Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area is a public park and nature reserve between the
Columbia Slough
The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about long, in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough meanders west through Gresham and Portland to ...
and the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
. At about , it is one of the largest urban freshwater
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s in the United States.
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
, the regional government for the Oregon part of the
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...
, manages the park. A covered shelter, restrooms, a paved walkway, and a canoe launch lie on the north side of the natural area.
Although surrounded by port terminals, warehouses, and commercial areas, Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
,
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
s and western
painted turtles. An artificial water-control system helps keep the wetlands wet. Other systems collect methane and prevent leaching from a closed landfill near the south edge of the park.
Access and amenities
The park includes restrooms, interpretive displays, a covered shelter, parking for 40 cars, a bus drop-off, and public art, all near North Marine Drive, which skirts the north edge of the wetland.
The parking lot is about west of the
Delta Park
Delta Park is a public municipal park complex in north Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Delta Park is composed of two distinct sections referred to as East and West Delta Park. The Owens Sports Complex is a notable attraction of East Delta Pa ...
– Marine Drive West exit from
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
.
A paved,
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
-accessible path called the Interlakes Trail leads from the parking lot to two wildlife viewing platforms between the lakes.
Boaters in non-motorized craft can use the park's canoe-launch to enter the lakes for recreation, wildlife viewing, or fishing for non-native species.
Bicyclists and walkers can reach the park via a bicycle path, which runs along North Marine Drive and is part of the Portland metropolitan area's system of
greenway trails known as the
40-Mile Loop
The 40-Mile Loop is a partially completed greenway trail around and through Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was proposed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers architecture firm as part of the development of Forest Park.
One greenway expert c ...
.
Vegetation and wildlife
Black cottonwood
''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology.
...
,
Oregon ash
''Fraxinus latifolia'', the Oregon ash, is a member of the ash genus '' Fraxinus'', native to western North America.
Description
''Fraxinus latifolia'' is a medium-sized deciduous tree that can grow to heights of in height, with a trunk diame ...
,
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
Red alder is the largest species of alder in North A ...
,
big leaf maple
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''.
It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...
,
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
s, and shrubs grow in the park's forests.
Some of the ash trees are more than 100 years old. Swamps include willow thickets,
red-osier dogwood
''Cornus sericea'', the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species ''Cornus alba''. ...
s,
spiraea
''Spiraea'' , sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species , and other small shrubs.
Sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...
s,
rushes,
beggars tick,
rice cutgrass, and
reed canary grass
''Phalaris arundinacea'', or reed canary grass, is a tall, perennial bunchgrass that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, northern ...
grow in open meadows. Aquatic plants such as
pond lilies,
duckweed
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose ...
, and
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
flourish in the sloughs and ponds.
The wide variety of mammals inhabiting the park include beaver,
nutria
The nutria (''Myocastor coypus''), also known as the coypu, is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent.
Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, ''Myocastor'' is now included within Echimyidae, the family of t ...
,
river otter,
cottontail rabbit
Cottontail rabbits are the leporid species in the genus ''Sylvilagus'', found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characteristic name. However, this ...
,
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
,
muskrat
The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...
,
blacktail deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all ...
,
mink
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
, and
coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
.
[Houck, pp. 309–11] The only reptiles found at the lakes are
garter snake
Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...
s and turtles, including more than 200 western
painted turtles, listed as a sensitive-critical species by the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is a government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats.
The agency operates hatcheries, issues hunting and ...
.
This listing means that unless the turtles reverse the downward trend in their population, the species could become listed as threatened or
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
.
Amphibians include
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 ten ...
s and frogs such as the Pacific
chorus frog
''Pseudacris'' (commonly known as the chorus frogs) is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae found in North America ranging from the Pacific coastline to the Atlantic.
The name of the genus comes from the Greek ''pseudes'' (false) and ''akris ...
and the non-native
bullfrog
''Bullfrog'' is a common English language term to refer to large, aggressive frogs, regardless of species.
Examples of bullfrogs include:
Frog species America
*Helmeted water toad (''Calyptocephalella gayi''), endemic to Chile
*American bullfro ...
.
Non-native fish introduced to the lakes include
largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...
,
crappie
Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers.
Etymology
The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...
,
bluegill
The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...
, and
carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...
.
Most species of waterbirds and migrant songbirds in the region visit the park. Birds observed in the wetlands include bald eagles,
house wren
The house wren (''Troglodytes aedon'') is a very small bird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed native bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban ar ...
s,
yellow warbler
The yellow warbler (''Setophaga petechia'') is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus ''Setophaga'', breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, and down to northern S ...
s,
red-eyed vireo
The red-eyed vireo (''Vireo olivaceus'') is a small American songbird. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN. ...
s,
goldfinches,
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 extrem ...
s,
red-tailed hawk
The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...
s,
great egret
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...
s, and
double-crested cormorant
The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes, and in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alas ...
s, as many as a thousand at a time.
Restoration projects
Historically, the wetland lay in the floodplain of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and seasonal floods inundated the area.
Development, including
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 da ...
, piping, and
levee
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
s to prevent flooding drastically changed the area's
hydrology
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
.
In 2003, to help restore historic hydrologic cycles in the wetland,
Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013.
...
installed a water-control structure at Bybee Lake.
Metro uses it to hold as much water as possible in the lake during winter and spring. This improves habitat for waterfowl and young
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
and inhibits reed canary grass, an invasive plant.
In June, after the salmon have migrated to the ocean, Metro opens the structure. Until it closes the structure again, water from the Columbia Slough, which is affected by
semidiurnal tides and to which Bybee Lake is connected, flows into and out of the lake.
South of Bybee Lake the park extends to the former St. Johns Landfill, which served as the region’s main garbage-disposal site from 1940 to 1991. Although most of the garbage at the site came from households, between 1958 and 1962 some came from a pesticide-manufacturing plant. Metro took over the landfill from the City of Portland in 1990 and by 1996 had completed a $36 million cover system to keep contaminants from leaching into the surrounding soil and water. Another system collects
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...
gas from beneath the cover and pipes it to a nearby cement company to use as fuel.
See also
*
List of lakes in Oregon
This is a list of the lakes and reservoirs of Oregon.
Gallery
File:AbertRim-right.jpg, Lake Abert and the Abert Rim
File:Applegate Lake Oregon.jpg, Applegate Lake in Jackson County
File:Lake Billy Chinook, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon (ph ...
References
Works cited
* Houck, Mike, and Cody, M.J., eds. (2000). ''Wild in the City''. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. .
{{authority control
Lakes of Oregon
Landforms of Multnomah County, Oregon
Metro (Oregon regional government)
Nature reserves in Oregon
Parks in Portland, Oregon
St. Johns, Portland, Oregon
Wetlands of Oregon