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A bi-monthly round-up of news about the Willamette and Columbia
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Events, Trips, and Other River Happenings
SOLVE Stream Team Captain Training. "Stream Team Captains lead volunteers on stream restoration and enhancement projects throughout the Portland-metro area. They provide leadership, organization and [volunteer] supervision ... This is a three-day training on January 8th, January 10th, and January 12th." To be certified, trainees must attend all three days.
North Portland Greenway Open House. January 9, 6:30-8:30pm (Presentation at 7:00pm). University of Portland, Chiles Center, Hall of Fame, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR 97203. "Discuss the 10.4 mile continuous bike and pedestrian trail stretching from the East Bank Esplanade to Kelley Point Park. ...Review the proposed alignment; Understand the design and key intersections; Provide feedback. Contact Tania Curiel at 503.823.5493 or visit www.PortlandParks.org for more information." Image: Portland Parks
Urban Watershed Mentors Training. "Interested in attending in-depth trainings on conservation planning and implementing your own restoration plan? ...mentors will be able to implement restoration projects either on their own properties or on publicly owned land. ... The trainings will be held on six consecutive Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., starting January 12. ... $30 at the door, or $25 in advance." West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Polluting Paradise: The Formative Years of Willamette River Pollution Abatement, 1920s-1960s. January 14, 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:00), McMenamins Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan Street, Portland. "Fifty years ago, Portland's KGW-TV aired a gripping documentary--Pollution in Paradise ... [James V. Hillegas-Elting will describe how] Tom McCall produced and narrated the hour-long color film which helped convince Oregon citizens and legislators that much more could be done to balance environmental and economic considerations to help clean up the Willamette River." Free and open to the public. Presented by the Oregon Encyclopedia.
Johnson Creek Watershed Council-Restoration by Bike. January 21, 8:30 am. "Join us for a bike ride beginning at JCWC Headquarters (1900 SE Milport Rd) out to Mill Park in Milwaukie for volunteer restoration. Volunteer event: 9:30 am to Noon. RSVP with Amy at amy@jcwc.org."
Photography for Paddlers with Neil Schuman. January 21, 7 pm. Alder Creek's Boathouse Store, 1515 SE Water Avenue. Alder Creek Kayak, Canoe, Raft & SUP. 503.285.1819. Go to top of News |
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 Floodplain restoration project wrapping up. "As rainy weather continues in the Portland area, Lents residents are thankful for a floodplain restoration project in their neighborhood. Construction is set to finish this week on the multimillion-dollar project, which is intended to prevent flooding of Johnson Creek. In the past, the creek has added as much as 30 inches of standing water to nearby Southeast Foster Road." DJCOregon.com, December 20 (Image: BES)
Restoration calms troubled waters. "Ever since the 1920s, the major creek flowing through Portland's east side was known mostly for flooding. Johnson Creek spilled over its banks about once every other year...By year end, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services expects to wrap up a $20 million floodplain restoration that should ease flooding, restore wildlife habitat and boost Lents' chances of luring jobs." Portland Tribune, December 27.
East Lents Floodplain Project video--view Portland's Environmental Services' recent video on the East Lents project.
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Wild Coho Spawning in Johnson Creek. "Habitat restoration in Johnson Creek is making a difference. Every weekend since mid-October, twenty-five pairs of volunteers have slogged up one-mile reaches of Johnson Creek searching for coho salmon. Their efforts have resulted in official documentation of four adult wild coho in Johnson Creek. Two were female coho carcasses which had already spawned, and two more live coho were sighted swimming in Johnson Creek, upstream of Gresham near Boring, Oregon. That means that these salmon swam up Johnson Creek from the Willamette River, through Milwaukie, East Portland, Gresham, and beyond! ." Johnson Creek Watershed Council news release, December 14. Contact: Johnson Creek Watershed Council, Amy Lodholz, amy@jcwc.org, 503-652-7477
Metro, City of Portland protect Columbia Slough wetland as new natural area. "Metro and the City of Portland teamed up this week to protect 54 acres of wildlife habitat near the Columbia Slough in Northeast Portland. The acquisition is a partnership among Metro, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and Portland Parks & Recreation, which will manage the site as a natural area. Nestled next to Broadmoor Golf Course, the new natural area features sensitive wetland habitat and wildlife that depends on it." Metro News, December 13
 Habitat restoration grants bring nature into urban neighborhoods. "Three recent projects - Klein Point, Mount Scott and Crystal Springs - exemplify Metro's innovative Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants program. All three improve people's experience of nature while contributing to significant restoration of fish passage and habitat along highly urbanized creeks." Metro News, December 19 (Image: Crystal Springs, BES)
Metro Council sends $1.6 million promissory note to North Portland-Long-term, maximum benefits to local residents envisioned for use of funds. "The Metro Council late last week approved a resolution to spend the remaining $1.6 million in the North Portland enhancement fund by 2018 on[the North Portland Greenway Trail] and select neighborhood improvement projects proposed by the community." Metro News, December 12
