The Willamette Cove Nature Park cleared two major hurdles in March, as Metro passed Resolution no. 26-5561 to establish a master plan for the nature park on March 5 and the regional government entity received a draft of a remedial design/remedial action (RDRA) work plan for the park site dated March 27.

Willamette Cove Nature Park will occupy a 27-acre, stiletto-shaped parcel of land along river miles 6.8 to 6.2 of the Willamette River in north Portland. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad bridge over the Willamette River demarcates the site’s southeast border; Union Pacific Railroad tracks border the site to the northeast. Up to 800 feet of elevation separate the main river channel from the edge of the cove; only native and invasive vegetation currently occupy the slope and riverbank. Part of the Nature Park will sit on a terrace created by industrial infill dating back decades that extended into the Willamette River.

Metro’s history with the site dates to its 1996 acquisition, funded with the proceeds of a 1995 Open Spaces, Parks and Streams bond measure. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recommended remedial action for hazardous waste cleanup based on previous industrial activity in and around the site; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared a Superfund site at Portland Harbor and in the Willamette River in 2000. Metro succeeded in passing a $475 million Parks and Nature bond measure in 2019; the Metro Council matched Willamette Cove to funds from that bond measure in 2020 and used a portion of that allocation to fund the Nature Park master plan development.

Development of the North Portland Greenway, improvement of access to the river, resuscitation of Willamette Cove’s ecology and centering the history of indigenous peoples at the site influenced the elements and services inherent to the Master Plan. Motor vehicle access and parking is concentrated at a gated entrance of N. Richmond Street, at the northwestern corner of the park. A second entrance–designed with bike racks and an information kiosk, in addition to trailhead access–crosses the Union Pacific tracks at grade toward the southeastern end of N. Edgewater Avenue. Two overlooks, a shelter structure, public restrooms, a kayak rail to the water, a resurrected river-sand beach and a trail network ribboned throughout the site offer recreational opportunities to visitors; public art, educational signage and historic demarcations will be incorporated into the site plan at later stages.

Apex Companies drafted the RDRA work plan for Oregon DEQ, Metro, and the Port of Portland, which is also a stakeholder of the in-water contaminant cleanup process supervised by the EPA. (The two hazardous material cleanup processes will run concurrently; Metro’s jurisdiction is limited to the land at Willamette Cove.) Apex identified Steve Misner as the project manager for the RDRA work plan and Herb Clough as the project engineer of record.

The work plan calls for the removal of 50,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil to be removed from the site and replaced with approximately 70,000 cubic yards of imported “clean” soil; land at additional risk of contaminating the site will be capped with 1 to 3 feet of clean topsoil above a demarcation layer. Apex recommended that soil contaminated by elements such as arsenic, lead and mercury could be transported offsite by land or by water, with three landfill sites identified.

With the master plan approved, Willamette Cove moves into a design and engineering phase. Metro requires a geotechnical analysis to assess the proposed outbuildings’ and paved areas’ structural interaction with the site. A topographic survey and study of algal blooms around the site are to be conducted as removal of contaminants on land and in water is accomplished.

Apex’s draft work plan projects that excavation at Willamette Cove may begin as soon as July 2027; remedial action on the site would be completed by 2030. Metro’s estimated date of completion for Willamette Cove Nature Park is December 31, 2032.

The full Master Plan can be found here.

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