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A bi-monthly round-up of news about the Willamette and Columbia
March 15, 2013
 Image: North American Beaver by John James Audubon, 1854 on Wikipedia Commons |
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Events, Trips, and Other River Happenings
 South Portland Riverbank Restoration Day, March 16, 9 am to noon, Picnic shelter in Willamette Park (SW Nebraska & SW Macadam). Help keep the Willamette River healthy by volunteering for a morning of planting and caring for native plants, removing invasive weeds, picking up litter and more along the Willamette River! Tools, gloves, training, and snacks provided. Please come dressed for the weather, wear close-toed shoes and bring a water bottle. For more information, please contact Marissa Dorais, Stewardship Coordinator, at (503) 823-7016 or marissa.dorais@portlandoregon.gov.
River Discovery Tour-Scappoose Bay. March 23, 10 am - 1:30 pm. "Breaking from the mainstem Willamette a few miles before the confluence with the Columbia, Multnomah Channel eventually spills into the low, tidal estuary of Scappoose Bay. Adjacent to Sauvie Island National Wildlife Area, the bay teems with wildlife. ... We'll explore the Bay's many back channels as the water levels allow, and visit the remains of an old wooden ship. Register: Email kate@willametteriverkeeper.org or call 503-223-6418. Our canoes are available upon request, though you must recruit your own paddling partner." Willamette Riverkeeper
Friends of Baltimore Woods Plant Sale. March 30, St. Johns Plaza, 10 am - 4 pm.
Foamy Frogs and Sudsy Salamanders-a discussion about urban frogs and salamanders Johnson Creek Watershed Council Science Talk. April 4, 6 to 8pm. Eagle Eye Tavern (5836 SE 92nd., Portland). Are you curious about what, where, and how many kinds of frogs, newts, and salamanders live in and around Johnson Creek? Portland and Gresham scientists, along with an army of volunteers, have been wading through streams, ponds, wetlands, and uplands to assess the amphibian population present in the Watershed. Come learn about (and meet!) our slimy skinned friends and how you might be able to join in the fun. Please RSVP to amy@jcwc.org or call 503-652-7477.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Portland To Host World Environment Day! The United Nations Environment Programme has chosen Portland to host this year's World Environment Day on June 5. The celebration will include numerous events starting on Earth Day on April 22, and it will be part of other World Environment Day events in more than 120 countries across the globe. To learn more, or even better to add your own "WED" activity to the community calendar, click here!
 Willamette River Camp. June 24th - 28th. "If your perspective camper is entering 6th, 7th, or 8th grade this summer, then consider joining us for a week of adventure and fun on the lower reaches of Oregon's newest National Water Trail by canoe. ... Learn about river ecology, water quality, and safe paddling. ...help us restore the islands and shoreline of the Willamette. Lead each other in the adventure of a lifetime.." Willamette Riverkeeper (Image: WRK)
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West Quadrant Reader-A summary of issues and opportunities for early conversations regarding the West Quadrant area of the Central City 2035 planning process. See what might happen along the Pearl's waterfront; opportunities for down riverfront activation; South Downtown river access; South Waterfront's growth; and the role of the River to the future Central City.
Portland's South Waterfront shows signs of evolving into a neighborhood. "For Jim Luke, the Willamette River defines the South Waterfront neighborhood. He gazes out over the water as it passes in front of the Atwater building where he lives. He loves to watch the fishing boats, the kayakers, the blue herons over on Ross Island. He heads up the residents' Nature and Green Spaces committee. He, like many residents, is impatient for completion of the city's riverside greenway construction project, which now blocks access to the river." OregonLive.com, March 7
Development in the works for Northwest riverfront area. "Opportunity is being pursued along the waterfront in Northwest Portland. One multifamily project is in the works and potential exists for two others along the quarter-mile stretch of Northwest Front Avenue between the Fremont Bridge and Northwest Sherlock Avenue. Altogether, the developments could total nine buildings and more than 400 units." DJCOregon.com, March 1 [subscription req'd]
Letter: Saturday Market expansion neglects a labor leader's memorial-Murnane Wharf [aka Ankeny Dock]. OregonLive.com, March 9
Portland Harbor - Willamette River Superfund Basics Part 1 . "A description of the Willamette River Portland Harbor Superfund site. The video discusses where the Superfund site is, the key pollutants, the Superfund process, and how the public can provide input." Willamette Riverkeeper, February 27, 2013.
