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Join Us for the Neighborhood Slough Supper!
On Thursday, February 27th, we are bringing our friends and neighbors together to learn about the Council’s community programs, conservation efforts, and the Vanport Placemarking Project, all while enjoying great food, local beer and wine, and live music at Kenton’s locally-owned Derby Restaurant. Your reservation purchase will include a three course family-style dinner and drink ticket. In addition to good food and company, you can also look forward to:
  • A full bar featuring ‘Signature Slough’ cocktails!
  • Learn more about the Vanport Placemarking Project!
  • Messages from your favorite Slough Staff!
  • Live music by the Jack Radsliff Trio!
  • Raffle prizes!
  • Giving opportunities!
Date: Thursday, February 27th
Time: 6 - 9 p.m.; Dinner served at 6:45
Location: Derby Kenton Restaurant (8237 N Denver Ave, Portland, OR 97217)

Bring your friends and toast the magic that is the Columbia Slough. Purchase your tickets NOW before the event is full! ** LIMITED SEATS REMAINING - RESERVE NOW! **
Reserve Your Tickets!
Upcoming Events
Stewardship Saturday: Heron Lakes
Saturday, Feb. 22nd, 9am - 12pm
This Saturday, help plant native shrubs and trees to create wildlife habitat on a publicly owned golf course in historic Vanport. Heron Lakes Golf Course is a public, municipally owned golf course operated by Portland Parks & Recreation. This 340-acre site contains a full 18-hole course with ponds, wetlands, and natural habitats that provide important ecosystem services for our watershed. The Blueprint Foundation is partnering on this event, and we will start the day with a discussion about the historical context of the site and impact of the Vanport flood.
Learn More & Register Here!
Stewardship Saturday: Wilkes Creek Headwaters
Saturday, Feb. 29th, 9am - 12pm
Join us on February 29th at Wilkes Creek Headwaters as we plant native shrubs and trees to restore wildlife habitat at the only free flowing stream that still enters the Columbia Slough. Restoring the habitat at the source of a river or stream is highly important for riparian restoration. Volunteer efforts at Wilkes Creek are focused on enhancing the native Western red cedar forest and adding native trees as well as shrub and forb understory to the park. Join us and take part in this important long-term restoration project!
Learn More & Register Here!
Stewardship Saturday: Kelley Point Park
Saturday, March 7th, 9am - 12pm
Kelley Point Park is located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and is also where the Columbia Slough meets the Willamette. The park includes over 100 acres of natural areas and hosts a variety of wildlife including beavers, otters, deer, ospreys, bald eagles, and the occasional sea lion that has traveled upstream from the ocean. On March 7th, we will continue restoration efforts to improve the riparian area along the Columbia Slough, which will help improve water quality in the lower Slough where young salmon find refuge on their way to the Pacific.
Learn More & Register Here!
Slough Celebration Gala 
Thursday, April 23rd, 6 - 9pm
The Slough Celebration Gala is our signature benefit event, through which we recognize community leaders and raise vital support for environmental stewardship, education, and equitable access to nature. This year, the Council will award Nestor Campos of Verde and Levee Ready Columbia for their outstanding contributions to to our watershed. We invite you to join us in celebrating each other’s successes and planting the seeds for a promising and sustainable future.
Learn More
Get Involved
We're Hiring a Stewardship Program Director!
 

Love improving fish and wildlife habitat? Have an affinity for native plants? Get a thrill from getting people out into nature and cleaning up our waterways? Apply to be the next Stewardship Program Director with the Columbia Slough Watershed Council! Click on the link below to learn more about this position and how to apply.

Application Deadline:  5 PM, February 25th, 2020
View Position Description
Upcoming Board Meetings
 

If you are interested in learning more about the Council's work, sharing your ideas for improving our watershed, or looking for ways to get involved, please join us for one of our upcoming board meetings!

Date: February 24th
Time: 5:30 - 7:30pm
Location: East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District Office

Date: March 16th
Time: 5:30 - 7:30pm
Location: Whitaker Ponds Nature Park (CSWC Classroom)
Report Out
Blueprint Foundation Floating Wetlands Project
  

This January and February, we held the first two workshops for the Blueprint Foundation Floating Engineered Wetlands Project. A floating wetland is a manmade raft that floats on the water’s surface and contains native wetland plants. Floating wetlands help shade and cool the water, absorb toxins and excess nutrients, and create both terrestrial and aquatic habitat. On January 18th, Blueprint Foundation students designed two floating wetland prototypes and built small-scale models. On February 15th, seven students built two full-size prototypes and launched them in Whitaker Ponds to test their durability and choose a final design!
Columbia Park Nature Patch Installation
  

On January 25th, 115 volunteers came out to install a new nature patch at Columbia Park in North Portland! Together, we planted 2,750 native plants to create habitat for pollinators and birds and increase enjoyment by park users. Native plants require less watering and chemicals to thrive and create healthy wildlife habitat while discouraging invasive species. Nature patches such as this one help manage stormwater naturally and improve the health of our rivers and streams. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to create this new space for wildlife and people to enjoy nature in Columbia Park!
Groundwater 101 Recap
  

Also on January 25th, 40 community members joined the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Portland Water Bureau, and Vive NW to learn about where our drinking water comes from. Portland Water Bureau shared information about groundwater as an important secondary source of drinking water that is clean, affordable, and environmentally-friendly. The workshop was followed by a focus session with attendees from Latinx communities on February 19th. Focus session participants shared their experiences of attending the workshop as well as perspectives on how we can better share this information with Latinx communities in a way that highlights the key takeaways that tap water is clean and cheaper than bottled water, and community members can help protect groundwater.
Holiday Tree Toss Highlights
  
Thank you so much to all the volunteers who came to our Holiday Tree Toss on January 4th and helped deliver the gift of habitat to salmon in the Slough! 46 volunteers loaded up canoes and other watercraft with recycled holiday trees and paddled out to insert them into engineered log jams, improving habitat quality for salmon that take refuge in the lower Columbia Slough. Large woody debris creates hiding and resting habitat for salmon and serves as a food source for aquatic insects that are salmon’s prey. We placed 50 recycled trees and also removed invasive blackberry from Kelley Point Park. Special thanks to Apex Companies and 55th Cascadia Scouts for joining us!
Community Corner
Vanport Placemarking Project

On May 30, 1948 at 4:05 p.m, a 200-foot section of the dike holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood. By nightfall, the second largest city in Oregon was underwater and all 40,000 residents were homeless.

No structures of Vanport were left behind after the flood. The Vanport Placemarking Project aims to identify and mark key sites of Vanport along a publicly accessible route. The intent of this project is to spread public awareness of the forgotten history and site of Vanport, and create a place where the stories and memories of Vanport can be told.

Learn more about this project at our Neighborhood Slough Supper, hosted in partnership with Vanport Places and Derby Kenton! Reserve your tickets here.
Enter the River Starts Here Video Contest!
Attention all 6th-12th grade students!

The Regional Coalition of Clean Rivers and Streams invites 6th- through 12th-grade students to enter our first-ever Portland metro area middle and high school video contest.

We teach people about how stormwater pollution impacts our rivers and streams and steps we can all take to protect our water. We hope you want to join in, too!


Deadline: March 31, 2020.  
Learn More Here


Other ways to support the Columbia Slough: 

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