Bush’s Pasture Park Cultural Landscape Management Plan

If the ancient white oaks at Bush’s Pasture Park could speak, they would tell stories spanning hundreds of years involving a seasonal village of the Kalapuyan Indians; mid-1800s missionary occupation; a successful businessman’s ambitious development of the expansive grounds; landscape design by Lord & Schryver, the first women-led landscape architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest; and 75 years of the Bush family living on this unique property.

Thanks to the Bush legacy, the 96 acres now constitute a cherished community park near downtown Salem, with historic mansions, a barn, outbuildings, and a diverse landscape. Visitors enjoy the shady paths through picturesque oak groves, bubbling creek, pastures, conservatory, rose gardens, and camas lily fields—once a vital food for the Kalapuyan Indians. But even as Bush’s Pasture Park became the most beloved park in Salem, there was a lack of awareness about its layered cultural and historical significance.

To address this and other challenges, such as invasive vegetation, social trails, and compaction of oak tree root systems, a new Cultural Landscape Management (CLM) Plan established 14 management areas and guidelines for managing the park’s cultural and natural resources over the next 20-50 years. The process involved collaborative engagement, field documentation, site analysis, and evaluation of the park’s natural and cultural landscape characteristics and features. Goals, management objectives, and specific actions tailored to each area—as well as a list of priority future capital projects—will guide preservation of the park’s natural and cultural resources, including historic oak groves, pasture lands, riparian area, oak savanna, and camas fields, as well as the Bush House and Deepwood Estate and Gardens. Top-notch graphic design for the final document and a compelling presentation to the City’s Historic Landmarks Commission contributed to decisive Plan acceptance.

The CLM Plan articulates Bush Pasture Park’s important connections to the past and delineates a clear path to care for this treasured community resource into the future.

Winner of a 2022 City of Salem Cultural Landscape Award in Historic Preservation.