Above: an illustration of Willamette Cove as it is today. Illustration by Aki Ruiz.
If you live in the greater Portland region, you've had this experience: You’ll be in the middle of the city, or a suburb or even an office park, and then you take about eight steps and … poof … it’s all gone and you’re in nature. These magical moments are part of why our region is special. And there’s an opportunity to create a new one in North Portland.
Willamette Cove stretches along its namesake river for a half mile from the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge toward the St. Johns Bridge. A bluff lines one side, hiding the Cathedral Park neighborhood above from eye and ear. Neighbors have known for decades that it could be the perfect place for a park, and Metro has too, which is why it bought the property in 1996. Unfortunately, industrial activity had contaminated Willamette Cove and park planning gave way to a cleanup operation in 2000.
After nearly 25 years of studying, planning, informally consulting with tribal partners, and conducting preliminary cleanups, Metro knows enough about the cove’s post-cleanup state that it can begin envisioning the long-awaited, future nature park. And community members like you are helping shape it.
But before you read any further, let's make one thing clear: Do not visit Willamette Cove. There’s a reason it needs to be cleaned up – it’s not safe. It will be, but not yet.
The cleanup will reshape the cove’s landscape. The biggest impact – the hardest, really – is that most of the trees will have to be removed, including mature oak and madrone. This is because the dirt they are in is contaminated, but removing that dirt will kill the trees. Metro has examined gentler approaches, but they haven’t worked. For the long-term health of the habitats, these trees need to go.
With something like this, governments usually say something like “this is an unfortunate reality” or “a difficult tradeoff.” While those statements are true, they don't really convey how painful this decision has been. All of the Metro staff working on Willamette Cove adore nature and want to see it thrive, and removing mature trees feels like the opposite of that. But it’s the right thing to do in this case.
Immediately after the cleanup, Metro will plant hundreds of trees and thousands of smaller plants. Native black cottonwoods will line the riverbank, anchoring a riverside habitat that joins an in-water habitat focused on providing salmon and Pacific lamprey with cool water and refuge during their migrations. The upland will hold woodlands made of Oregon white oak and Pacific madrone to support resident and migrating birds and wildlife. Meadows will spot the woods.
Tribes have worked closely with Metro to develop this conservation plan, and the future habitats at Willamette Cove aim to create opportunities for the practice of traditional and cultural lifeways at the site.
Community members are now helping Metro plan how to weave a park into this plan for trees, shrubs, fish and wildlife.
Some elements of the park are known. Since 1996, Metro has planned to build a stretch of the North Portland Greenway Trail through Willamette Cove, and that remains a main goal. The park will also include access to the Willamette River. Smaller trails will stem off the regional trail, marked with wayfinding and informational signs. There will be a parking lot and rest areas.
Metro is committed to working with both tribal partners and the greater community to imagine and shape exactly what all this looks like and what other elements and amenities are part of the park. In May, community members shared their insights through a survey and at a set of workshops. More opportunities like these are coming up over the next year and half.
This illustration shows the two cleanups planned for Willamette Cove. Metro is involved in the upland cleanup. Illustration by Aki Ruiz.
One site, two cleanups
Before the park can be built, contamination from 70 years of industrial operations needs to be dealt with so Willamette Cove can be safe for people, plants and animals. There are actually two cleanups being planned: one led by Metro and the Port of Portland and overseen by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality that will address the upland; and another overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency that covers the area from top of the riverbank down into the riverbed.
This article focuses on the work Metro is upland work. At its simplest, Metro and the Port will clean up Willamette Cove’s upland by excavating and removing highly contaminated soil and covering the site with clean soil so people and animals can’t touch any remaining contamination. DEQ selected a cleanup plan that governs what has to be removed, where it goes, and what replaces it. The cleanup will reduce risk so the area is safe to use for recreation.
In 2021, DEQ laid out its guidelines for the cleanup. The main elements are:
- All contamination that is a high risk to human health – these are called hot spots – must be hauled to a DEQ-approved landfill.
- All contamination from metals that are a high risk to plants and animals – called ecological hot spots – must be hauled to a DEQ-approved landfill or covered with clean soil.
- At least one foot of clean topsoil will be placed over the entire site.
From roughly 1900 to 1930, Willamette Cove’s gently sloping shore and shallows were covered by as much as 60 feet of infill made of silt and sand dredged from the river. The result was a raised, level stretch of land that could house Willamette Cove’s dry docks, barrel factory and lumber mills above the floodplain. The same type of engineered lands and structures were built up and down both sides of the Willamette and created today’s riverfront in Portland.
Contamination at Willamette Cove’s upland came from a variety of historic uses over decades of activity, much of which ended in the early 1970s.
Because of the way the upland was made, we can’t dig to a perfectly clean surface. However, studies have shown that contamination is highest at surface and thins out as it goes deeper. Metro and the Port will make sure the remaining contamination can no longer cause risk to humans, plants or animals by using layers of suitable materials to isolate the contamination. These materials usually include lots of clean soil and topsoil that keep contamination in place and keep people and animals away and safe from the contamination.
Learn more about Willamette Cove and the effort to transform it into a nature park