On Aug. 29, 2025, the fence along the Cox Creek Path still showed the damage from trees crashing into it in two places months before.
The fence around the Talking Water Gardens has provided fodder for his blog for years. It is providing this valuable service once again.
The Water Gardens themselves are another recurring topic. More about that in a day or so. For now, the fence:
The reason I notice the fence is that I ride my bike there now and then, usually just along the Cox Creek Path, and sometimes on the gravel paths inside the Water Gardens themselves.
The fence along the paved Cox Creek Path was there from the start, if memory serves, when the constructed wetlands were completed in 2012. Then, in 2015, the city of Albany contracted to have a chain link fence built around the back of the acreage as well.
This added fencing, I was told at the time, was a requirement of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which had steered $8 million in grants and loans toward the $13 million cost of building the Water Gardens. The idea was to be able to keep people out if there was some emergency at what officially was a wastewater treatment system.
The fencing never made any actual sense because the terrain left big gaps under the wire where anyone could easily go through.
Along the paved Cox Creek Path, falling trees have smashed the fence at least five times since 2016. The most recent damage occurred last December and again early this year, and the last time I went by there it had not been repaired.
And why repair it, I thought, since just a short distance away two gates in the fence are wide open to allow easy access to the wetlands.
I asked about this, and Kristin Preston, operations manager in Albany Public Works, explained:
“We contacted a fencing contractor some time ago to repair the fence and they came out in the spring to inspect the damage. We must have slipped their schedule, and our staff have contacted them for a timeline to repair. It’s not necessarily an urgent matter. We keep the gates open for people to access from the Waverly Lake side of the Cox Creek path. If we lock the gates around the facility then often people will damage the fence to get through, so we keep them open with the ability to lock if needed.”
A few times I have observed that this access route is used by people carrying supplies to, presumably, their improvised encampments on the other side of Talking Waters.
Broken or open fencing may not be the most riveting subject. But on a bike ride, it’s one of the things you see. (hh)
Near the railroad tracks, the gates in the fence are left open lest people cut the fence on the way to their camps.
If you look at the multi use path next to Lowe’s by 9th street, somebody cut out a section about 10-15? feet from the end. WHY?
The most interesting part of your blog is the DEQ basically funded Talking Gardens and then shut it down because of a minor leak. Will common sense ever come back in this blue state? There was an article in Oregonlive.com about a corporate polluter allowed to continue to pollute by the DEQ, so if you are willing to ignore them, they take no legal action. So put the effluent back into the garden and tell them to take a hike.
BOY….WISH WE HAD THAT 22 MILLION BACK FROM THE WATER STREET PROJECT
The city should ask a judge for a restraining order against the DEQ to reopen the water flow for Talking Gardens. Let the DEQ defend their indefensible position.