Celebrating what is and may be.

Byline: Bob Welch The Register-Guard

Having hiked partway up Mount Pisgah one morning last summer, I stopped to take a sip from a water bottle. Suddenly, I sensed I wasn't alone.

I wasn't.

A young deer, no less frozen in motion than the oaks behind it, was staring at me from a whisper away.

Later I thought: How many places such as Eugene-Springfield have places like this in their backyards, the 2,300-acre Howard Buford Recreation Area?

As Friends of Buford Park & Mount Pisgah celebrates its 20th anniversary on Oct. 8, it's time we took stock of our bounty; more than 100,000 of us will enjoy the wilds of Buford this year from 24 miles of hiker and equestrian trails.

Time to be thankful for the vision - and volunteer hours - of those who have nurtured this place; 35,000 volunteer hours have been given, $2 million raised.

And time to consider how something good might get even better. Now that the Wildish Land Co. is willing to sell 1,200 adjacent acres north of Pisgah, mainly along the east-to-west-flowing Middle Fork of the Willamette River, the park could expand by roughly half.

"Clean rivers, diverse wildlife and bountiful wildflowers are part of Oregon's natural heritage that we should sustain for our grandchildren to enjoy," says Chris Orsinger, executive director of Friends of Buford Park & Mount Pisgah, the nonprofit agency that began in 1989.

(Not to be confused with the Mount Pisgah Arboretum, a separate nonprofit agency that manages about one-tenth of Buford at the base, and up to the 800-foot level, of Pisgah itself.)

Buford Park extends mainly to the north of 1,500-foot Mount Pisgah, where volunteer dollars and sweat equity have been used to, among other things, maintain and improve trails, restore flood plains, build a native plant nursery and enhance rare oak and prairie habitats.

"The park is more than a recreation resource," Orsinger says. "It provides essential health benefits to park visitors. Ask any regular hiker how it rejuvenates them, keeps them healthy."

If Buford already is the crown jewel in Lane County's 73-park system, it has the potential to shine even brighter. If the Wildish land becomes public land, the park would offer a tantalizing connection to Eugene and Springfield through bike paths, beginning near the confluence of the Willamette River's Middle Fork and Coast Fork near Interstate 5.

"You'd be able to take a bike ride along the Riverfront Bike Path all the way to Pisgah," Orsinger says.

Some Buford backers already are suggesting that it could become a sort of "Central Park of the West."

"If the gravel ponds are restored to reconnect to the river, you could wind your kayak or canoe through the area with all sorts of wildlife and waterfowl to see," Orsinger says.

Such dreams, of course, depend on The Nature Conservancy - negotiating on behalf of Lane County - and Wildish reaching an agreement on land for which the company, in 2006, valued at $26 million.

"The tough question," Orsinger says, "is how do we as a community care for this important anchor of open space in an era when public dollars are very tight?"

He says "significant process has been made quietly in 2009."

The two entities are working toward securing an option, at which point Lane County would need to find the funding. And, given its own financial struggles, not from its own pockets, commissioners have said.

The cities of Eugene and Springfield, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration and Oregon State Parks - all have connections to the Buford area and might be contributors, Orsinger says. Federal, state and local money. Private funds, public funds, matching funds - the makeup of the payment to Wildish could be as diverse as Buford's riparian forests, open prairies and twisting rivers.

"The Friends of Buford are preparing to do a capital campaign to help fund and endow the addition," Orsinger says, "but not until we have an option."

If it all makes for an intriguing future, the past shouldn't be forgotten.

Thus, here's a hoist of one hiker's water bottle - to what the Friends of Buford Park & Mount Pisgah have done in the past two decades.

So we might enjoy that rare one-on-one moment with a deer.

The Oct. 8 anniversary celebration - featuring a keynote talk by author Carolyn Scott Kortge, Celtic music, appetizers and a no-host bar - will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Veterans' Memorial Building, 1626 Willamette St. A $5 to $25 donation is suggested. RSVP to [e-mail]. More info at www.bufordpark.org.