Project Statement

In the wake of destruction from the Emerald Ash Borer beetle, the transformation of Amazon Park's Ash Grove honors one of Eugene's most beloved wetland priority sites while restoring pre-colonial camas meadow conditions. Advocating for a mixed solution of ash tree treatment and wetland adaptation, After the Ashes provides an ecologically sensitive approach that balances visitor engagement with habitat needs. A curving boardwalk is interrupted by perforated panels that mimic the leaning form of ash trees, and a memorial ash grove invites visitors to pause and reflect on previous conditions. Rich in character and unobtrusive in form, After the Ashes offers a resilient future that remembers its past.

Project Narrative

WILLAMETTE VALLEY ASH UNDER THREAT

While the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) may be old news east of the Mississippi, the beetle poses a new threat to the Willamette Valley’s endemic Oregon Ash (Fraxinus latifolia) forested wetlands after landing on the West Coast for the first time in 2022.

A BELOVED PARK FOREST AND WETLAND PRIORITY SITE FACES DEVASTATION

Declared a Willamette Valley wetland priority site, the Amazon Park Ash Grove (a stand of almost entirely native Oregon Ash) is home to some of the ecologically richest urban forested wetlands in the state of Oregon. The Ash Grove is now under threat, however, as EAB has been found only 50 miles away. According to the USDA, EAB-infected ash forests reach a 99% mortality rate regardless of condition, and ecologists in Eugene expect this forest to follow the same fate. Doing nothing may result in partial park closure as dead ash trees become especially brittle “widow-makers.”

Acknowledging the prohibitive cost of complete forest treatment for EAB resistance, this project envisions a resilient future in which Eugene’s Amazon Park Ash Grove is transformed into an commemorative wetland meadow, only treating select trees to stand as commemorators that honor one of Eugene’s most beloved forests. With no official city plan for the Ash Grove, this project is poised to act as an early precedent for future Oregon Ash wetlands while EAB continues to spread across the state and is soon to be found in other cities along the West Coast. 

A FUTURE THAT REMEMBERS ITS PAST

A sensitive approach to site ecology adapts the forested ash wetland to a mixed wetland of camas-meadow, ash savanna, and oak savanna. Currently, the Ash Grove contains one of the densest and oldest camas understories in Eugene, along with several other desirable native plants, mammals, birds, and amphibians who benefit from the seasonally inundated conditions. Design considerations hinge on uncovering this camas understory, thought to be originally planted and stewarded by Kalapuyan peoples, while also providing ecological commemoration of the Oregon Ash stand that has persisted over the last 75 years. 100 ash trees, along with two smaller forest stands, will be preserved using a direct injection insecticide every two years, believed to have little to no impact on the surrounding ecology.

Following ecological considerations, the design includes a gentle 8-foot-wide curving boardwalk that maintains a 2% or less grade no more than 28” off the wetland floor. The boardwalk tread uses ash wood harvested on site, locally milled, and then thermally modified (a non-chemical heat treatment ensuring outdoor longevity). Infested dead wood will be scattered across the site to provide vital habitat for amphibians such as the Pacific Chorus Frog and Long-Toed Salamander. Each time the boardwalk crosses an ash log, its surface is interrupted by perforated corten grating that allows rain and weather to penetrate the wetland floor while also calling visitors' attention to the decay of trees past. On the site's southern end, a secondary path departs from the curvilinear ash-topped boardwalk and engages visitors with a contrasting geometry that encourages pause and reflection. Site elements such as commemorative rest stops, an ash memorial grove, and an ash-tree inspired bird blind offer visitors a feeling of past forest conditions while experiencing a rejuvenated ecology that offers the hope of a resilient future.