A beautiful afternoon on the upper Willamette, south of Armitage. (by WR board member/River Queen Barbara May)

River Friends,  

From north to south along the Willamette, there are relatively large tracts of land owned by the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) that are undeveloped, and serve as Natural Areas. Here and there, you can find Great Blue Heron rookeries, Bald Eagle nests, Coyote, Deer, Bobcat and more. You can also find a stunning range of native plants and wildflowers.

These Natural Areas and large parks like Willamette Mission, Champoeg, and others are part of the Willamette Greenway Program. This program, fully hatched back in 1973, envisioned a continuous line of trees and parks along the Willamette River from Eugene to Portland, and provided for a program to acquire lands along the river for that purpose. State Land Use Goal 15 provided for this program, and for zoning along the river originally designed to protect riverside areas where development was occurring, which is the second key component of the program.

Roux relaxes on the river. (also by Barbara May)

Decades since the start of the program, the Willamette River Greenway has continued to move forward, though slowly at times. OPRD has continued to purchase land from willing sellers along the Willamette, and to accept some lands that were donated. These lands today are in a variety of conditions, with areas like the Luckiamute State Natural Area south of Salem being managed under a plan developed by OPRD and a variety of stakeholders. Other lands sit nearly unmanaged, and are ripe for restoration efforts, which WR is working to implement with OPRD and other partners. 

These lands also provide river access and recreation opportunities, and many Willamette River Water Trail campsites are on these lands. In the coming months, WR will work with OPRD and others to reinvigorate the unique Greenway Program, seeking to broaden the base of support, and to build alliances that can protect and restore them. There is also a need to continue to acquire new lands along the river from willing sellers. WR will also conduct paddle trips that focus on some of these areas, providing new opportunities to enjoy their scenery, solitude, and abundance of wildlife.

Stay tuned for more information on this effort soon.

For the River,

Travis

Travis Williams

Riverkeeper & Executive Director

America's Waterways Need Your Help!

The Clean Water Act is one of our nation's most important and fundamental laws, but it may soon be gutted through HR 2018, also known as the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act. HR 2018 would give the states, rather than the EPA, the ultimate decision-making authority over our nation's water quality standards, letting polluter-friendly states undermine our national clean water standards. 

Camp Riverkeeper campers romp in the river in Salem (KR)

 

This is devastating news for our nation's waterways. At a time when regulation has fallen by the wayside, to strip the EPA of certain basic enforcement powers would be a crushing blow. HR 2018 displaces federal responsibilities onto states, making it difficult to enforce and maintain standards. 

 

HR 2018 is being fast-tracked through the federal House of Representatives. Please act today, and contact your congressperson to urge them to oppose HR 2018.

 

Click Here To Write Your U.S. Congressional Representatives! 

 

Forward this link to your friends and family, and ask them to stand with the people who value clean water. Ask your Facebook friends and Twitter followers to take action too!

 
We can't afford to wait and see if the Clean Water Act remains a federal issue. We must work together to ensure that the EPA maintains control over clean water regulation.  

 

Read more about HR 2018 in President of the Waterkeeper Alliance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr's Huffington Post article "An Assault on Clean Water and Democracy" 

  

Willamette Riverkeeper is proud member of the Waterkeeper Alliance. 

 

 

We thought we should conduct some "reserach" via inner tube (KR)!

       

On Sunday, July 31st, grab a tube, air mattress, kayak, raft - or create your own custom-made watercraft and join us for our inaugural launching of THE BIG FLOAT! Open to all ages, The Big Float promises to be a magnificent, river city spectacle - or at least a fine way to spend a summer afternoon!

A human parade of floaters, lead by the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, will carry their river vessels across the Hawthorne Bridge, walk south to the Marquam Bridge beach, then sail gallantly across the Willamette River in a festive flotilla of human-powered inspiration, landing safely back on the east side. Then they will gather at a celebration (naturally) an

d share tales of their great crossing.

Flow of the day: 

9:30am - 11:00am, On Site Registration 

We suggest you bring your printed on-line registration form, it will save you time- preregistrants get express service. Meet at the SE Portland Boathouse, in the lot next to the bike path/river (1515 SE Water Ave & SE Clay).  

11:00am, Inner Tube Parade 

Parade Route: Across the Hawthorne Bridge, South on the West Esplanade to the Marquam Bridge Beach.

11:30am, Inner Tube Crossing Begins!

If you missed the inner-tube parade at 11:00 meet us at the West Bank of the Marquam Bridge by the river's edge where registration will continue.

12:00pm - 3:00pm After-Float Pool Party

(Southeast base of Hawthorne Bridge)

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

For a successful event, we need your help! We can offer after-party drink tickets, a great concert, our sincere appreciation, and plenty of FUN!

Land-based volunteers are needed to help with event set up/break down, registraion, litter patrol, helping people out of the water at the Portland Boathouse dock, bike trail crossing guards (east side), and inner tube "coat check" at the after party. Please contact Jillian Rabe at Jillian@jillianrabe.com if you are able to volunteer on land!

Water-based volunteers are needed to help line the float course! If you have any sort of kayak or canoe, please join us on the river as a paddling chaperone. Contact Sam Hass at samha4@yahoo.com.

Julia views water samples under UV light, glowing cells indicate E.coli (KR)

River Recreation Watch: E. coli

Some of you river-lovers out there are probably keeping up with the City of Portland's regular combined sewage overflow warnings, which are generally issued for 48 hours after a heavy rain event. If so, you might wonder if it's safe to swim in the river, or what unpleasantness you could come into contact with while getting in and out of your boat.

WRK volunteers are well into their E. coli monitoring season, and we can report that the news is generally good for paddlers and swimmers at our testing sites on the mainstem Willamette, with a few slight exceedences of the EPA standard for swimming safely. We can't test the water every single day, but we have been collecting samples approximately once every two weeks since mid-April (on the Lower Willamette) and mid-May (on the Middle Willamette).

The charts below... show mean values and highest recorded values for the MPN (Most Probable Number) of E. coli colonies at each site. The EPA standard for swimming safely is 235.

Out of 71 total samples taken, 5 individual samples exceeded the standard. Most of these exceedences were slight. At Sellwood Park Beach, the high value of 517.2 reflects the condition of the floodwaters in the park during very high water, rather than representative conditions on the mainstem.

One tributary site, not indicated on the Lower Willamette chart, with consistently high values is Rinearson Creek in Gladstone. The highest sample tested above 2400 and the mean value is about 270. The source of the bacteria is not certain, but this testing tray shows a lot of bacteria (represented by the number cells that are glowing- in this case, all of them!).

Keep in mind an exceedence of the 235 number doesn't mean you will get sick while swimming; it means that about 8 in 1000 swimmers would be expected to experience some pathogen-related illness after swimming in water with this concentration of E. coli bacteria.

This Rinearson Creek water sample shows E. coli levels that exceed EPA standards

This water sample shows E. coli levels that meet  the EPA standard for safe swimming

For more data and exact site locations, visit http://www.willamette-riverkeeper.org/WRK/ecolisites&reports.html (data updated on Fridays, every 2 weeks).