In October, the board of the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District unanimously approved a purchase agreement for what’s known as the Rice Farm in Springfield.
On a balmy fall afternoon, Arlene Dietz, 81, navigated her 2014 GMC pickup through rows and rows of hazelnut trees. Some are but saplings; others are dense, tall and majestic.
“It’s been in the family for over 100 years,” Dietz said of the 289 acre farm, pointing out some of the older trees. “These were planted in 1930, so y’know, 95 years? That’s pretty good.”
Dietz inherited Rice Farm when her father died in 2010. After her husband died last year, she and her sons discussed next steps.
“We concluded that we wanted to keep it in hazelnuts, and we wanted some conservation for the river part of the orchard,” she said.
Cedar Creek flows through here on its way to the McKenzie River. The waterway is a popular one for recreation and its scenic beauty. Pausing along the leaf-covered stretch, Dietz pointed out several homes on the distant bank across from her farm, their roofs and porches sticking out from the rusty colored foliage.
“You’ll see some nice houses,” she said, turning her gaze back to the farm. “That’s what some people would like to put down here too, but…they’re not going to.”
Dietz told KLCC that she’s had several offers for this land from prospective buyers who’d like to use it for industrial, housing or park development. But instead, she’s chosen to sell it–at a discount–to the Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District (UWSWCD).
“The property is valued at $5.8 million,” said Cricket DeLoe, outreach specialist for the UWSWCD. “Arlene basically is giving the district a gift of about $1.8 million, selling it to us for $4 million.”
DeLoe said if the sale goes through as expected, it will be “a generational win.”
“It’s going to be a combination of agriculture and wild lands,” she explained. “There are deer on the property, there are coyote, hawks, mountain lions, little salmon fry in Cedar Creek. That this is now off the table for development, it’s going to preserve that land for the enjoyment of future generations.”
Lily Leitermann is the district manager for the conservation district. She said this is their first major purchase since voters approved the creation of a tax base for them in 2020. And Rice Farm hits all the right notes for their mission.
“The wildlife habitat restoration piece, the drinking water source protection piece, community and youth education, tribes and Indigenous people…all of these different aspects of conservation and restoration and community…we can tie it all together in this one place,” she said.
Leitermann said that Arlene Dietz approached UWSWCD board chair, Karl Morgenstern, about selling her property. The desire to have the land maintained and spared from development was very important to Dietz and her sons.
Conservation programs manager Daniel Dietz – who says he’s not related to Rice Farm owner, Arlene Dietz – added that some parts will be taken out of hazelnut production and made into riparian floodplain forest. A restoration feasibility study will determine expenses, to help with grant applications and fundraising.
“There’s so few opportunities for having very high impact level of conservation, so this location close to the water intake, plus the possibility for high value restoration is just incredible,” said Daniel Dietz. “Then you couple that with moving into more regenerative farming practices in the hazelnut area and the work that we can do there, it’s just amazing to be able to couple those.”
Another benefit is that the conservation site will further safeguard one of the area’s primary water intakes from the potential contamination that could have occurred should the acreage have been sold for industrial development.
In an email to KLCC, Eugene Water and Electric Board spokesperson Aaron Orlowski said that the utility and the conservation district are discussing a collaboration on future work at Rice Farms. Given the proximity of the site to EWEB’s drinking water intake at Hayden Bridge and the chance to protect the watershed, EWEB is “excited to support projects like the ones identified in the District’s proposal.”
Back at Rice Farm, Arlene Dietz reminisced about her family’s ties to the area including the waterways that grace the acreage.
“My son and his stepdaughter, they used to always come down here swimming at Cedar Creek,” she said. “I grew up on the McKenzie at a different site, and the McKenzie was just part of us.”
Dietz isn’t retiring any time soon. She said she’ll still manage a smaller acreage of hazelnut trees, and stick around as a consultant.
Certain things keep her here.
“Just the beauty of the trees. A hazelnut tree is beautiful, and it can last forever.”
The Rice Farm sale is expected to be finalized by the UWSWCD board on Dec. 4.
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