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Lions Assist in Scientific Study at Delta Ponds
A puzzling sight at the Delta Ponds has piqued the curiosity of passing motorists recently: what appear to be numerous white stakes protruding from bare, black dirt mounds adjacent to the ponds.
On Saturday, February 21, eleven members of the Eugene Downtown Lions Club, along with several volunteers from the Eugene Stream Team, got a hands-on explanation of the mystery “stakes.” Actually, what people are seeing are light green mesh cylinders surrounding recent plantings of native trees.
In fact, Trevor Sheffels, a graduate student at Portland State University, is conducting a scientific study on the effectiveness of these mesh sleeves as protection for planted cuttings. Some Lions assisted by attaching metal tags to bamboo stakes used to mark and identify each planting as cottonwood, willow, or dogwood.
 Other Lions planted the trees in ten rows of three, thirty young trees in each group. Trevor had positioned wooden platforms mounted with cameras between the groups of trees. Motion sensors will activate the cameras if a beaver, nutria, muskrat, or other animal disturbs or eats the plantings. Not only should the study reveal what kinds of animal predation is likely to damage the trees; it will also reveal which kinds of trees are most attractive or resistant to this kind of predation.
Finally, the Lions helped install the mesh sleeves around the plantings. The hope is that the study should show whether these kinds of sleeves effectively protect the trees in this early, vulnerable state.
Besides the experimental plantings, some of the Lions planted larger trees and positioned metal fencing around them to protect them. Others planted camas bulbs on a site near the water.
According to Matt McRae, who coordinates the Eugene Stream Team volunteers and plans the work at Delta Ponds, the goal is to remove as many invasive exotic plants from the area as possible, replacing them with plants native to the area. Some of the most recent plantings were in mounds of black dirt deposited around the edges of the ponds to provide nesting habitat for Western pond turtles.
All of these measures are designed to convert the former gravel pits that are now the Delta Ponds into shallow water habitat surrounded by native plants and trees. The Eugene Downtown Lions Club is happy to be a part of this important and gratifying work.
Reporter: Lion Jim Newton
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