Metro Council will ask voters to approve local option levy for natural areas, water quality in May. "In their final meeting of the year, the Metro Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to refer a five-year local option levy to voters in May, asking for help to restore the region's natural areas, improve water quality and fish habitat, maintain parks, and provide people with more opportunities to experience nature. The proposed levy of 9.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would cost the owner of a home with an assessed value of $200,000 about $20 a year and would raise approximately $10 million annually." Metro News, December 19
Growing against the grain. "A rising tide may lift all boats, but a deeper river channel can too. In the wake of Columbia River dredging, Columbia Grain Inc., a worldwide grain exporter, announced last week that it plans to begin a $40 million expansion at the Port of Portland within the next 30 days." DJCOregon.com, December 19 [subscription req'd for entire article]
Williams and Dame proposes Riverplace hotel. "A land use intake has been filed for a 203-room hotel in the Riverplace neighborhood on Southwest Moody Avenue. The building would be 75 feet high (about six stories) and hold approximately 159,000 square feet." DJCOregon.com, December 19 [subscription req'd for entire article]
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Sellwood Bridge to slide downriver, carry traffic while new bridge is built. "In three weeks, ...a team of engineers, supervisors and skilled workers will culminate months of preparation by activating 10 hydraulic jacks that will lift the 3,400-ton bridge two inches off its concrete piers. In the 12 hours after, they plan to seamlessly pull off one of the longest bridge moves ever attempted." OregonLive.com, December 27
Burned-out Thunderbird on the River Hotel slated for retail project. "From the ashes of the burned out Thunderbird on the River Hotel, a massive retail store is poised to rise" OregonLive.com, December 27
PDC issues RFI for vacant parcels in Central Eastside Industrial District. "The plots, which are some of the few remaining vacant plots in the district, are bounded by Southeast Taylor Street, Madison Street, Water Avenue and Interstate 5. Together, the plots hold 70,000 square feet of space. The Oregon Department of Transportation has owned the property since before I-5 was built along the eastside riverbank. The agency has mainly been using it for equipment storage and as rental space for various organizations" DJCOregon.com, December 19 [subscription req'd for entire article]
 City Council adopts two new plans for the Central City. "The Central City 2035 Concept Plan and the N/NE Quadrant Project were both unanimously adopted by City Council in late October. The concept plan provides a roadmap for the Central City for the next 25 years, while the N/NE Quadrant plans are intended to revitalize Lower Albina and the Lloyd districts and improve traffic safety on and around I-5 near the Rose Quarter." BPS E-News, undated [Ed. Note: the Concept Plan includes specific goals on the Willamette and river-oriented urban design-see pp. 13-14.]
Portland names fire station for retiring Commissioner Randy Leonard. "Before voting, Leonard's colleagues gave him a giant poster depicting the station -- which is being rebuilt on the eastern edge of the Willamette River near the Hawthorne Bridge." OregonLive.com, December 19
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Illuminata Regatta lights up Willamette River in Salem. StatesmanJournal.com, December 15
 Minto Island Footbridge. "An important feature of a new Salem landscape, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge that would cross 300 feet of Willamette Slough and link Salem's riverfront with Minto-Brown Island Park, has passed nearly every hurdle." WillametteLive.com, December 12 (Image: City of Salem)
'Deep Drawdown' At South Fork McKenzie's Cougar Dam Testing Possible Way To Improve Fish Passage. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performed a "deep drawdown" of Cougar Reservoir this week to test a possible method of improving downstream fish passage pas ... The Corps is lowering the reservoir's surface to ... about 32 feet below the usual minimum flood control elevation and 16 feet below the minimum water level required to operate the dam's powerhouse. Reservoir regulators will try to hold the reservoir at that elevation for several weeks... Corps fishery biologists believe lower water levels will give juvenile spring chinook salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act a better chance of finding the dam's regulating outlets and passing through them safely." Columbia Basin Bulletin, December 21
 Willamette Valley Blue Butterfly Once Thought Extinct Has Doubled Population At Fern Ridge Reservoir. "The population of endangered Fender's blue butterflies has doubled at western Oregon's Fern Ridge Reservoir since last year, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey." [Fern Ridge is on the Long Tom River, a tributary of the Willamette River, about 12 miles west of Eugene]. Columbia Basin Bulletin, December 21 [Image: Corps of Engineers]
Pulp mill upstream of Corvallis proposes dredging to ease Willamette River pollution. "Cascade Pacific Pulp has applied for a permit to remove gravel that amounts to 1,900 dump truck loads, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports. The buildup of a gravel bar has reduced the flow of water to what's called a "mixing zone" for the effluent from the pulp mill and an adjoining Georgia-Pacific tissue plant near Halsey." OregonLive.com, Dec. 24
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| Fun / Of Note |
New tool-enter your address and see your flood hazard. By StoneRiver National Flood Services, Inc., "an insurance management organization serving the insurance industry to support the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)."
