Accomplishment: Enhancement of 1,300 acres of wetlands on the Columbia River floodplain in the heart of the Portland metropolitan area.

Location: Smith and Bybee Lakes Wildlife Area in North Portland.

Partners: Metro, Ducks Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, City of Portland.

Notes: Replacement of a dam at Smith and Bybee Lakes’ outlet into Columbia Slough with a new water control structure brought new life to the degraded wetlands of Metro’s 2,000-acre natural area. A 2001 drought killed tens of thousands of large carp whose destructive bottom-feeding habits had made the lakes too turbid to support emergent aquatic vegetation. Installation of the new $600,000 outlet structure by Ducks Unlimited in 2003 allowed wildlife area managers to begin creating a more dynamic wetland system where seasonal fluctuations have flooded out many of the dense stands of reed canary grass that formerly lined the edges of the static lake. When Metro’s managers drew down the lakes’ water levels in 2004, they found healthy stands of wapato, willows, and other native wetland plants popping out of the mud after decades in a dormant seedbank. A host of migratory birds keyed in on the newly productive habitats. Shorebirds descended on the mudflats. Thousands of ducks stopped by on migration, and may stayed through the winter. In summer, the lakes support white pelicans and more than 1,000 other fish-eating birds that feast on the warm-water fish that dominate the lake.

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