Save The Phoenix Wetlands

12/28/2025

Project As-Built Report prepared by Scott English.

12/26/2025

Scott English's letter of acknowledgement to the agencies, organizations, and individuals who supported this project:

12/24/2025

This is a video of the Celebration event that was held on October 25, 2025. We are celebrating the successful completion of the construction phase of the Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project. It is the culmination of 3-1/2 years of persistent effort by Scott English, Robert Coffan and Save the Phoenix Wetlands, to reconnect Blue Heron Creek to the floodplain of Bear Creek. The next phase is the restoration of native vegetation, shrubs and the riparian canopy, this work will continue over the next three years. The Rogue River Watershed Council's, John Speece, with input of Scott English, will be in charge of this phase of the project.

We are celebrating the successful completion of the construction phase of the Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project. It is the culmination of...

11/08/2025

We were honored to co-host the eco-cultural celebrate Native American Heritage month and Elevate Tribal Stewardship event that was held on November 1, 2025 at Blue Heron Park in Phoenix, Oregon.

We are grateful for the work of the inter-tribal youth crew who began the restoration work by planting willow stalks along the banks of the newly created channel of Blue Heron Creek. Thank you John Speece, Rogue River Watershed Council for all that you did to help things go smoothly.

We are thankful for the presence of our Save the Phoenix Wetlands members who attended the event; Robert Coffan, Marsha Carino and Annie Drager for being tour guides, and Robert for being one of the speakers, and Pam Thornhill, chair of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Committee.

The line was long with people wanting to see one of the three springs that are the headwaters of Blue Heron Creek and tour the creek that was the impetus for the Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project. (photos of people waiting in line for the tour provided by Janet Eastman from The Oregonian.)

Another co-host of the event was the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, Executive Director, David Wick and Director of Development, Irene Kai spoke at the event and were in attendance to promote their current initiative, the Oregon Peace Trail.

Thank you Robert and Annie for taking videos.

11/08/2025

Scott English is a man with a vision and the expertise to make that vision a reality. Not to mention having the sheer tenacity to work through 3-1/2 years of red tape before the actual work could begin. In this clip Scott acknowledges the individuals, agencies, organizations, and governing bodies involved in making the Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project a success for the community, the springs, the creeks, and the wildlife. (Our apologies if anyone was inadvertently left out).

11/08/2025

The residents of Phoenix Oregon do not need an introduction to this gentleman, he is Phoenix's Mayor Al Muelhoefer! Thank you Mayor Al for being a speaker at our Celebrate the Reconnection of Blue Heron Creek into Bear Creek event held on October 25, 2025 at the newly created outdoor amphitheater which overlooks the newly re-created confluence of the two creeks. Here is what he had to say:

11/06/2025

The Spring-Fed Waters of Blue Heron Creek are freed after being land-locked for 75 years!

The pouring of the water was the last thing we did at our Celebrating the Reconnection of Blue Heron Creek into Bear Creek event held on October 25, 2025. It was very meaningful to us to have the community come onto the land and see the participants embrace this symbolic gesture. The water was collected from the spring source, where the clean, cold water bubbles up out of the ground.

11/05/2025

11/04/2025

We were honored to have Representative Pam Marsh speak at our Celebrate the Reconnection of Blue Heron Creek event on October 25th, 2025. We thank Rep Marsh for supporting us from the beginning when we were working on officially name Blue Heron Creek and for coming out and visiting the site. And thank you for taking this great group photo of us just after we finished planting the Big Leaf Maple tree. I inserted Robert Coffan into the photo, he was too busy emceeing the event to be in the shot.

11/04/2025

Thank you Senator Jeff Golden for coming to our "Celebrate the Reconnection of Blue Heron Creek" event and for being one of our speakers. A burst of rain and blustery wind gusts came through as the Senator was speaking!

We're grateful to have this clip captured by Senator Golden of our group planting the Big Leaf Maple tree that was donated by Plant Oregon.

11/01/2025

A tree planting by the group Save the Phoenix Wetlands - The Big Leaf Maple tree was donated by Plant Oregon, thank you Dan Bish. The symbolic planting of the tree was to celebrate the successful reconnection of Blue Heron Creek into Bear Creek after 75 years of being landlocked. Step 1 and 2 of the reconnection phase of the Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project has been successfully completed. Thank you John Speece of the Rogue River Watershed Council, for your help in preparing for the planting of the tree and helping with the actual planting. John will implement the next step of the project which is the riparian/wetland restoration phase and this work will be ongoing for the next 3 years. Visit the project page of Blue Heron Creek Riparian/Wetland Restoration Project for updates on how this important restoration phase is progressing.