Balch Creek
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Balch Creek is a tributary of the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...
in the U.S. state of
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. Beginning at the crest of the
Tualatin Mountains The Tualatin Mountains (also known as the West Hills or Southwest Hills of Portland) are a range on the western border of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A spur of the Northern Oregon Coast Range, they separate the Tualatin Basin of Wa ...
(West Hills), the creek flows generally east down a canyon along Northwest Cornell Road in unincorporated
Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...
and through the Macleay Park section of Forest Park, a large municipal park in
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
. At the lower end of the park, the stream enters a pipe and remains underground until reaching the river. Danford Balch, after whom the creek is named, settled a land claim along the creek in the mid-19th century. After murdering his son-in-law, he became the first person legally hanged in Oregon.
Basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, mostly covered by silt in the uplands and sediment in the lowlands, underlies the Balch Creek watershed. The upper part of the watershed includes private residential land, the Audubon Society of Portland nature sanctuary, and part of Forest Park. Mixed conifer forest of
Coast Douglas-fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...
,
western redcedar ''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific re ...
, and
western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the northwest coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern ...
with a well-developed
understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...
of shrubs and flowering plants is the natural vegetation. Sixty-two species of mammals and more than 112 species of birds use Forest Park. A small population of
coastal cutthroat trout The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'', sometimes referred as ''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the four speciesTrotter, Patrick; Bisson, Pete ...
resides in the stream, which in 2005 was the only major water body in Portland that met state standards for bacteria, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. Although nature reserves cover much of the upper and middle parts of the watershed, industrial sites dominate the lower part. Historic Guild's Lake occupied part of the lower watershed through the 19th century, and in 1905 city officials held the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide World's fair, exposition h ...
there on an artificial island. After the exposition, developers converted the lake and its surrounds to industrial use, and in 2001 the Portland City Council declared the site to be an "industrial sanctuary".


Course

Balch Creek begins in the Forest Park neighborhood in unincorporated
Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...
near the intersection of Northwest Skyline Boulevard and Northwest Thompson Road at the crest of the West Hills. It flows generally east about to its confluence with the Willamette River, a major tributary of the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
. The creek drops from above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
at its source to at its
mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...
, a total of . Most of this occurs in the first . In the hills, the stream gradient (slope) generally ranges from 15 to 30 percent interspersed with sections of less than 15 percent along the middle reaches. From its source, the creek runs east on private property near Forest Park, a large municipal park in Portland, before turning briefly south about from the mouth. Soon thereafter, the stream receives an unnamed tributary on the
right bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
and turns southeast on private property along Northwest
Cornell Road Cornell Road is an east–west street and traffic corridor in the Portland metropolitan area, in Multnomah County, Multnomah and Washington County, Oregon, Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It crosses the Tualatin Mountains (West ...
. It enters the city and the Audubon Society of Portland simultaneously about from the mouth, receives two more unnamed tributaries on the right, and flows northeast, entering the part of Forest Park known as Macleay Park. For about the creek parallels Wildwood Trail, the main hiking trail in Forest Park, until reaching a former public restroom known as the Stone House. From here Balch Creek runs beside the Lower Macleay Trail, another hiking trail, for about . Near Northwest Thurman Street, roughly from the mouth, the creek flows through a
trash rack A trash rack (US) or debris screen is a wooden or metal structure, frequently supported by masonry, that prevents water-borne debris (such as logs, boats, animals, masses of cut waterweed, etc.) from entering the intake of a water mill, pumping sta ...
into an diameter
storm sewer A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, United States, U.S. and Canada), highway drain, surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to Drainage, drain excess rain an ...
. City workers first diverted the creek into the pipe in the early 20th century. The water empties into the Willamette River in the city's Northwest Industrial neighborhood at Outfall 17. About below this outfall, the Willamette enters the Columbia River. The map includes
river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...
markers along the Willamette.


Discharge

The Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) of the city of Portland monitored the flow of Balch Creek from June 1996 through September 2002 at a site, Node ABB857, where the stream leaves the surface and enters a storm sewer in Macleay Park. BES reported an average summer flow of , a maximum of , and a minimum of 0. The average flow in winter was , with a maximum of and a minimum of 0. Measurements taken during an individual spring, from mid-May to mid-July 2002, showed the flow starting at about and dwindling to 0 by early June. The flow through June depended partly on the weather; the highest flow, , occurred after a rain. Measurements taken during an individual autumn, late August to late December 2001, were close to zero until November. The largest flows during that season, , occurred after many days of rain.