PCC preparing for Swan Island expansion. "Portland Community College has requested bids for a $7.2 million expansion project on Swan Island. PCC is planning to renovate a 13,000-square-foot building ... and add a 10,000-square-foot facility for its Trades and Industry Department. ... The Swan Island complex will include seven lecture classrooms, three labs, a computer lab, offices and storage space for department staffers." DJCOregon.com, March 1 [subscription req'd]
Construction continues at Metro's M. James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp. "The construction of stormwater improvements, new restrooms and newly-paved parking lot is continuing at Metro's M. James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp, which is on schedule to re-open in June." Metro News, March 6
Build it and they will come. "A quick follow-up piece of news on the East Lents (Foster Floodplain Natural Area) project we posted about last week. Environmental Services staff visiting the site the other day discovered several masses of Red-legged frog eggs." CityGreen Blog, March 4
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 Oregon City to take lead on Willamette Falls planning. "Oregon City will take the lead on planning the future of Willamette Falls, marking a new phase in the efforts to develop the former Blue Heron site. For more than a year, Metro had been eyeing the property, a 23-acre former paper mill that lay dormant after the 2011 bankruptcy of Blue Heron Paper Co. ... But Metro Sustainability Center director Jim Desmond said that the site's zoning and development issues make Oregon City more suitable to lead the visioning for the falls." Metro news, March 7 (Image: Metro)
Annual clash over sea lions, salmon resumes."Every spring, chinook salmon migrate upstream and predators follow. Sea lions have discovered bottlenecks that hinder the fish's progress and make them easier to catch at two spots - the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and the Willamette Falls fish ladder on the Willamette River. ... There are no plans to euthanize sea lions at Willamette Falls, because the exception to the Marine Mammal Protection Act only covers those on the Columbia River. Expanding that to the Willamette would require a lengthy legal process. 'We're not prepared to do that,' says Rick Swart, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman. Enough funding has been secured for hazing operations on the Willamette, $112,000, to pay a crew every day from February through April during daylight hours. Oregon City residents may be hearing some loud noises." Portland Tribune, February 14
Salem inching toward footbridge."Salem officials are continuing to set aside money for an $8 million project to build a footbridge that would connect the city's Riverfront Park to Minto-Brown Island." DJCOregon.com, March 11 [subscription req'd]
Care facility planned for former mill site in Salem. "The ex-Boise Cascade site in Salem is expected to gain a nursing facility, an apartment complex and potentially a third structure. ... The proposal features an open courtyard, views of Pringle Creek and the Willamette River." DJCOregon.com, March 7 [subscription req'd]
 Oregon lawmakers consider banning motors, seaplanes from Waldo Lake. "Senate Bill 602 is aimed at banning seaplanes from using Waldo Lake, the state's second largest lake and a popular recreation spot. The Oregon State Marine Board last year banned motorized boats from using the lake after legal challenges." OregonLive.com, March 13
Q&A: What Went Wrong At Hanford? "Northwest public radio reporter Anna King has been covering on the Hanford Site clean-up for nearly six years, and she's lived nearby in the Tri-Cities for about 10 years. [Ecotrope] talked with her about the state of the site and the news of the six leaking storage tanks." OPB Ecotrope, March 11
Brownfields by the bay in Scappoose."... Portland Harbor gets all the attention, but a lesser-known area of the Lower Columbia also is slated for an environmental makeover. Scappoose Bay, 30 miles north of Portland between Sauvie's Island and St. Helens, is ... also home to three industrial sites being investigated by Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality for potential pollution cleanups. The bay [is] ... one of the last functioning, tidally influenced bays in the United States and the only one on the Willamette River - farmers have dammed and diked all the others."Portland Tribune, March 14
Ice Age Tonquin Trail takes a step forward as Metro Council approves master plan. "Someday, the Ice Age Tonquin Trail will take you from the banks of the Willamette River in Wilsonville, through Graham Oaks Nature Park and the Villebois neighborhood, past kolk ponds and large boulders left by historic floods - onward to Old Town Sherwood, the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, and Tualatin's Ki-a-Kuts bridge and Cook Park." Metro News, March 15
Oregon Considers Top Ten Priority List Of Fish Passage Barriers That Should Be Removed Or Fixed. "The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is set today to adopt its first revised priority list of in-stream barriers to fish migrations within the state that it would like to see either equipped with passage devices, or removed. ... The new top 10 list includes passage obstacles big and small. Among the big are ... U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dams in the Willamette River basin, include[ing] Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River and Lookout Point Dam on the Middle Fork Willamette, which block up and downstream passage for bull trout, spring chinook and other fish species."Columbia Basin Bulletin, March 8
Sturgeon Planning Framework: 'The Region Is Now At A Critical Juncture' For Managing White Sturgeon. "The world has changed for salmon as a result of human development. But, perhaps even more so, it has changed for the large, long-lived white sturgeon that historically ventured up the Columbia River system..." Columbia Basin Bulletin, March 8
Willamette Greenway VIDEO-OPB Field Guide. "One of the boldest plans ever proposed in Oregon called for a park 200 miles long, lining the banks of the Willamette River all the way from Springfield from Portland. The plan hit opposition from farmers when the state started seizing farmland. The Greenway still exists but in a much different form today". OPB
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Bumbling beaver escorted to safety by Oregon City Police (with video). "Oregon City Police escorted a beaver to Abernathy Creek on Thursday night after it was spotted wandering across McLoughlin Boulevard. ... the beaver appeared to be lost and was walking toward the headlights of passing cars ... the officer quickly realized the easiest way to get the beaver out of danger was to herd it back to Abernathy Creek." OregonLive.com, March 8, 2013
 Nature at work in Stephens Creek. "Staff from the Environmental Services' Willamette Watershed team shared some photos of recent work by a busy beaver in the Stephens Creek subwatershed. ... Stephens Creek is one of the only remaining free-flowing streams in Southwest Portland to the Willamette River." City Green Blog, March 12
The Freshwater Trust snares national kudos. "Portland's Freshwater Trust landed a big-time honor from the U.S. Water Alliance in late February. The group was honored for, simply, its 'collaborative market-based solutions to restore and protect rivers and streams.'" Sustainable Business Oregon, March 11
The Bay Lights Finally Turn On, and the Results Are Fantastic. "The abstract, swirling patterns in Leo Villareal's titanic Bay Lights installation will inspire different mental pictures in different people. Some might see playing among the 1.8 miles of white LEDs the waves of the Pacific Ocean or the furious wildfires that plague California. ...the $8 million photon sculpture ... will adorn the western span of the Bay Bridge for the next two years." The Atlantic Cities, March 6
Nearly 6,000 dead pigs in Chinese river. "About 6,000 dead, bloated pigs have been pulled so far from the river that flows through the center of Shanghai. And Chinese officials say they expect to find more carcasses in the river -- but they insist the city's water is fine." CNN.com, March 13 |
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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