Smith & Bybee snapshots

Last weekend I made a long overdue visit to the Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area just off North Marine Drive near where the Willamette and Columbia Rivers meet. I'd been there a few years ago, but in the interim had forgotten what a lovely little swatch of nature exists there, all within a mile of the Expo Center and Interstate 5.

Here's some additional information I gleaned from the Portland Parks & Recreation website:

"This natural area is the largest protected wetland within an American city even though it is surrounded by port terminals, warehouses, and other commercial developments. In 1990, the Portland Planning Commission approved a management plan for the lakes. They determined that Smith Lake would be maintained at a fairly constant water level and developed for low-intensity water recreation, such as fishing and canoeing. Bybee Lake, on the other hand, would be allowed to rise and fall with the tides and seasons and would be kept as an environmental preserve."

"Most visitors to the lakes can find beaver, river otter, black-tailed deer, osprey, bald eagles, and one of the largest remaining populations of Western painted turtles in Oregon. Access to the wildlife area is either by the Interlakes Trail (paved and universally accessible) or by boat."

Indeed, I saw several trees that had been felled by beavers. The ducks, of course, were much more well behaved.