Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge

Oaks Bottom is a floodplain wetland located along the east bank of the Willamette River. Part of the park is built on a sanitation landfill consisting of 400,000 cubic feet of construction waste material layered with soil. The City of Portland acquired the original 115 acres in 1959. Parks acquired the landfill property from the Donald M. Drake Company at the beginning of 1969 to block its development as an industrial park. The area was believed, at the time, to be one of the few remaining marshland areas in Portland, and local residents were strongly opposed to its development as industrial property.

Portland Parks & Recreation's Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a 163-acre complex of meadows, woodlands and wetlands in Portland on the east bank of the Willamette River, just north of the Sellwood Bridge. The refuge is the largest remaining natural area within the lower Willamette River floodplain and provides important habitat for fish and wildlife, including threatened salmon and more than 175 bird species.

Oaks Bottom supports many wildlife species that are considered “special status” - in decline on a regional or statewide scale. These include 44 bird species, three bat species, and one type of amphibian.