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Consultants drafting the plan were instructed to collect data and analyze the trail system, land boundaries and park use. The plan includes efforts to better understand the site, “including landfill footprint," but does not call for more environmental testing.
The city of Eugene is developing a new 20-year plan for nearly 400 acres of public space at Alton Baker Park that now includes a trail system, the Canoe Canal, and a decommissioned landfill, among other developed and natural areas.
Alton Baker Park comprises two large areas: West Alton Baker Park in Eugene and the Whilamut Natural Area toward Springfield.
The plan seeks to combine and update several older plans, some almost 30 years old, into one, said Shelly Miller, a supervisor in the city’s Parks and Open Space department. Her department is working in partnership with the Willamalane Park and Recreation District.
“The goal of the plan is to develop a vision for the park over the next 20 years that balances recreation, ecological health, cultural recognition and community access,” Miller said in an email.
In May, the city awarded a $475,000 contract to a landscape architecture and urban design firm to draft a plan by mid-April 2027. According to the city’s request for proposals, which outlines the work for bidding contractors, consultants will collect data and analyze the site, including:
- Land and property boundaries
- Existing park use and partnerships
- Facility information, “including landfill footprint”
- Operational considerations
- Public art and cultural assets
The document notes:
“Prior to Euro-American settlement and the construction of the Upper Willamette dam complex, this area seasonally flooded, allowing the river to meander forming side channels and oxbows important for fish and wildlife and the indigenous people who relied upon them. Subsequent land use shifts including agriculture, mining, transportation and utility development, housing, and the incorporation of an onsite landfill have constrained the interaction of the river and landscape in Alton Baker Park.”
The decommissioned Day Island Landfill sits inside a loop of Pre’s Trail in the Whilamut Natural Area. A Lookout Eugene-Springfield investigation last year found a roughly 200-square-foot chemical disposal area, about the size of a small garage, that took in toxic waste from J.H. Baxter & Co. — the west Eugene wood-treatment company whose facility is now a Superfund cleanup site. A follow-up story with newly obtained records showed the landfill beneath Pre’s Trail can leak polluted water during heavy rain.
The city owns the land, but Lane County, which operated the dump, remains responsible for the landfill.
Earlier this year, the Whilamut Citizen Planning Committee passed a motion calling on the city and Lane County to resume soil and water testing at the landfill. The committee has yet to decide how to deliver its motion to the city. Its next meeting is scheduled Oct. 22.
The 20-year plan does not include environmental testing in the landfill, according to Miller. The city has set aside $150,000 of the budget for Canoe Canal waterway planning, including “water quality assessment.”
The city did not respond by publication time to Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s follow-up questions about the assessment.
A public survey is expected in the coming weeks and a public meeting will likely convene in early 2027. Meanwhile, a separate construction project at the outdoor Cuthbert Amphitheater is expected to begin in October.
