Mid-Willamette River Watershed Ten Places Corvallis, Oregon

1. McDonald Forest. Take Harrison west as it changes into Oak Creek Road and ultimately ends in a gated path. Walk west up the path along Oak Creek. You will pass through forests of Douglas-fir and big-leaf maple and the raw ground of recent clearcuts. The College of Forestry, which owns this land, is in the process of preparing a new plan for ‘managing’ the multiple uses of the land, which encircles Corvallis to the west and north.

2. Bald Hill. Take campus way west from campus, along the bike path that takes you past OSU barns and the fairgrounds to the base of Bald Hill. A trail encircles the base of the hill and eventually climbs to the top, which has a glorious 360-degree view of the valley from the icy Cascade peaks to the mists from the ocean. This is a city park, which is undergoing extensive restoration aimed at recreating the open oak savannah.

3. Marys River Watershed. The Marys River—the source of much of Corvallis’ drinking water--begins on the flank of Marys Peak and winds through Philomath and Corvallis to empty into the Willamette River. The river has its problems, including clear-cutting in the upper reaches and runoff from agriculture and lawns, but sea-run cutthroat trout spawn here. The Watershed Council is headed by Sandra Coveny, who has recent studies of the biocultural context of the river.

4. Garland Nursery. Garland Nursery is located north on highway 20, midway between Corvallis and Albany. It’s a family-owned business where you can buy an impressive variety of lawn and garden chemicals and ornaments, plants from around the world, and some local plants. In the spring, it’s crowded with shoppers, pulling little wagons full of bedding plants and bushes and starts for vegetable gardens.

5. Bay Street Crab Company. A wonderful little store specializing in fresh fish and shellfish, local and global. 1335 NW 9^th Street in Corvallis. Run by good people, Harry and Annette, the store offers live crabs, halibut, salmon, clams, shrimp, and all sorts of other fish brought in from Newport and the Columbia River and other sites around the world.

6. Social Ministry, St. Mary’s Catholic Parish. St Mary’s church is located just north of campus at 501 NW 25^th Street. Sister Cathy Carr is director of Social Ministries, and in that capacity, she runs a soup kitchen that feeds people each day and in other ways ministers to people with urgent needs for food and shelter. Local churches are deeply involved in environmental issues ranging from population-control issues to stewardship of creation.

7. OSU cow barns. If you go west on Harrison, just past the city limits you will pass goose-graced fields on your left and come to a silo painted white and black. These are the Oregon State dairy barns. It’s quite an elaborate operation, with research connections to Oregon’s agricultural communities, teaching connections to OSU classrooms, and interesting ecological connections to Oak Creek, into which its refuse drains.

8. Coffin Butte Landfill. One of the seven wonders of Benton County, this is a mountain of trash that is gradually being transformed into cottonwood-covered hills and marshland complete with osprey nests. If you stand at the entrance on a Saturday morning, you can see a parade of families driving in to dump their refuse, at $16 a load. The landfill is located at the corner of Highway 99W and Coffin Butte Rd about twenty minutes’ drive north of Corvallis.

9. The OSU Office of Radiation Safety is the place responsible for all aspects of research and teaching that use radioactive substances. They enforce safety regulations and safely dispose of radioactive wastes, probably including the remains of radioactive animals. The man in charge is Rainier Farmer, 7-2227. (This is a relatively short description of this place because I don’t know where it is, or what quantity of wastes they deal with, or where those waste materials go, or by what means of transportation.)

10. Bi-Mart. Corvallis has two of these; take your pick. One is on NW 9^th Street, at Circle Blvd. The other is west on SW 53^rd Street, almost at the city limits as you go toward Philomath. They each have a pharmacy and a selection of consumer products—beauty supplies, electronics, toys, garden supplied, tools—in a big box store behind a large parking lot. You might focus on the parking lot, the roof, the people, or any of the departments in the store—there’s a wealth of material here, literally.