Geology

Solidified
lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...
from Grande Ronde members of the
Columbia River Basalt Group The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt provinces on Earth, covering over mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. The b ...
underlies the Balch Creek watershed. About 16 million years ago during the
Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...
, the Columbia River ran through a lowland south of its modern channel. Eruptions from linear vents in eastern Oregon and Washington flowed down this channel through what later became the
Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...
. These flows, some of which reached the Pacific Ocean, occurred between 16.5 and 15.6 million years ago and covered almost . Geologists have identified several basalt flows in the West Hills, where they underlie the steepest slopes of Forest Park and form the columned rocks visible in parts of Balch Creek Canyon. Wind-deposited silts, unstable when wet, later covered most of the lava. Stream bank instability and siltation are common, and the threat of landslides has discouraged urban development in the hills. Between 19,000 and 15,000 years ago, cataclysmic
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
events known as the Missoula Floods or Bretz Floods originating in the Clark Fork region of northern
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
inundated the Columbia River basin many times. These floods deposited huge amounts of debris and sediment and created new
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
s in the Willamette Valley. From then until the 19th century, the lower Balch Creek watershed consisted of swampy marshlands and shallow semi-permanent lakes such as historic Guild's Lake. The final or so of historic Balch Creek flowed across this floodplain.


History


Names

Multnomah County is named for Native Americans who lived in the area before settlement by non-
indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
in the 19th century. Members of the Multnomah tribe of the Chinookan people lived on
Sauvie Island Sauvie Island is in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally named as Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island. It is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately north ...
in the Willamette River and on the mainland across from the island, downstream from the mouth of Balch Creek. Much of the area near the lower creek was swampy, and was not favored by the Multnomah. By the 1830s, diseases carried by white explorers and traders reduced the native population by up to 90 percent in the lower Columbia basin. Historic Guild's Lake, in the lower Balch Creek watershed near the Willamette River, was named for Peter Guild (pronounced ''guile''), one of the first European American settlers in the area. In 1847, he acquired nearly of the watershed through a donation land claim. Although variations in the spelling of ''Guild's Lake'' occur in historic newspapers, maps, and other documents, ''Guild's Lake'' has been the preferred form since the beginning of the 20th century. The creek is named for Danford Balch, who settled a donation land claim upstream of the Guild property in 1850. After a man from a neighboring family
eloped Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...
with a Balch daughter, Balch killed him with a shotgun. On October 17, 1859, at a public
gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...
he became the first person to be hanged by the State of Oregon. Macleay Park takes its name from Donald Macleay, a Portland merchant and real-estate developer who acquired what had been the Balch property. In 1897, he donated the land for a park on condition that the city provide transport to the park for hospital patients and build paths wide enough for wheelchairs.


Early water supply

Balch Creek was one of Portland's sources of drinking water in the mid-19th century. Stephen Coffin and Finice Caruthers, two early Portland entrepreneurs, established the first public water supply for the city in 1857 by piping water from Caruthers Creek in southwest Portland through round fir logs with holes bored in them. In the 1860s, the Portland Water Company, which had acquired the existing business, added water from Balch Creek to the system. It was piped to a wooden reservoir at Alder and Pacific streets. Water shortages and pollution led to a shift in the water supply from sources within the city to the Bull Run River in the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...
. It began supplying most of Portland's drinking water in 1895.


Industry

One of the first industries in the Guild's Lake area was a sawmill built in the 1880s. Although large parts of the land remained undeveloped until the early 20th century, lumber mills, grain storage structures, railroads, and docks appeared along the waterfront. The Guild's Lake Rail Yard, built by the
Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...
in the 1880s, became an important switching yard for trains. In 1905, the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide World's fair, exposition h ...
, held on an artificial island in Guild's Lake, helped spur growth in the area. After the exposition ended, developers filled the lake and its surrounds with soil
sluice A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...
d from parts of the Balch Creek watershed in the West Hills above the floodplain or dredged from the Willamette River. Civic leaders promoted the Guild's Lake area as a good place for industry, and by the mid-1920s the lake was gone. The USGS places historic Guild's Lake at coordinates at an elevation of above sea level between what later became Northwest Saint Helens Road and Northwest Yeon Street, slightly west of Northwest 35th Avenue in the Northwest Industrial district of Portland. Between the 1890s and the 1930s, channel-deepening in the Willamette River improved the city's status as a deep-water seaport, as did completion in 1914 of a port terminal. Guild's Lake, close to highways as well as marine and rail terminals, became the most important industrial area in Portland. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, chemical and petroleum processing and storage, metals manufacturing, and other large industries expanded in the area. In 2001, the Portland City Council adopted the Guild's Lake Industrial Sanctuary Plan aimed at protecting the area's "long-term economic viability as an industrial district."


