Juvenile salmon hug the shoreline as they head out to the ocean. Increase Shallow Water and Off-channel Habitat Environmental Services, Metro, and the Trust for Public Lands bought the land for the natural area, which is also home to more than 130 species of plants, 31 species of mammals, and 74 species of birds. Once part of the cemetery, this large, undeveloped, and densely forested land delivers cool water from seven streams into the Willamette at spots that salmon and steelhead like to hangout. As a result, we must protect the tributary streams that flow into the Willamette like those flowing through the River View Natural Area. The Willamette River is often too warm to adequately support native fish, so they depend on cold water flowing into the river from its many tributaries. Read more about Portland’s Big Pipe and track its progress during rainstorms. Construction is done, but our work continues as we operate and maintain the system to protect the river, especially during Portland’s rainy winters. In 2011, Environmental Services completed the Big Pipe Project, which has reduced combined sewer overflows or CSOs to the Willamette River by 94 percent. That work includes to: Prevent Combined Sewer Overflows Work We've Done to Improve ConditionsĮnvironmental Services has worked with many partners to monitor and improve the health of the Willamette River watershed. Review the Willamette River Tributaries watershed report card. Review the Willamette River Mainstem watershed report card. Grades for the Willamette Tributaries were not much better: Fish and Wildlife – We are still developing scoring criteria for this category.The most recent report cards show we have work to do to improve watershed health. The 2019 Watershed Health Index data resulted the following grades for the Willamette River Mainstem: Here, the historic streams were long ago filled in or piped and paved over for development. Downtown Portland and some of Portland’s oldest and most dense residential neigh-borhoods.Stephens Creek, Balch Creek, and Tanner Creek are examples of these tributaries. Miles of tributary streams in the West Hills and Forest Park.The mainstem of the river and and everything that drains to it.Portland’s Willamette watershed includes: However, the area that we study and include in our report cards is defined as the parts of the city that do not drain first into a subwatershed like Johnson Creek, the Columbia Slough, or Tryon Creek and includes land east and west of the river. Portland’s Report CardsĪll of the Portland metro region is within the Willamette River watershed. Environmental Protection Agency and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Find information about the cleanup from the U.S. This area of the river from the Broadway Bridge to Sauvie Island also has historical, natural, and cultural resource significance.Īfter two decades of study and investigation, the Portland Harbor Cleanup moved into a new phase of the clean-up process. Because of its key location on the Willamette, Portland Harbor has a long history of shipping, industrial, and commercial activity. ![]() The final stretch of the river near its confluence with the Columbia River is one of the largest and most complex Superfund sites in the country. The Willamette River is the only connection these fish have to their spawning grounds – places like Johnson or Crystal Springs creeks – where they can build nests, lay eggs, and mate. Young salmon and steelhead live in the lower Willamette and its tributaries year-round, from between a few months to a couple of years depending on the species’ life cycle.ĭuring the life cycle of salmon and steelhead, they migrate through Portland twice – once as juveniles on their way to the ocean and again as adults on their way back to spawn. ![]() The city occupies only a small fraction of the river's watershed, but the 20 miles of Willamette River that pass through the city are a critical gateway for many of the region’s fish and wildlife. Portland sits at the end of the drainage basin and is the most urbanized part of the watershed. The river flows almost 200 miles to the Columbia River in North Portland and drains more than 7 million acres of land. ![]() The Willamette River is formed by the confluence of the Middle and Coast Forks that originate in the mountains south and southeast of Eugene.
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