Lisa Warnes

When a 40-acre parcel of forested hillside across from her South Eugene home was sold to a developer in 2004, contractor Lisa Warnes leapt into action. "This is the eastern fork headwaters of Amazon Creek -- I couldn't believe that the city would allow it to be developed," she says. "I bought a computer and started printing." She went door-to-door, talked to neighbors, networked with activists, and founded a non-profit: Vision for Intact Ecosystems & Watersheds (VIEW). A surfer as a kid, Warnes left the Bay Area for Santa Cruz after high school. She migrated north to Arcata, then to Idleyld Park, east of Roseburg. In Eugene since 1980, she worked as a baker and spent seven years with the Burley bike co-op. After a couple of projects with a friend, she got a contractor's license. "Now most of my business is right in this neighborhood, " she says. Warnes' activism has taken time from her work. "It has cost me dearly," she admits. "But I've learned to write grants, to identify plants, and to speak in public." Learn more about VIEW's ongoing campaign at efn.org/~ksl.

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 25 May 2006