Eric Wold

Since 2001, Eric Wold has served as Wetlands Program Supervisor, overseeing restoration programs for the City of Eugene's Parks and Open Spaces Division. After growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis with a passion for sports and the out-of-doors, Wold moved to Portland to study biology at Lewis and Clark. "I fell in love with the Northwest," he says. He spent two years in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, where he met Brinda, a fellow volunteer, and another year in St Louis, where they got married, before moving back to Oregon. He worked as a wildlife biologist for the Forest Service and a natural resources planner for the city before he found his current position in the West Eugene Wetlands. "I love it," says Wold, standing on the bank of Amazon Creek as it flows through Meadowlark Prairie. "We have partnerships with the Nature Conservancy and the BLM, with eight organizations in all. We are working on land acquisition to protect this area forever. So far we have about 3000 acres."

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 26 October 2006