When the cemetery was established, over 150 years ago, the hillside was treeless. Like the valley floor, it was covered with prairie grasses and wildflowers. Now this same ten-acre site is dominated by a mature stand of Douglas-fir trees.
In 2006 the Eugene Tree Foundation presented its award for excellence in stewardship of an urban forest to EMCA. The cemetery’s forward-looking landscape plan has improved the health and diversity of trees that shelter our ancestors.
A variety of birds and animals, as well as more than 100 native and exotic species of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers call this place home. For many years we followed a policy of limited summer mowing. Since 2015, however, we have been using a slightly enhanced mowing schedule, to allow for natural changes in the flora of the cemetery.
Thanks to a grant from the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries, in 2012 Bruce Newhouse completed the following inventories of plants, animals and fungi.