Metro Parks and Nature scientist Andrea Berkley stands on the banks of the Pudding River in a bucolic stretch of farmland outside Canby, part of a 109-acre property purchased by Metro in January. She stretches her arm up to touch a tangle of dried river reeds floating like ribbons from the tops of willow bushes.
“You can see how high the water gets here during flooding,” Berkley says. “The idea is to slow that water and let it sit here and soak into the ground, instead of it running off immediately.”
In a nutshell
Purchase price: $1.5 million
Neat features: This acquisition offers an opportunity to combat the challenges affecting the Pudding River’s water quality, which has been listed under the Clean Water Act’s polluted waters list.
Now protected: 109 acres of Pudding River floodplain and approximately 1.5 miles of riverfront
Habitats: Riparian forest and wetlands.
Animals: Salmon, trout, lamprey, frogs, turtles and freshwater mussels. Mammals include black-tailed deer, coyote and bobcat. Birds include great blue herons, red-winged blackbird, osprey and warblers.
Decades of agricultural development have led to a reduction in the riverside wetlands and forests that used to absorb floodwater and gradually release it back into the river, a process that helped to cool the water and filter out sediment and pollutants. As a result, the Pudding River has been listed under the Clean Water Act as having excessive pesticides, bacteria, and high temperatures. This new property acquisition offers Metro an opportunity to improve the river’s water quality.
Metro purchased the former farmland along the river as part of the Protect and Restore Land program of the voter-approved 2019 parks and nature bond. Right now, it is mostly made up of flat open fields. A drainage ditch runs through the property, diverting water filled with agricultural run-off into the river.
In years to come, Metro staff will work to restore this property into a multilayered wetland and floodplain forest that can help capture and filter run-off before it makes its way into the Pudding River – and, from there, into the Molalla River, which in turn feeds into the Willamette. In this way, work done here can have an effect on the whole region’s waterways.
“We can reduce downstream flooding, because more water is going to soak into the ground while it’s here than happens currently,” explained Berkley. “It’s slowing the water down. The pollutants and sediment will have time to settle. We’d rather have them here than in the river.”
This is the farthest south Metro has ever purchased land for a natural area. It is part of a new target area identified in the 2019 bond: the Molalla Oaks, Prairies and Floodplains area. Target areas are specially designated geographic areas of interest within which Metro may acquire lands from willing sellers under the 2019 parks and nature bond measure.
The target area was established through working with members of greater Portland’s Indigenous communities. Investments in this target area focus on sustaining the area’s vibrant and culturally important native plants and wildlife by protecting and connecting oak, prairie and floodplain habitats in the Middle Willamette Valley with Canemah Bluff, Willamette Narrows and the Willamette River Greenway to the north.
Once restoration is underway, this natural area will provide shady, forested areas where young salmon can hide from predators and find plenty of insects to nourish them while they grow. And not just salmon – many species of wildlife including frogs, salamanders and birds will also benefit from the renewed habitat. This could improve fish and wildlife populations not just at the property, but also at the nearby Molalla River State Park.
A walk along the river shows just how many species the new natural area can benefit. The soft mud along the bank reveals the tracks of heron, coyote, and raccoon. Broken bits of shell reveal the presence of western ridged mussels, a freshwater mollusk that is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act due to its rapidly declining populations. According to the Xerces Society, this is the first record of western ridged mussels in the Pudding River – an exciting find for both the species and the river, as mussels play an important role in filtering and cleaning river water.
Some basic work will take place this year to stabilize the property – things like removing invasive blackberries and securing the property so drivers don’t joyride through the fields. But as with most Metro land acquisitions, much of the first few years under Metro ownership will involve staff taking time to learn more about it and the wildlife that calls it home.
“We’re in that getting-to-know-you stage with the property,” says Berkley. “There’s undoubtedly more to explore and learn about this place.”