Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area is a public park and nature reserve between the Columbia Slough

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 the Willamette River, about from the Willamette's...

 and the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. At about 2000 acres (809.4 ha), it is one of the largest urban freshwater wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s in the United States. Metro

Metro (Oregon regional government)

Metro, formerly known as Metropolitan Service District, is the regional governmental agency for the Oregon portion of the Portland metropolitan area...

, the regional government for the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area

Portland metropolitan area

The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...

, 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

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

, Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

s and Western painted turtle

Painted Turtle

The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...

s. 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 2000 acres (809.4 ha) 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 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Delta Park

Delta Park

Delta Park is a public municipal park complex in north Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It straddles Interstate 5 between the Columbia Slough on the south and the Columbia River on the north. The section east of the Interstate is known as East Delta Park, and to the west is West Delta Park...

–Marine Drive West exit from Interstate 5

Interstate 5

Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...

. A paved, wheelchair

Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

-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

Greenway (landscape)

A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...

 trails known as the 40 Mile Loop

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....

.

Vegetation and wildlife

Cottonwood, Oregon ash

Oregon Ash

Fraxinus latifolia is a member of the ash genus Fraxinus, native to western North America.-Distribution:Fraxinus latifolia is found: on the west side of the Cascade Range from southwestern British Columbia south through western Washington, western Oregon, and northwestern California; and in...

, alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

, big leaf maple, willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

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

Red Osier Dogwood

The Red Osier Dogwood is a species of dogwood native throughout northern and western North America from Alaska east to Newfoundland, south to Durango and Nuevo León in the west, and Illinois and Virginia in the east...

s, spiraea

Spiraea

Spiraea , is a genus of about 80-100 species of shrubs in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Spiraeoideae. They are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest diversity in eastern Asia....

, and other small shrubs. Sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

s, rush

Juncaceae

Juncaceae, the rush family, are a monocotyledonous family of flowering plants. There are eight genera and about 400 species. Members of the Juncaceae are slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants, and they may superficially resemble grasses. They often grow on infertile soils in a wide range...

es, beggars tick

Bidens frondosa

Devil's Beggarticks is an annual herb in the family Asteraceae, native to North America. It is known by a variety of different names, including Common Beggarticks, Common Tickseed, Large-leaved Beggarticks, Devil's Bootjack, Devil's Pitchfork, and Pitchfork Weed.It is up to 2 m tall, usually with...

, rice cutgrass

Leersia oryzoides

Leersia oryzoides is a species of grass known by the common name rice cutgrass. It is a widespread grass native to Europe, Asia, and North America and present in many other regions, such as Australia, as an introduced species. This is a rhizomatous perennial grass growing to a maximum height...

, and reed canary grass

Reed canary grass

Reed canarygrass, Phalaris arundinacea, 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 Africa and North America.-Description:The stems can reach 2.5...

 grow in open meadows. Aquatic plants such as pond lilies

Nymphaeaceae

Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus...

, duckweed, and algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 flourish in the sloughs and ponds.

The wide variety of mammals inhabiting the park include beaver, nutria

Coypu

The coypu , , also known as the river rat, and nutria, is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, primarily by...

, river otter, cottontail rabbit

Cottontail rabbit

The cottontail rabbits are among the 16 lagomorph species in the genus Sylvilagus, found in the Americas.In appearance, most cottontail rabbits closely resemble the wild European Rabbit...

, raccoon

Raccoon

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...

, muskrat

Muskrat

The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...

, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

, mink

Mink

There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...

, and coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

. The only reptiles found at the lakes are garter snake

Garter snake

The Garter snake is a Colubrid snake genus common across North America, ranging from Alaska and Canada to Central America. It is the single most widely distributed genus of reptile in North America. The garter snake is also the Massachusettsstate reptile.There is no real consensus on the...

s and turtles, including more than 200 Western painted turtle

Painted Turtle

The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...

s, listed as a sensitive-critical species by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats....

. This listing means that unless the turtles reverse the downward trend in their population, the species could become listed as threatened or endangered

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

. Amphibians include salamander

Salamander

Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...

s and frogs such as the Pacific chorus frog

Pacific Tree Frog

The Pacific Tree Frog has a range from the West Coast of the United States to British Columbia, in Canada. They live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings. They are the only frogs that go "ribbit"...

 and the non-native bullfrog

Bullfrog

The American bullfrog , often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”, native to much of North America. This is a frog of larger, permanent water bodies, swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found...

. Non-native fish introduced to the lakes include largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, crappie

Crappie

Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

, bluegill

Bluegill

The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

, and carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

.

Most species of waterbirds and migrant songbirds in the region visit the park. Birds observed in the wetlands include Bald Eagles, House Wren

House Wren

The House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, is a very small songbird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban areas in its range and it is the single most common wren...

s, Yellow Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Dendroica petechia is a New World warbler species or superspecies; the subspecies group around D. aestiva is increasingly treated as good species Dendroica aestiva again. The name for the entire cryptic species complex is Mangrove Warbler, and another group of subspecies is known as Golden Warbler...

s, Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

The Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus, is a small American songbird, 13–14 cm in length. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers...

s, Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Goldfinch may refer to any of the following species of bird from the genus Carduelis:* American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis* European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis* Lawrence's Goldfinch, Carduelis lawrencei...

es, Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...

s, Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...

s, Great Egret

Great Egret

The Great Egret , also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret, White Heron, or Great White Heron, is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized...

s, and Double-breasted Cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

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, piping, and levee

Levee

A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...

s to prevent flooding drastically changed the area's hydrology

Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...

. In 2003, to help restore historic hydrologic cycles in the wetland, Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It currently has approximately 780,000 members, mostly in the United States and Canada.-Introduction:Ducks Unlimited was...

 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

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 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 238 acres (96.3 ha) 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

Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...

gas from beneath the cover and pipes it to a nearby cement company to use as fuel.

Works cited

• Houck, Mike, and Cody, M.J., eds. (2000). Wild in the City. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-273-9.