The Niawiakum River is a short river in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It is approximately long.Calculated in Google Earth

Course

The Niawiakum River originates in the hills of the southwestern part of

. It flows generally west, emptying into

Willapa Bay Willapa Bay () is a bay located on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state in the United States. The Long Beach Peninsula separates Willapa Bay from the greater expanse of the Pacific Ocean. With over of surface area Willapa Bay is the ...

near Bay Center and the mouth of the Palix River. The river's entire length is only a few miles. The lower half of the Niawiakum River is a broad

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

and

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

land. U.S. Route 101 crosses the river near its mouth.

History

The name "Niawiakum" derives from the Lower Chehalis name for the river.

Natural history

of the lower river is a protected land preserve called the Niawiakum River Natural Area Preserve, yet most of the land is controlled by

Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real e ...

which has resulted in significant clearcut logging and damage to the forest and river ecosystems. Two of the largest

Western Red Cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...

trees in the world, the Niawiakum Giant and the Seal Slough Cedar, sit on Weyerhaeuser land, however, surrounding clearcuts have nearly killed the Seal Slough Cedar. The river estuary and its tidal salt marsh vegetation is among the highest quality of the entire Washington and Oregon coasts. There are ongoing efforts to protect more of the Niawiakum estuary along with the nearby

Bone River The Bone River is a short river in the U.S. state of Washington. It is about long.Calculated in Google Earth Course The Bone River originates in the hills of the southwestern part of Washington, close to the source of the North Fork Palix River ...

estuary.

Geology

The lower Niawiakum River shows traces of the

1700 Cascadia earthquake The 1700 Cascadia earthquake occurred along the Cascadia subduction zone on January 26, 1700, with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.7–9.2. The megathrust earthquake involved the Juan de Fuca Plate from mid-Vancouver Island, south along the P ...

and associated

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

. Field trips to the river have been part of a Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness offered by the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

(UW) in cooperation with the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA). The program was the first offered by the International Tsunami Training Institute, set up by NOAA in response to the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

of 2004.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Pacific County, Washington Washington Natural Areas Program

Course

History

Natural history

Geology

See also

References