Watershed

The Balch Creek watershed consists of , equal to . About 27 percent is zoned for parks and other open space, and about 20 percent is zoned for heavy industry near the Willamette River. Multnomah County has jurisdiction over , about a quarter of the watershed. Lands zoned for residential farms and forests occupy about 13 percent of the total, mostly along the watershed's western edge. A mixture of residential, commercial, and other designations make up smaller segments. About 1,600 people lived in the Balch Creek watershed in 2000, and about 6,700 people worked there. Nearby watersheds include those of other small streams flowing directly into the Willamette along the east flank of the West Hills. The city refers to these as the Johnson-Nicolai subwatershed to the southeast, and the Kittredge and Salzman subwatersheds to the northwest. Rainfall in the watershed from 1977 to 2002 averaged about per year. About of the total fell from November through April, and about fell from May through October. Minor flooding has occurred near the trash rack—where the creek enters a pipe—and has caused occasional basement flooding along nearby streets. City officials are studying the rack design with a view to alterations by 2017.


Flora

The watershed lies partly in the Coast Range ecoregion and partly in the Willamette Valley ecoregion designated by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...
(EPA). The historic lower Balch Creek watershed through the 1880s was a mixture of open water, wetlands, grassland, and forest, while above the flood plain the watershed consisted of closed canopy forest. People who settled here in the 19th century logged much of this forest and filled the wetlands. In 2002, aerial photographs showed that buildings, parking lots, shoreline structures, and other cleared areas covered most of the lower floodplain. On the other hand, hill forests protected from major disturbance covered about 65 percent of the watershed. Above the floodplain, much of the habitat in the watershed consists of mixed
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
forest. Trees and shrubs, including stands of
red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description ''Alnus rubra'' is the largest species of alder in ...
and cottonwood trees, cover about 88 percent of the middle reaches. Near the headwaters, the forests consist mainly of mixed conifers and hardwoods with a few older
Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...
s. Common species include
big leaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus ''Acer (plant), Acer''. It is native to western North America. In addition to uses by animals, it is of some culinary and woodworking interest. De ...
,
willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...
,
western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the northwest coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern ...
, red alder,
western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific re ...
, and Douglas-fir. Most of this forest is relatively young. In Forest Park,
old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...
, undisturbed for 250 years or more, exists mainly in isolated patches. The largest tree in the park, Heritage Tree 134, is a Douglas-fir near the Stone House. It is high, and the trunk is in circumference. Forest Park and other areas of the watershed have an
understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...
of well-developed shrubs including ferns, Oregon-grape, vine maple,
salal ''Gaultheria shallon'' is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. Common names include salal (), shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria. Description ''Gaultheria shallon'' is tall, sprawli ...
,
red huckleberry ''Vaccinium parvifolium'', the red huckleberry, is a species of ''Vaccinium'' native to western North America. Description It is a deciduous shrub growing to tall with bright green shoots with an angular cross-section. The leaves are ovate to o ...
, Fendler's waterleaf, Indian plum,
salmonberry ''Rubus spectabilis'', the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus ''Rubus' ...
, and
stinging nettle ''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Or ...
. Among the prominent wildflowers are wild ginger, Hooker's fairy bells, vanilla leaf, evergreen violet, and
trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...
. Rare or uncommon species include old conifers, Western wahoo shrubs, and ornamental dawn redwoods. Invasive species are
English ivy ''Hedera helix'', the common ivy, European ivy, King's Choice ivy, or just ivy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae. It is native to most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Ivy is a clinging evergreen vine that grows on t ...
,
European holly ''Ilex aquifolium'', the holly, common holly, English holly, European holly, or occasionally Christmas holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family (botany), family Aquifoliaceae, native plant, native to western and southern Europe, nort ...
,
clematis ''Clematis'' is a genus of about 380 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids and cultivars have been popular among gardeners, beginning with ''Clematis'' 'Jackmanii', a garden staple since 1862; more cultivars ...
,
morning glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose taxonomy and systematics remain in flux. These species are distributed across numerous genus, gene ...
, and
Himalayan blackberry ''Rubus armeniacus'', the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' in the blackberry group ''Rubus'' subgenus ''Rubus'' series ''Discolores'' (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and northern Iran, and widel ...
.


