Greenway vision needs rescue from the river of no return.

Byline: Phillip Carroll For The Register-Guard

Forty years ago this month, Oregon Gov. Tom McCall announced his proposal for a Willamette River Greenway. Although the idea of a protected, accessible riverside corridor was neither his nor original, it became one of the pillars of Oregon's noted land use planning efforts.

The Willamette Greenway is now mostly senescent. With thoughtful dialogue, clear principles and a bit of coordination, Eugene can revive the spirit of the greenway and set a new standard for how cities and rivers interact.

In the years before the 1967 unveiling of the governor's Greenway Committee, University of Oregon professor Karl Onthank, an active and dedicated conservationist, had been prodding then-Secretary of State McCall and State Treasurer Robert Straub to support his notion of an accessible natural corridor along the Willamette. In July of 1965, McCall wrote to Onthank approving of this `more imaginative use of Oregon's riverbanks."

The following year Onthank drafted his `Willamette Recreational Waterway Concept." In it the basic components of what would ultimately become the Willamette Greenway Goal were established: To protect, conserve, enhance and maintain the natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, economic and recreational qualities of lands along the Willamette River.

The administrative and political difficulties in fulfilling such a grand goal were never overcome. Land acquisition was fitful and contentious in the early years, and has been almost nonexistent in recent times. Drawing the greenway boundary required an ever-shrinking scope of review. The nagging governmental complexities of the plan led to an equilibrium of agreement among the various jurisdictions, but little impetus for future investment.

For people in the Eugene-Springfield area, the greenway lives on primarily as the Howard Buford Recreation Area, one of five parcels purchased for the greenway in the early years. The greenway also lives on in Goal 15 of our 19 statewide land use planning goals. Under this goal, local governments are responsible for reviewing new or intensified development within the greenway boundary - an erratic line officially depicted in Eugene's planning archives only on faded maps from the Nixon era.

The shortcomings of the Willamette Greenway are often unappreciated by those who know the greenway as simply a core legacy of Oregon's progressive land use planning. But this wonderful idea, once pursued with enthusiasm and vision, has atrophied. A continuous riverside corridor seems an extremely remote possibility. There is no comprehensive greenway plan. Even high-profile statewide efforts such as Gov. Ted Kulongoski's Willamette River Legacy project rarely mention the greenway.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has realized this, and two years ago completed a re-visioning of its role. A task force recommended new ways of assessing resources and prioritizing action. This step is crucial to revitalizing interest in the vision of an ecologically intact river corridor that provides both direct and intrinsic benefits to Oregonians. Outside of greenway parklands, other entities must pursue the goal.

We in Eugene are blessed by both natural and human resources. Our riverside public lands offer a high degree of assurance that at a minimum, the ecology of the river won't greatly deteriorate because of insensitive development. And the imagination and dedication of planners, ecologists, designers and community leaders in both the public and private sectors have yielded many studies and plans of great potential for environmental and cultural enhancement.

What's missing is a clear and broadly supported will to maximize both sets of resources for the benefit of city residents, downstream neighbors and generations to come.

The Willamette Greenway aims to achieve multiple goals that may appear incompatible: habitat improvement and protection, public access and economic vitality. That these goals mirror our city's new commitment to the `triple bottom line' of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental - is no accident. Though sustainability was not the watchword for Onthank or McCall, they understood the stakes of turning our back on Oregon's environment and making the false choice of commerce over resources. We know now that the three goals are not incompatible, but rather imperative.

Agreed-upon principles and guidelines for riverfront planning in Eugene would capitalize on the dozens of complete and ongoing plans and projects that affect the river - everything from the recently launched Franklin Corridor Study to the Parks and Open Space Comprehensive Plan, to riverside mixed-use center planning and the future of the Eugene Water & Electric Board site.

Adopting comprehensive principles and guidelines for riverfront development could occur in various ways: A written plan could be developed; regulations and incentives could be created; a collaborative organization could be formed; or a Willamette River District could be established. Some combination of these may be needed or other methods may be suggested, and some linkage with riparian planning and restoration both upstream and downstream would certainly be desirable. But more important than the mechanism is the community commitment to a Willamette riverfront of improved ecological health and urban vitality.

The Willamette Greenway, as originally envisioned, proved to be too big a dream for Oregon to fulfill. But the greenway lives on in dozens of fragmented, smaller-scale improvements being made by collaborations between governments, private interests and nonprofits up and down the watershed. The city of Eugene has a special place in the history of the greenway as home to its father, Karl Onthank.

We can remain salved by his grand idea, now withered - or we can take up the challenge to advance it. The river awaits.