Human Access Project

Human Access Project (HAP) is an organization based in Portland, Oregon, whose mission is "transforming Portland's relationship with the Willamette River". The organization's vision is a city in love with its river. HAP was founded by Willie Levenson, whose official title is the organization's Ringleader, is Portland’s fiercest advocate for swimming in the Willamette River and is somewhat of an evangelist of Willamette River recreational access in Portland. The river is the city's second largest public space and natural area, but less than 5 percent of the city's footprint has access to the waterfront.

The group spearheaded the creation of the River Hugger Swim Team, Audrey McCall Beach and Poet's Beach, the opening of the Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock for swimming, fishing and non-motorized boating, and organizes events such as the Big Float, Mayoral Swim, Duckworth Wednesday's and Valentine's Dip.

History and activities

Willie Levenson founded the Human Access Project in 2010.

On July 5, 2013, HAP set a Guinness World Record for the "longest line of swim rings / tubes" with a total of 620 participants.

In 2014, Levenson performed "Our River", a song he wrote with Tom Vandel to promote human access to the Willamette River, for City Council. The recorded song is performed by Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliot.

In August 2017, HAP organized a solar eclipse viewing on the river, in innertubes launching from the Portland Fire and Rescue Station 21 Dock.

Site improvements

In 2012, the organization spearheaded a plan to ask Portland Parks & Recreation to designate an official city beach at the southern end of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. HAP also organized a cleanup of Tom McCall Bowl Beach called "Unrock the Bowl", where volunteers lugged riprap stones from along the water line back up into the park. The group successfully lobbied the city to add "swim at your own risk" signs to Tom McCall Bowl Beach in 2013. In 2014, HAP paid for larger signs to be created and installed at Tom McCall Bowl Beach and what would become Poet's Beach.

In 2015, mayor Charlie Hales set aside $300,000 in the city's budget to study ways to boost river access, as a result of lobbying from HAP. HAP also added a swim ladder to the Portland Fire and Rescue Station 21 Dock, effectively creating a new recreational access point to the river. With the addition of a swim ladder the "Fire House" Dock became launching point of the River Hugger Swim Team.

In 2017, HAP partnered with Portland Parks & Recreation to open the city's first officially recognized public swimming beach, Poet's Beach. Additionally, HAP began work to mitigate a harmful cyanobacterial bloom that has become a regular occurrence in the summer inside the Ross Island Lagoon, in partnership with Oregon State University. HAP also commissioned a dock swim study by landscape architectural firm M.I.G. to reimagine the Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock as a non-motorized swimming and fishing dock.

On July 5, 2019, HAP partnered with Portland Parks & Recreation to open Audrey McCall Beach as the city's second officially recognized public beach. In 2020, HAP was successful in converting the use of the Duckworth Memorial Dock from motorized to non-motorized and implementing improvements including the addition of eight swimming ladders and bicycle parking racks. In 2021, the group led an effort to remove 25 tons of concrete and rubble from the river's edge of Cathedral Park with help from partners and volunteers. HAP and the landscape architecture firm GreenWorks P.C. also developed a concept for a park and ramp design in connection with the proposed Burnside Bridge replacement. On November 21, 2021, Portland City Council voted to further investigate this concept by spending $20,000 to do cost analysis and feasibility of adding a park and ramp to the bridge.

In 2022, HAP and Portland Parks & Recreation designated six safer swimming areas on the Willamette River: Audrey McCall Beach, Cathedral Park Beach, Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock, Poet's Beach, Sellwood Riverfront Park Beach, and Tom McCall Bowl Beach.

In 2023 U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley championed $100,00 of funding for HAP for Ross Island Lagoon harmful cybobacteria bloom research through the United States Senate. That year HAP also partnered with Green Anchors, other partner organizations and 200+ volunteers to remove 100 tons of concrete and rock from the south end of Cathedral Park Beach. That year HAP also continued their work from 2012 at Tom McCall Bowl Beach "Unrocking the Bowl", where 100 volunteers lugged 20 tons of riprap stones from along the water line back up into the park and improved two trails to the river.

Events

In 2016, incumbent Portland mayor Ted Wheeler swam his ballot across the Willamette River with the River Hugger Swim Team, and later joined HAP for the first annual Mayoral Swim.

The Big Float

The group held the first annual The Big Float in 2011. Over 25,000 participated over the ten years of the event. The intent of the event was to demonstrate to the community that the Willamette River is swimmable. The event was described by the organization's Ringleader as "a movement disguised as a party". The organization produced the last event in 2022 roughly 5,000 people attended.

Mayoral Swim

As a way to lead by example and demonstrate to the people of Portland that the Willamette River is safe for swimming and recreation from a human health perspective, HAP organized an annual Mayoral Swim with Wheeler. The first and second events were held on August 18, 2016, and July 27, 2017, respectively. The event happened again in 2018 and 2019.

Valentine's Dip

HAP had its first Valentine's Dip in February 2018. Twenty-five people braved 45 degree water to take their version of the "polar bear" plunge into the river. The event drew attention to the fact that people can swim in the Willamette River, even in the rainiest time of the year. Approximately 60 people took the plunge in the second annual Valentine's Day Dip in February 2019. The event marked 110 consecutive days of no combined sewage overflows into the Willamette River. Approximately 100 people took the plunge in the third annual Valentine's Dip in 2020. The event marked 180 days of combined sewage overflows into the Willamette River. In 2022, HAP retired the Valentine's Dip to join forces with Special Olympics Oregon when they moved their annual Polar Plunge to the Willamette River from the Columbia River.

River Hugger Swim Team

Established in 2012, the River Hugger Swim Team is an open water "recreational protest swim" bringing attention to the extreme deficit of water edge access in Portland. The group's goal is to swim together as a pod and create awareness to commuters and people utilizing the Eastbank Esplanade that it is safe to swim in the Willamette River. In 2018, Wheeler joined nearly 40 swimmers to kick off the HAP's swim season for its River Hugger team. In early mornings, they swim across the river. In the afternoons, when river traffic is heavier, they swim from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Morrison Bridge and back, sometimes multiple times. Each length (bridge to bridge) is roughly one third of a mile.

References

External links

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* {{Official website, http://www.humanaccessproject.com

2010 establishments in Oregon
Organizations based in Portland, Oregon
Organizations established in 2010
Willamette River