Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah Opening East Trailhead Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 12, 2021

Contacts: 
Janelle McCoy, 541-344-8350
Edward McNally, 404-281-6419

GRAND OPENING!  10 AM - 4 PM WED, MAY 26

Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah Opening East Trailhead Office
at Pisgah Public Market in Pleasant Hill

Everyone is invited to join the Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah (FBP) from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday, May 26 to celebrate the grand opening of our new offices in Pleasant Hill. FBP’s newest office is located at The Studios at Pisgah Public Market, 35851 Highway 58, just 1.5 miles south of Buford Park's East Trailhead

Guests attending FBP’s Open House festivities will be able to…

- enjoy food and refreshments from our new neighbors at Pisgah Public Market

- take advantage of special one-time discounts!

- meet FBP Executive Director Janelle McCoy and other members of the FBP staff and board

- hear about upcoming FBP events, programs taking place online and in the Park

- sign up to volunteer in the Native Plant Nursery and other parts of the Park

- learn about FBP’s latest trail improvements and habitat restoration projects

Please note that FBP’s popular Field and Native Plant Nursery offices remain open to the public at 34639 Frank Parrish Rd. near the North Trailhead of Buford Park. For more information on FBP and the Eastside Trailhead Office open house, visit www.bufordpark.org or call 541-344-8350.

FBP Executive Director Janelle McCoy speaks for the entire staff and board when she says “We’re genuinely excited to open our own studio space in Pleasant Hill’s popular Pisgah Public Market! Our Open House on May 26 is the first of many ways we’ll be saying ‘Hello’ to our new neighbors in and around the Public Market and participating as an active member of the broader Pleasant Hill community.”

“Having an office this close to our East Trailhead Parking Lot allows FBP to address the specific needs of the southeastern section of Buford Park more effectively,” says McCoy “and it helps us better serve the many visitors across the Willamette Valley that access the Park from that section.”

McCoy went on to explain that “The Friends of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah is a non-profit dedicated to preserving and maintaining the Park and making it safe and accessible to an even wider range of visitors. Over the next few years, we will be realigning and renovating trail sections on this side of the Park, so opening an administrative presence here is a smart move for us for several reasons.”

For more information on FBP and the Eastside Trailhead Office open house, visit www.bufordpark.org or call 541-344-8350.

Friends of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah - To nurture and restore our connection to nature.

Whether for recreation, to immerse yourself in a natural habitat or as a volunteer, for thirty years the Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah have played an important role ensuring that our unique habitat remains a treasure now and for the future.  More than ever, our Park, our restored habitats and the joy that being outside brings are an integral part of our lives and our health.

Friends of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah partners with Lane County Parks, Mount Pisgah Arboretum, The Nature Conservancy, Oregon State Parks, and other area landowners to enhance native habitat, improve trails, and involve volunteers in caring for the land. Since their founding in 1989, the Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah have raised and invested millions of dollars in cash and volunteer contributions for habitat and trail improvements in the Mt. Pisgah area. The Friends protect and enhance native ecosystems and compatible recreation, foster community stewardship of natural areas, improve and maintain recreational trails, grow native plants for habitat restoration, and work to bring more lands in the Mt. Pisgah area into conservation status. They also explore Pisgah’s hidden treasures on guided tours and advocate for land protection in the greater Mt. Pisgah area, like the 1,300-acre Willamette Confluence Preserve next to Buford Park now owned by The Nature Conservancy.

Set between the confluence of the Coast and Middle Forks of the Willamette River, Mt. Pisgah, a 1531-ft high volcanic butte, offers commanding views of the Willamette Valley from the crest of the Coast Range to the west and Cascade Range to the east. Just minutes from downtown Eugene and Springfield, Mt. Pisgah’s wetland, prairie and oak savanna habitats are some of the most valuable left anywhere in the Willamette Valley. According to The Nature Conservancy, “the Willamette Valley’s native oak and prairie habitats are among the most endangered in North America, harboring 189 species at risk of extinction, some of which occur nowhere else on Earth.  Less than two percent of these original habitats survive, and what remains is subject to intense development pressures.”

As a natural paradise, key conservation area, and our community’s “backyard wilderness” Mt. Pisgah is a popular destination for hikers, birders, equestrians and nature lovers. Buford Park, the centerpiece of the greater Mt. Pisgah area, is the largest of Lane County’s 73 parks  and receives 250,000 visits a year. 17 miles of trails in Buford Park, plus Willamalane’s 3-mile Middle Fork path between Clearwater Park and Dorris Ranch invite visitors to explore the area’s abundant natural beauty.

Pisgah Public Market

35851 Highway 58, Pleasant Hill

The Pisgah Public Market is a retail and office center primarily serving Pleasant Hill and the nearby communities of Lowell, Cloverdale, Creswell, Fall Creek, West Fir and Oakridge.  Its location on Highway 58 in Pleasant Hill is 11 miles southeast of downtown Eugene and just 1.5 miles south of the Eastside Trailhead entrance to Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah.

The Market’s anchor tenant is also Dari Market’s flagship store location. Restaurants and coffee shops at Pisgah Public Market include Cioppino, an intimate Italian restaurant, Sunrise Cafe, Hilltop Bar & Grill, and Espresso 58. Just Move Studio & Fitness, Kim Lamborn Massage, Pleasant Hill Chiropractic, and an Urgent Care Clinic meet a wide range of health and wellness needs. Pisgah Public Market is also home to the Just Move Gift Boutique and a variety of professional services including Chambers Communications, The Cognitive Defender, Hayden Bridge Lumber, Maven Creative as well as insurance agent Christine Dambach, realtor Korenza Jones and fiber artist Sandra Kalnins.

Pleasant Hill

The community of Pleasant Hill, with a population of nearly 7,000, lies between the Coast Fork Willamette River and the Middle Fork Willamette River.

The Willamette Valley in Lane County is on Indigenous Kalapuya land. Kalapuyans from the Tsankupi, Chafan, Winefelly, Pee-u (Mohawk), and Chelamela tribes created and maintained rich soil fertility through advanced horticultural practices. After the Kalapuya Treaty (Treaty of Dayton) in 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to what are now the Grand Ronde and Siletz reservations, and are now members of Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (https://www.grandronde.org) and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (http://ctsi.nsn.us).

In 1846, Virginia native Elijah Bristow and his wife Susannah Gabbart were among the first white people to see this land, which they called Pleasant Hill. The couple built the first cabin in Lane County 175 years ago, when the county included the entire southern half of the Oregon Territory east to the Rocky Mountains and south to the California border. Stones from their cabin’s fireplace form a small historic marker a mile north of Pisgah Public Market. The Oregon Territory became the 33rd State in 1859.

A century later, Pleasant Hill would be home to author and counter-cultural visionary Ken Kesey (1935-2001) and serve as a gateway to the Willamette National Forest Recreation Area. Within Buford Park, the summit of Mt. Pisgah offers a panoramic view of the southern Willamette Valley. Today, a bronze relief sculpture commissioned by Ken Kesey sits atop Mt. Pisgah as a memorial to his son Jed. The summit marker depicts the surrounding topography and many nearby geographic features.

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