The Sauvie Island Wildlife Area is a state game management area on

Sauvie Island Sauvie Island, in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island, is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately ten miles northwest of ...

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 sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. It contains more than for mixed use including hunting, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, birdwatching and hiking. Established in 1974, it is located in both Multnomah and Columbia counties. The wildlife area covers the northern half of the island of , which lies at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Although the southern half of the island is home to about 500 people as well as farms and related businesses, the northern half, an important stop on the

Pacific Flyway The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in the Americas, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading ...

, preserves habitat for many kinds of waterfowl. About 300 species of wildlife, including

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, pintails,

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 ...

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius''), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of ...

s, and many others, frequent the island. Wetlands and bodies of water, including 21 lakes as well as sloughs, connecting channels, and streams such as the Gilbert River, abound in the wildlife area. Boat ramps provide access to paddlers along the Gilbert, at Oak Island in Sturgeon Lake, and at Steelman Lake, St. Helens, and along the

Multnomah Channel The Multnomah Channel is a distributary of the Willamette River. It diverges from the main stem a few miles upstream of the main stem's confluence with the Columbia River in Multnomah County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The channel flows northw ...

. Sandy Columbia River beaches, including one that is clothing-optional, draw large numbers of people to the area's northern edge.

History

In 1940, the state bought on Sauvie Island to protect waterfowl that winter on Sturgeon Lake. The wildlife area was established in 1947, and more land was acquired through 1989. In 2009, Sauvie Island Wildlife Area recorded 989,361 visitor-days; about 55 percent of them involved the river beaches.

References

{{Protected areas of Oregon 1947 establishments in Oregon Oregon state wildlife areas Protected areas of Columbia County, Oregon Protected areas of Multnomah County, Oregon Sauvie Island Protected areas established in 1947