Ross Island is the main island of a four-island cluster in 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 ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, in the United States. The islands, covering a total of about , are owned mainly by Ross Island Sand and Gravel (RISG), which mined them extensively between 1926 and 2001. The other three islands are Hardtack, East, and Toe. Ross Island was named for Oregon pioneer Sherry Ross. The islands split the Willamette River into Holgate Slough on the east. They are about south of

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildi ...

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 ...

15, the islands are slightly upriver (south) of the Ross Island Bridge between the

Springwater Corridor The Springwater Corridor Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian rail trail in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It follows a former railway line from Boring, Oregon, Boring through Gresham, Oregon, Gresham to Portland, Oregon, P ...

Trail on the eastern shore and the South Waterfront on the western shore and slightly downriver from the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore and Willamette Park on the western shore. Ross is the longest of the islands, the closest to the western shore, and the closest to the Ross Island Bridge. Hardtack is to its east. East Island lies southeast of Hardtack, and Toe Island lies southwest of Ross. No bridge reaches the islands, which are approached only by boat. Ross Island is connected to Hardtack Island by an artificial levee built in 1926 by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

in order to form a lagoon between the two islands. The lagoon made

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

easier for RISG and diverted water west of the islands, where it deepened a shipping channel. In 2007, the owner of RISG, Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., donated of the island to the city of Portland, which plans to manage the property as a natural area. The islands, which retain remnants of forested

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

s, are used by at least 50 species of birds including ospreys, eagles, and herons. The gift was accepted long after transfer negotiations stalled in 2002 over questions of liability for the islands' restoration and cleanup. Because it contains toxic

fill dirt Fill dirt (also called cleanfill, or just fill) is earthy material which is used to ''fill in'' a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property.Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. City staff and outside experts who inspected the in 2007 approved of their condition. The Port of Portland donated the land it owned on the northern tip of the island to the city in 2015.

References

External links

Questions and Answers About the Ross Island Assessment Project
from the State of Oregon website

- ''The Oregonian'' * ttp://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/ross-island/ Ross Island: History & Present Video produced by Oregon Field Guide {{authority control Geography of Portland, Oregon Islands of the Willamette River Landforms of Multnomah County, Oregon Brooklyn, Portland, Oregon Uninhabited islands of Oregon