User:Martha Forsyth/Madison Meadow/longversion

Madison Meadow is a two-acre plot of undeveloped land in Eugene, Oregon, United States. In the fall of 2003 the property was put up for sale by its owner, a resident of New York City. A prospective buyer had plans to build several houses on the property. Neighbors, concerned that a new owner would develop the property and displace the native wildlife, began a campaign and started a non-profit organization to purchase the land and preserve its wild character. As of late 2007 they had raised nearly all of the $500,000 necessary to purchase the property. map?(in the Public Domain of course!)

Background
Spearheaded by Linda Prier of Eugene, neighbors formed a non-profit group called Madison Meadow in June of 2004 and started raising money to buy the property in order to "preserve it as undeveloped space in perpetuity." Owner Eric Frye, a resident of New York City whose father had owned the property, was responsive to the group, and offered to sell the property for $450,000, if they could raise a $200,000 down-payment by the end of 2003. The group was unable to meet that goal, but neighbors Paul and Stephanie Niedermeyer bought the property, and offered the group another chance to raise the money and buy the property. The group was successful this time in raising the down-payment, and purchased the property, assuming Frye's mortgage. The group made interest-only payments on the mortgage until 2008, when a balloon payment was due. They were able to make the full payment, due in part to members loaning money to cover the shortfall; the group continues to raise funds to cover these loans.

The Campaign
The Madison Meadow group used a multi-faceted approach.


 * They weighed the pros and cons of denser city/more open space around it, vs. a less tightly packed city that contained green space, for the benefit of both wildlife and the city's people.
 * ''Petenote: The background for this is Senate Bill 10 of 1969, and also SB's 100 and 101 of 1973. It's a vital bit of Oregon history that, unfortunately, is not well documented on Wikipedia yet. This is our draft/outline.


 * They set about educating people to the value of having undeveloped space within city limits, and developing community awareness of this particular parcel of land.
 * Petenote: This could certainly be cited to one of the newspaper articles. Marthareply: Yup!


 * They researched and published the history of the tract of land in question.


 * They developed a web site, through which they set about raising the $500,000 necessary to make the purchase. They accepted donations through their website.


 * Field Fairies [ref. their article

Success!
By November of 2007 the group of neighbors had met their most critical goal: they had raised enough money to purchase the land in the name of the trust. Within a year, the rest of the money was raised.

need to add: Photos (get permission to put at least one photo on Commons and use it) Press (see website)

Possible external references
Keep here for possible use on the page. (will need proper citations)


 * The Friendly Area Neighborhood of Eugene, OR. Scroll down to "MADISON MEADOW NEWSFLASH".


 * short article in Eugene Weekly, September 23, 2004
 * Gathering Space: Saving Madison Meadow will help build community, by Lorri Goodman. Article from Eugene Weekly, 23 September 2004.
 * Meadow Melee, by Joe Mosley. Article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), October 10, 2004

(Saturday, November 10, 2007) Madison Meadow Monarch Habitat Vice President John Hogan and President Eleanor Ryan supervised work on the creation of a habitat for Monarch butterflies at Madison Meadow in Eugene. Neighbors created a nonprofit group and have raised more than $500,000 to preserve Madison Meadow, a grassy 2-acre lot at Madison St, and W. 22nd Ave. About 20 schoolchildren and their parents helped plant milkweed starts on the property. The story was reported in the Sunday edition of the Register-Guard.
 * See other articles at . "Fairies in the Meadow" describes one fund-raising effort.
 * A lot to celebrate, article reprinted from The Register Guard: "A lot to celebrate.(General news)(Neighbors save Madison Meadow - but it was no walk in the park), 11-Nov 2007" [can't see how to get to this directly yet, http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/browse_R_T019-200711_676_750 will let you in if you register]
 * or this: Nurturing their bit of nature.(General News)(Friends of Madison Meadow have cleared a major hurdle in buying their beloved park), 20-Nov 2005
 * World Laughter Day 08 - Celebrated in Madison Meadow, Eugene, Oregon, USA (10 May 2008)
 * Madison Meadow monarch habitat