04/16/2026
Alpha-Chem Signal Debuts at McKenzie River Trust’s Green Island as Joyful Community-Empowered Art for Public Water Stewardship
Eugene, OR
April 13, 2026
The Alpha-Chem Signal project will make its debut at McKenzie River Trust’s Green Island (31799 Green Island Rd, Eugene, OR 97408) in Eugene on Saturday, May 9 (8 AM–4 PM) as part of McKenzie River Trust’s monthly Living River Exploration Day. Community artist David Buckley Borden and collaborators invite the public to explore how floodplain restoration helps rivers slow, filter, and clean water—and to spell out personal messages using more than thirty large-format signal flags. The one-day pop-up event is both outdoor art exhibition and interactive community art happening. The event is free, accessible, and open to all ages.
The colorful 4x4 foot fabric flags are playful mash-ups of traditional nautical flags and the periodic table of chemical elements. The project highlights common water-quality issues found throughout North America. The tactical public art project is designed to tour North America and will travel to Cape Cod Massachusetts for it’s next public installation.
"Community agency, stewardship, and activism starts with education, and I believe education should be accessible, wonderful, and most importantly fun. This public activism project took over two years to create and the team and I are beyond excited to debut it at Green Island and share it with the folks in the greater Eugene area.”
- David Buckley Borden, lead artist
About the Artist
David Buckley Borden is an Oregon-based interdisciplinary designer, artist, and educator working at the intersection of art, design, and ecology. Informed by research and community engagement, David promotes a shared environmental awareness and heightened cultural value of ecology. David’s collaborative work highlights both pressing environmental issues and everyday phenomena. Using an accessible, often humorous, combination of visual art and landscape design, David’s work manifests in a variety of forms, ranging from site-specific landscape installations in the woods to data-driven cartography in the gallery. Learn more at https://www.davidbuckleyborden.com/alpha-chem-signal
About McKenzie River Trust
McKenzie River Trust is a regional nonprofit land trust with offices in Eugene and Newport, Oregon. Our mission is to help people protect and care for the lands and rivers they cherish across western Oregon. Since 1989, we have worked with landowners and partners to protect more than 10,000 acres—safeguarding clean, free-flowing rivers, supporting salmon runs, and sustaining the farms and forests that provide both habitat and livelihoods.
Each month, we invite community members to experience this work firsthand through our Living River Exploration Days at Green Island. This 1,100-acre conservation area, located at the confluence of the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers, offers a place to connect with the land, learn about restoration, and witness the seasonal rhythms of a living river system. Learn more at www.mckenzieriver.org