Willamette Valley Refuges

Accomplishment: Restored more than 2,000 acres of seasonal wetlands on four national wildlife refuges.

Location: William L. Finley (Benton and Linn counties), Ankeny (Marion County), Baskett Slough (Polk County), and Tualatin River (Washington County) national wildlife refuges.

Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited, Bureau of Reclamation, Bonneville Power Administration, The Nature Conservancy, Metro, others.

Notes: Beginning in the mid-1990s, a series of wetland restoration projects on four national wildlife refuges in the Willamette Valley converted several thousand acres of marginal croplands to seasonal wetlands with high value for migrating and wintering waterfowl. Restoration work on the three original units (William L. Finley, Ankeny, Baskett Slough) of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex transformed agricultural lands that had been managed primarily for wintering dusky Canada geese into havens for wetland biodiversity. Establishment of the Tualatin River refuge in the early 1990s set the stage for extensive restoration of floodplain wetlands in a rapidly urbanizing area southwest of Portland.

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