Here’s the news, both good and bad: The bad news is that construction will temporarily close a portion of the Fern Ridge Path, but the good news is that it’s in the name of Amazon Creek restoration.

Between Chambers and Garfield streets, the city of Eugene will take up its $975,000 project to stabilize the erosion on Amazon Creek’s banks, as well as add more than 13,000 native plants to restore some nature to the area.

In the 1950s, the Army Corps of Engineers rerouted and paved much of the creek to mitigate flooding, but the result left Amazon Creek a shadow of its former self and stopped wildlife from using it as a corridor to travel.

Organizations like the Be Noble Foundation and the Long Tom Watershed Council are hopeful that the creek can someday be restored to its former corridor status and serve as habitat to local wildlife, from otters to cutthroat trout. To follow these efforts, see the LTWC’s website.

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