TWC Wetlands

Through wetland conservation in the urban Portland metro area, Central Coast, and lower Willamette Valley, TWC has been able to preserve green space for communities, restore waterways and wetlands for fish, return agricultural land to wetland habitat and preserve old growth forest. 

Wetlands are vital to urban areas, like kidneys absorbing, filtering and recirculating our water and providing places for birds and wildlife to eat, rest and nest. Yet historically, people did not recognize the value of wetlands, regarding them as “wastelands,” and barriers to development. Consequently, many wetlands, especially those in urban areas have been drained, filled, and paved over for other uses. The greater Portland region has retained a variety of different types of wetlands, from freshwater marshes to wet prairies. TWC’s involvement in protection of urban wetlands began in 1981 when a group of community members conserved the 56 acre Hedges Creek Marsh in Tualatin, Oregon. Now, several preserves and acres later, our urban preserves are cleaning the stormwater run-off from surrounding buildings and parking lots, filtering the water before it enters our rivers and streams, acting as sponges during large rain events and providing safe haven for birds and amphibians. As our cities expand, the work and importance of wetlands grows exponentially.

Over the past ten years, The Wetlands Conservancy has been building partnerships and enhancing lands across the lower Yaquina, Beaver Creek and Alsea watersheds and estuaries of the Central Coast. The Central Coast has lost approximately 70% of its historic estuarine marshes. The remaining tidal marshes provide habitat critical for species considered or listed in the Endangered Species Act including coho salmon, brown pelicans, marbled murrelets, as well as sea-run cutthroat and steelhead trout.