Habitat restoration at the city-owned South Eugene Meadows has taken flight.

A twin-rotored helicopter is moving scores of felled logs off much of the 193-acre property located northwest of Spencer Butte. The property is closed until Tuesday.

Douglas fir trees have encroached on oak savannah and upland prairie that has been rapidly diminishing in the Willamette Valley, largely due to development. Native Americans historically controlled the forestland intrusions with fire, explained Trevor Taylor, the city’s natural areas restoration supervisor.

“Without that disturbance, Douglas firs move in, and they’re much taller and they demand water all year-round,” he said.

The competition crowds out native oak trees, wildflowers and prairie grasses.

Oak savannah itself, Taylor said, is home to more than 200 species of wildlife, including the Western gray squirrel, acorn woodpecker and Western meadowlark.

Use of the helicopter avoids building log roads and dragging trees that can damage the habitat the city is trying to save, Taylor said.

“It would have a lot of ground impact,” he said. “We’ve opted for this approach.”

The city hired Lomakatsi Restoration Project, an Ashland nonprofit organization, to manage the project. They brought in subcontractors to fell, move and haul the trees. Work began May 19.

Portland-based Columbia Helicopters started moving the logs Tuesday. A ground crew hooks up the bundles of logs, and the helicopter moves them to a nearby staging area.

The aerial work will conclude Monday; the subcontractor will take Sunday off. Log trucks will transport the logs to Seneca Sawmill Co. in west Eugene. Taylor estimated that it will require about 250 truckloads to remove all the logs.

The city has informed neighbors about the project.

The project, to be completed by July 20, will cost no more than $100,000. Money from the sale of the logs, and from the Bonneville Power Administration, will pay for it.

The city acquired the property in 2011 to extend the Ridgeline Trail System, which rings the southern edge of the city with a series of semi-connected parklands.

The BPA, which runs a transmission line through the property, provided money for the purchase of the property as well as its restoration.

On Wednesday afternoon, the helicopter shuffled back and forth with a brillant blue sky as a backdrop, arising from the treeline with a bundle of logs attached by a cable, only to drop moments later below another treeline to drop them off.

“It’s hard not to notice,” said Taylor Ritchie, whose home on Branton Street abuts the city property and offered a clear view of the copter in action. “It’s loud but it’s cool to watch.”

Ritchie said onlookers have parked at the trailhead down the street from him to watch the operation.

Betty Korfhage, who lives in the neighborhood, was taking video of the helicopter to send to her daughter who lives in Germany. She said she was surprised at the speed of the operation, expecting to see two or three copters.

“I think it’s very noisy,” said Korfhage, as nearby a father and his two sons were taking in the scene, “but I’m glad they’re getting it done.”

Blanton Heights area resident Kimberly Price said she admires the way the city is conducting the project.

“I am proud to live in a community that values wildlife and forests sufficiently to go to such extremes to restore and protect,” she said.

The city’s work, including the temporary loud helicopter noise, is “contributing to the resurgence of the loud frogs, crickets, birds and honeybees whose demise and silence we hope will never come,” she said.

Follow Christian on Twitter @RGchill . Email christian.hill@registerguard.com .