Article 2

President's Column: Increasing the Local Visibility of the Society
by Nathan Tublitz

For nearly 50 years the ENHS has served our local community by sponsoring interesting and informative public lectures on a variety of local, national, and international issues. Although we have some reason to believe that the community appreciates this service, we can do more. The ENHS Board has been discussing ways of increasing our impact in the Eugene-Springfield area, and these discussions have lead to several new efforts by the Society which I wish to present to you.

*** Collaboration with Nearby Nature. As many of you know, Nearby Nature is a local organization, headed by Joseph Minato, dedicated to increasing public awareness about our local environment. They have had quite a bit of success with their in-school programs as well as developing a lovely nature program in Alton Baker Park. We approached them earlier this fall with possibility of joining forces to enhance their existing programs, and they responded positively with a proposal outlined in an article by Joseph Minato elsewhere in this issue of Nature Trails. We can have a positive and immediate impact on the community by volunteering to work on their Alton Baker Park action project, school program, and/or the Alton Baker Park school program. Nearby Nature is always in need of nature guides and school program leaders and many of you would be perfect in either of those roles. Nearby Nature trains all its volunteers, so you don't even need to have any special expertise to be useful. The Board strongly encourages all of you to give a few hours to support the worthwhile programs of Nearby Nature.

***ENHS Web site. Another issue that the Board has agreed to pursue is the development of a ENHS web site on the Internet. This site will be the home for all sorts of useful information, including archived copies of Nature Trials, keys to local wildlife, local and regional maps, and information useful to school children interested in the natural world. The U of O Biology Department has generously offered to let us use their computer free of charge for this site and we are currently developing a ENHS home page with the help of an environmental studies student. I would like to hear from you about what should be on our site. If you are really enthused about this project, we welcome any and all assistance. With any luck the web page should be up and running around the beginning of the year.

***ENHS as an activist organization. One of the prime goals of the Society is, and has always been, to support efforts to preserve local natural areas. For example, designation of a Nature Sanctuary in Alton Baker Park was spearheaded by Dave Wagner, the current Nature Trails editor and ex-President of the Society. Last year the Board resolved that the Society become more actively involved in those local issues that impact the natural environment, and we have already spoken out publicly on several issues. This past spring the Society headed up a coalition of environmental groups that successfully argued against the siting of a state medium security prison on the Dillard road site south of Goshen. In July we co-sponsored an evening lecture by Junior Robertson who spoke against expansion of the Riverfront Research Park. We also are part of a multi-group Coalition for Parks, headed by FRESH (Friends of Eugene-Springfield Habitats) to lobby for funds to add new local parks to the existing park system. We will continue to speak out on local public issues that affect natural habitats, however we need your input on what issues we should focus our attention.

It is our hope that the Society becomes a force in local environmental decisions but that can only be accomplished with the support and advice from our membership. If there is an issues you wish us to work on, or if you have a suggestion for how we can better serve the local community, please contact me at 346-4510 (w) or 342-4510 (h) or tublitz@uoneuro.uoregon.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.

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