The Willamette River

1
The Willamette River

• A look at the River
• http//www.willamette-riverkeeper.org/theriver/

2
Historically

• Wild river.
• Floods in winter
• 187miles on its main stem
• Great floods result in the river changing

3
Historically the valley

• Valley open prairies
• Oak and conifer woodlands
• Native American peoples, Calapooia
• Euro American 150

4
The River Today

• Surrounded by agricultural land
• Little riverside forests
• Cities hug the banks
• Industrial facilities
• Source and dumping
• Harnessed and modified by hydropower dams on the
  tributaries.
• Pollution and habitat destruction have altered
  the function and very health
• Still opportunities to regain some semblance of
  the river's former health and vitality.

5
Physical Character

• 13th largest river in the United States
• Valley receives between 40-50 inches of rain a
  year.
• Watershed of 11,500 square miles in area.
• Average flow of the river is some 32,000 cubic
  feet per second (cfs) where the river flows into
  the Columbia.
• Flood in February of 1996, the flow was estimated
  to be some 460,000 cfs.

6
Damming of the Willamette

• 13 US Army Corps of Engineers, dams on its
  tributaries.
• 11 of which produce hydropower.
• Privately held dams
• These projects control over 27 of runoff
• These projects have a direct connection to the
  future health and natural function of the
  Willamette

7
Wathershed Tributaries
8
Watershed Tributaries

• Willamette River has multiple tributaries.
• Middle Fork Coast Fork
• McKenzie, Santiam,
• Mary's, Luckiamute,
• Yamhill, Molalla,
• Tualatin, Clackamas

9
The Impact of People

• 22 of the Willamette Basin agriculture
• 70 forest.due to the mountainous parts
• 8 urban.
• 70 of all Oregonians live in the Willamette
  Basin.
• Man made north south - Interstate 5.

10
Cities

• Greatest impact on the river
• Major cities hug the river
• Providing ample opportunity for polluted runoff
• Habitat alteration

11
Pollution 1

• Pollution has come from industry
• Some from agriculture
• Some from cities
• Some from other sources as well
• 1960s progress made reducing industrial wastes

12
Pollution 2

• Non Point Source Pollution
• Can not identify the source.
• Point Source Pollution
• Can put your finger on the pollution.

13
Governor Tom McCall

• Reduced the raw industrial pollution
• Environmental law.

14
Current River

• River flows that are manipulated by dams, to the
  detriment of native species.
• Habitat destruction on the main stem and
  tributaries that has resulted in threatened
  species and rising temperatures.

15
Loss of channel diversity

• In the early days an intensive effort to cut off
  natural back channels separated river habitat
  from the main river.
• 90 miles of the river now has banks that were
  hardened with rip rap.
• Instead of multiple braided channels that
  support local biodiversity, the river is largely
  confined to one main channel in many areas.

16
Current Problems

• Clean Water Act 303 (d) list for violations
• temperature
• bacteria
• mercury standards
• 40 miles known as the Newberg Pool
• high percentages of skeletal deformities.

17
Current Problems

• A six mile stretch in Portland
• Federally designated Superfund
• toxic pollution
• heavy metals
• cleanup process a decade to complete.
• Spring Chinook and steelhead, the Willamette's
  native salmonids, are listed as threatened under
  the Federal Endangered Species Act.

18
Current Problems

• Lamprey eel and white sturgeon found to contain
  man made chemicals in their tissues.
• Fish consumption advisory for resident fish.