Scappoose Bay is a slough of

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 ...

, a distributary 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 b ...

, about upstream of where the channel meets 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 Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It is surrounded by a broad wetland area full of small ponds and other waterways across from

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 ...

. It lies between Scappoose to the south and St. Helens to the north. A few small streams, including

Milton Creek Milton Creek, is a waterway in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It is long, rising in the Oregon Coast Range and emptying into Scappoose Bay – a slough of Multnomah Channel – one of the distributaries of the Willamette River where ...

and Scappoose Creek drain from the east slopes of the

Oregon Coast Range The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south runni ...

into the bay. Lying in the upper portion of the

Columbia River Estuary The Columbia River Estuary is situated on the Oregon–Washington border and the Pacific Coast of the United States. It was traditionally inhabited by the Chinook Native Americans and discovered by settlers in 1788. The Estuary plays host t ...

, Scappoose Bay is tidal but is a freshwater body. The original inhabitants of the Scappoose Bay area were the

Chinookan peoples Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wi ...

who hunted, fished, and gathered in the area. During the 19th century, American settlers developed the area, clearing land for farming. Wood product manufacturing began in the early 20th Century. Three now-defunct factories left behind hazardous materials. Scappoose Bay is an important home for several fish species.

Sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...

poaching has become a problem there in recent years. An advisory from the

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is the chief regulatory agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for protecting and enhancing the state's natural resources and managing sanitary and toxic waste disposal ...

against consuming fish and shellfish from the bay remains in effect due to contamination from former industrial activity.

References

{{reflist Tributaries of the Columbia River Columbia County, Oregon