Oct. 14th Puget Sound Stormwater Outfall Time-Lapse Video presented by http://tox-ick.org/ .
Stormwater Curriculum Video with PSU and Mount Tabor Middle School. "New video features partnership to educate Portland middle school students about stormwater from the Cascades to the Oregon Coast." City Green Blog, December 18
A River in Retreat: In Two Weeks, the Mississippi Could Shut Down. "The worst drought in half a century has brought water levels in the Mississippi close to historic lows and could shut down all shipping in a matter of weeks - unless Barack Obama takes extraordinary measures. ...Sending out more water from the Missouri would doom states upstream, such as Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota, which depend on water from the Missouri and are also caught in the drought." The Atlantic Cities, December 17
Fighting development in floodplains. "...in courtrooms from Washington state to New Mexico, environmentalists have filed lawsuits challenging the flood insurance offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and related FEMA programs...In 2004, Seattle federal Judge Thomas Zilly ordered FEMA to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service over how its program was affecting local imperiled species.... In 2008, a federal biological opinion ... concluded that FEMA's flood insurance program encouraged construction that damaged floodplains, harming salmon and orca. ...Charging that FEMA has failed to make the fixes prescribed in the biological opinion, NWF sued the agency again in 2011. ...The case remains in court. Similar lawsuits in Oregon, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Florida are either wending their way through court or have been settled, largely in favor of conservation groups..." High Country News, December 24
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Image: NOAA |
NOAA Launches 'Situation Assessment' Of Columbia River Basin Salmon, Steelhead Recovery. "Planning and implementation is going well, yet a "more robust discussion is needed" to cement efforts to recover depleted Columbia River salmon and steelhead populations that are now protected under the Endangered Species Act, according to Barry Thom, deputy administrator for NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Region. To that end, NOAA Fisheries this week reached out to interested parties, asking them to take part in interviews aimed at identifying key challenges facing the recovery effort, and helping inform solutions." Columbia Basin Bulletin, December 14
U.S Army Corps of Engineers-Environmental Operating Principles II. "The... Environmental Operating Principles ... were developed to ensure Corps missions include totally integrated, sound environmental practices.... introduced in 2002, they have instilled environmental stewardship across business practices ... However, as the Nation's water resource challenges and priorities have evolved, USACE has responded by close examination and refinement of work processes and operating practices." liveBetter e-Magazine, No. 27, January 2013
Taking a Post-Christmas Dip. "It's become a post-holiday tradition, in some parts of the world, to spend a couple of minutes in icy cold water. [In this photo gallery], plungers from London to Monaco and Prague." The Atlantic Cities, December 27
Art Installation of the Day: Paper Boats on London's Canary Wharf. "...a fleet of "paper" boats afloat at London's Canary Wharf ... [they] will glow on the waves thanks to a highly technical solution that connects their sturdy, polypropylene bodies, and will be able to respond to commands from onlookers' cellphones." The Atlantic Cities, December 26
A river of rain. "Atmospheric rivers are frequent and mostly welcome; they account for most of the rain that falls in California every year. Only when an AR stalls do you have "the most serious risk," ..." High Country News, December 4 |
To view past River News Digests, click here.
NOTE: River News Digest is a compilation of interesting items and announcements relating to rivers-with a focus on better understanding, enjoying, and caring for our local rivers, while touching on items from around the country and the world. Please note much of the information is from sources other than the City of Portland [like news media, non-profit organizations, and other government agencies]. The Rivers Office lists these items for information purposes only and is not responsible for their content.
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