The Jackson-Frazier Wetland, located northeast of Corvallis at the north end of Lancaster Street, was established as a Benton County Park in 1992, to protect the natural features of the area and allow for education, research and public use. Open throughout the year, a wheelchair-accessible wooden boardwalk 2/3 of a mile long winds through the wetland, allowing visitors to see many plant communities and habitats. Interpretive signs explain different aspects of the park's natural history and watershed.
Visitors can expect to view a very biodiverse landscape that includes rushes, sedges and a mixture of grass species such as tall fescue, slough grass, meadow foxtail and reed canary grass, as well as native wetland prairie, mixed wetland forest-shrub habitat, a narrow band of riparian ash forest, and small populations of three plant species that are federally listed as endangered or threatened.
The wetland is a great place for bird watching, too. Visitors may see red-winged blackbirds, great blue herons, and sparrows, and might hear Virginia rails and marsh wrens. Raptors including harriers and Cooper's hawks may be patrolling the open areas, and tanagers, warblers, towhees, and waxwings can be spotted in the brush. Over 70 different kinds of birds have been spotted in the wetlands. You may also see beavers while there.
