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Rebroadcast: Guiding the Willamette
With summer coming to a close many people are heading outside to enjoy the waning days of heat. From paddling to jet-skiing, from walking by the river to biking over the river, there are many ways that people enjoy the Willamette River that slinks its way through the state.
In this special summer rebroadcast we'll take a trip along the river with Willamette Riverkeeper executive director Travis Williams.
Do you paddle, swim, fish or commute on the Willamette? What have you learned about the river from your experiences? What have you learned about Oregon? If you were writing your own guide to the river, what would your favorite chapter be?
Tagged as: willamette river
Photo credit: What Everything / Creative Commons
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How can we ever hope to get/keep the river clean when development continues to occur right on the banks of the river and its tributaries? Can't we set aside these undeveloped areas (that are left) in order to protect the river? Seems like the local leaders are talking out of both sides of their mouth - they promote development, and at the same time spend more and more money on river cleanup. Let's keep the real-estate devleopers away from the riverbank - we will help the river and save a lot of money to-boot!
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The Willamette a great river? See for yourself at this weekend's RiverFest. It's a mosaic of events to get Portlanders down to -- and out-- on their river.
With kayak trips, riverbank tours and work parties, river clean-ups, Willamette cruises, and walking tours of the waterfront and bridges, there's something for everyone--and lots of chances to learn about what's good--and not so good--Willamette-wise.
Check out: www.portlandriverfest.org.
And, also, you might want to read what the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has to say about swimming in the Willamette:
http://www.deq.state.or.us/news/prDisplay.asp?docID=3067 -
When I first came to Oregon in the early "80's, I confess that I swam in the Willamette off Sauvie Island with my small children. 30 years later, I cringe at my ignorance then, because I've seen the pollution along the 6 miles of the Superfund site. So, my question is, what has been accomplished in getting the PRPS - "Potentially Responsible Parties" - to clean up their toxic legacies on the river? When are they going to stop talking and actually get to work on the cleanup? It's been nearly a decade since the EPA declared the Willamette a Superfund site. Environmental groups talk about the fun of canoeing, but are they pushing hard enough for a clean-up?
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When I first came to Oregon in the early "80's, I confess that I swam in the Willamette off Sauvie Island with my small children. 30 years later, I cringe at my ignorance then, because I've seen the pollution along the 6 miles of the Superfund site. So, my question is, what has been accomplished in getting the PRPS - "Potentially Responsible Parties" - to clean up their toxic legacies on the river? When are they going to stop talking and actually get to work on the cleanup? It's been nearly a decade since the EPA declared the Willamette a Superfund site. Environmental groups talk about the fun of canoeing, but are they pushing hard enough for a clean-up?
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I love the Willamette River. My husband and I live and farm on one the river's unique islands, Grand Island, just north of Salem. We have a park at the south end of the island where we regularly go swimming (including yesterday afternoon). The water is clean and clear, and we see large birds everytime we visit: osprey, herons, geese with goslings, turkey vultures, eagles ... it's a truly special spot and we feel blessed to spend time there every week.
For those people who haven't seen the beautiful parts of the river, I encourage you to spend more time there. I agree with the guest that LOVE for the river is crucial for its continued health. We need to value this amazing gift in our valley and work towards stopping the activities that pollute or harm it: namely pollution and aggregate extraction.
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This past Wednesday evening on Sauvie Island at Gilbert River, I was pleased to find a Willamette RiverKeeper volunteer doing water sample analysis. I wasn't aware of this project but applaud WRK for collecting this data.
Regarding the Willamette, folks tend to forget that Kelly Point isn't the terminus, but that its waters flow down the Multnomah Channel for nearly 20 miles before joining the Columbia at the downstream end of Sauvie Island, which is diagonally across from the the old downtown of St.Helens.
Beyond a great place to simply enjoy, people don't realize the economics generated by the river, including sportfishing. Just the spring chinook sport fishing season alone, which runs from March into May generates tens of millions of dollars annually and supports hundreds of jobs. A lot of this fishery is focused on the Mult Channel which isn't readily visible so folks don't realize the extent of it.
The Willamette deserves our highest standard of care.
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You mentioned paper and pulp plants. What is the status on the plants still on the river. Particularly I think of the plant in Oregon City and one in Albany. I remeber from an extended canoe trip about 12 years ago that the color of the water of the Wallamette changed completely after passing the Albany paper plant. Are these plants grandfathered in? What is being done?
-Tim Farrell
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My wife and I spent four days earlier this week paddling from Coburg to Independence. The river is truly a treasure with real surprises--swallows as thick as insects and new osprey couples every hundred yards or so until a few miles before Corvallis, the sandstone bluffs at the mouth of the Santiam, a pair of river otters, and the wonderful greenway properties along the entire stretch from Eugene through Portland. The Willamette is worth visiting and protecting.
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A couple of current planning processes in Eugene will have significant impacts on the Willamette River and its immediate surroundings:
- At the north end of the UGB, city staff recommended approval, without any environmental findings, of a zoning change to convert half a golf course from open space to residential. The golf course borders right onto the river - and there was also no consideration of what might happen to the other half of the course! This still has to go to the county commissioners and city council where we hope sanity will prevail. Help wanted - contact Friends of Eugene.
- At the heart of the city, EWEB is in the early stages of a fairly quick, intense master-planning process for their key riverfront property. Much is at stake, including how much riparian restoration will be done relative to urban development, and whether to daylight the Millrace as part of habitat restoration.
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I moved to Eugene in 1970 and worked for Eugene Parks and Recreation for several years. I was privileged to work directly with Mel Jackson, who was pictured on the cover of National Geographic in 1972, sitting in a canoe on the Willamette. It was Mel who first introduced me to the river, and the memory that stands out the sharpest is the incredible smell of the cottonwoods in the spring on the river. It was intoxicating and seductive!
Mel taught me to run the river in canoes, and I wound up taking many groups down the river, and I taught many people to canoe the river. Mel often took dignitaries on the river in canoes, so they could see the need for restoring it. He was indeed a huge part of the first great turnaround for this resource. He is gone now, but many of us who worked for and with him, both in recreation and in search and rescue, will always honor him and the work he so gracefully accomplished.
The confluence of the Willamette and McKenzie is an interesting phenomenon, as the clearer and colder McKenzie water takes time to mix with the Willamette, so there is a sharp line between the two for several hundred yards.
The McKenzie is a wonderful river, too, but the Willamette, by virtue of its geography and proximity to population, has a greater potential to be a symbol of our dedication to a sustainable future.
Thanks, Mel, for all you did not only for me and our friends, but for the river.
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Why are these people trying to make this disgusting river look beautiful? It is full of pollution, especially raw sewage, and you can actually smell it and see if floating. The sewage treatment plant in Milwaukie is always over flowing into the Willamette. It is bad all the way to Newberg, especially in Oregon City where a paper mill also dumps. On a real hot day and when the tide is down you can smell the stench crossing the river from Wilsonville to Canby and that is several miles from Portland. This is by far the grossest river in Oregon. Have these people lost their common sense?