Three Sisters Meadow Community Listening Session

Three Sisters Meadow is a generous gift of 16 acres of land to help revitalize the McKenzie community!

A community listening session will be held at the McKenzie Community School old gym on Thursday, February 15th from 6-8pm.

A tour of Three Sisters Meadow (51480 Blue River Drive) the Saturday prior, February 10th from 1-3pm.

To align with the Transportation and Growth Management (TGM) process of rezoning Blue River, the nonprofit representatives want to hear from McKenzie community members and their vision for Three Sisters Meadow – such as jobs, commercial development, housing, or open space. Your feedback will help inform any zoning changes on the site and potential future uses for the land.

An online survey will be available for those who cannot attend the events, available February 10-24 HERE.

Info about the Project

Gift of land to help revitalize the community:
In 2021, Kathy, Becky and Jody Jones, owners of The Seneca Family of Companies, donated 16-acres of land in Blue River to benefit the community in response to a request written by a group of McKenzie nonprofit organizations (list below).  Because Blue River is unincorporated, the organizations asked neighbor and conservation land trust McKenzie River Trust to accept the land donation as the interim landowner.  Community members named the 16-acres, Three Sisters Meadow after the three Jones sisters.  

What has been happening on site since the land was donated?

McKenzie River Trust has been managing the land as public open space, open dawn to dusk. Anyone is welcome to walk the trails through the property and check out views of the McKenzie and surrounding Cascade foothills. 

The site is also hosting the free Firewood Program, managed by the McKenzie Watershed Council.  To learn more: https://www.mckenziewc.org/what-we-do/firewood-program/. 

As a potential benefit to the community, the site has been considered for a community wastewater system, a high need in Blue River.  Lane County has been conducting wastewater assessments on the site over the last year and determined there are limitations.  Lane County will share its findings at the Community Listening Session on February 15th.   

Three Sisters Meadow Partner Group: 

McKenzie nonprofits who requested the donation of land, benefiting the community

McKenzie School District / McKenzie Community Track & Field /McKenzie Valley Wellness / O’Brien Library / McKenzie River Trust / Blue River Water & Sanitation District/ Blue River Park District/ McKenzie River Guides Association / McKenzie Education Foundation / Collaborative EDO / McKenzie River Locals Helping Locals / Upper McKenzie Community Center / McKenzie River Chamber of Commerce / McKenzie Community Partnership