Fauna

The historic creek likely supported diverse fish species, including
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
. After people filled the wetlands and diverted the lower stretch of the creek into a pipe, fish could no longer migrate to and from the Willamette River. The industrial parts of the watershed have no remaining aquatic habitat, but above the pipe the aquatic habitat remains relatively high, and Balch Creek and its tributaries support a resident population of
coastal cutthroat trout The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'', sometimes referred as ''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the four speciesTrotter, Patrick; Bisson, Pete ...
of up to about .
Signal crayfish The signal crayfish (''Pacifastacus leniusculus'') is a species of crayfish indigenous to North America. Introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the North European ''Astacus astacus'' fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague ...
can also be found in the creek. In 2005, Balch Creek was the only major water body in Portland that met state water quality standards for bacteria, temperature and dissolved oxygen. Nearby tracts of habitat strongly affect the wildlife in the Balch Creek watershed. This is especially true of Forest Park, which extends into other watersheds to the northwest. Birds and animals from these watersheds and from the Tualatin River valley, the Coast Range, the Willamette River, Sauvie Island, the Columbia River, and the
Vancouver, Washington Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...
, lowlands, move in and out of the park with relative ease. Sixty-two mammal species, including the
northern flying squirrel The northern flying squirrel (''Glaucomys sabrinus'') is one of three species of the genus '' Glaucomys'', the only flying squirrels found in North America.Walker EP, Paradiso JL. 1975. ''Mammals of the World''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universit ...
, black-tailed deer, creeping
vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...
,
bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...
, coyote,
Mazama pocket gopher The Mazama pocket gopher (''Thomomys mazama'') is a smooth-toothed pocket gopher restricted to the Pacific Northwest. The herbivorous species ranges from coastal Washington, through Oregon, and into north-central California. Four subspecies of th ...
, little brown bat, Roosevelt elk, and Pacific
jumping mouse Zapodidae, the jumping mice, is a family of mouse-like rodents in North America and China. Although mouse-like in general appearance, these rodents are distinguished by their elongated hind limbs, and, typically, by the presence of four pairs o ...
use Forest Park.
blue grouse The genus ''Dendragapus'' contains two closely related species of grouse that have often been treated as a single variable taxon (blue grouse). The two species are the dusky grouse (''Dendragapus obscurus'') and the sooty grouse (''Dendragapus f ...
,
great horned owl The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extreme ...
, hairy woodpecker,
Bewick's wren The Bewick's wren (''Thryomanes bewickii'') is a wren native to North America. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Thryomanes''. At about long, it is grey-brown above, white below, with a long white eyebrow. While similar in appearance ...
,
orange-crowned warbler The orange-crowned warbler (''Leiothlypis celata'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Taxonomy The orange-crowned warbler was formally described in 1822 by the American zoologist Thomas Say under the binomial name ''Sylvia ce ...
,
osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...
, and
hermit thrush The hermit thrush (''Catharus guttatus'') is a medium-sized North American thrush. Taxonomy It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of ''Catharus'', but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. T ...
are among the 112 species of birds that frequent the area. Amphibian species seen at the
Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...
pond include
rough-skinned newt The rough-skinned newt or roughskin newt (''Taricha granulosa'') is a North American newt known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin. Appearance A stocky newt with rounded snout, it ranges from light brown to olive or brownish-black on t ...
s,
Pacific tree frog The Pacific tree frog (''Pseudacris regilla''), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They l ...
s, and
salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
s. Pressure from habitat loss, pollution, hunting, and urban development has reduced or eliminated the large predators such as wolves, bears, and wild cats and has led to increased numbers of small predators such as
weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...
s and
raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...
s. Roads through the watershed severely hamper the movement of large animals. Invasive plant species such as English ivy have made the habitat simpler and less supportive of native insects and the salamanders and other amphibians that feed on them. Citizen groups such as the No Ivy League and Friends of Forest Park (now the Forest Park Conservancy) have engaged in projects to remove ivy, to plant native species, and to widen and protect riparian zones.


See also

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List of rivers of Oregon This is a partial listing of rivers in the state of Oregon, United States. This list of Oregon rivers is organized alphabetically and by tributary structure. The list may also include streams known as creeks, brooks, forks, branches and prongs, as ...


Notes and references


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


Forest Park Conservancy and Friends of Forest Park
{{authority control Geography of Portland, Oregon Rivers of Multnomah County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon Tributaries of the Willamette River Works Progress Administration in Portland, Oregon