Fanno Creek

Fanno Creek is a 15-mile (24 km) tributary of the Tualatin River in the U.S. state of Oregon.^[3] Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its watershed covers about 32 square miles (83 km²) in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, including about 7 square miles (18 km²) within the Portland city limits.
From its headwaters in the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills) in southwest Portland, the creek flows generally west and south through the cities of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard and Durham, and unincorporated areas of Washington County. It enters the Tualatin River about 9 miles (14 km) above the Tualatin's confluence with the Willamette River at West Linn.

For thousands of years, the Atfalati (Tualatin) tribe of the Kalapuya inhabited the watershed. The first settler of European descent, Augustus Fanno, for whom the creek is named, arrived in the mid-19th century. He established an onion farm in what became Beaverton. Fanno Farmhouse, the restored family home, is a Century Farm on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of 14 urban parks in a narrow corridor along the creek.
Although heavily polluted, the creek supports aquatic life, including cutthroat trout in its upper reaches. Watershed councils such as the Friends of Fanno Creek and government agencies have worked to limit pollution and to restore native vegetation in riparian zones.
Fanno Creek arises at an elevation of 478 feet (146 m) above sea level and falls 370 feet (110 m) between source and mouth to an elevation of 108 feet (33 m).^[1][2] The main stem begins at about river mile (RM) 15 or river kilometer (RK) 24 in the Hillsdale neighborhood of southwest Portland, in Multnomah County. The creek flows west along the north side of Oregon Route 10 (the Beaverton–Hillsdale Highway), passing Albert Kelly Park and receiving Ivey Creek and Bridlemile Creek on the right before reaching the United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge at Southwest 56th Avenue 11.9 miles (19.2 km) from the mouth. Shortly thereafter and in quick succession, it enters Washington County and the unincorporated community of Raleigh Hills, crosses under Route 10, and receives Sylvan Creek on the right. Here the stream turns south, passing through Bauman Park, where Vermont Creek enters on the left about 10 miles (16 km) from the mouth, and then southwest to flow through the Portland Golf Club and Vista Brook Park, where Woods Creek enters on the left. From here it flows west again for about 1 mile (1.6 km), passing through Fanno Creek Trail Park and entering Beaverton about 8 miles (13 km) from the mouth before turning sharply south and flowing under Oregon Route 217 (Beaverton–Tigard Highway).^[5][6][7][8]
Fanno Creek then flows roughly parallel to Route 217 for about 2 miles (3 km) through Fanno Creek Park and Greenway Park. Near the southern end of Greenway Park, the creek passes under Oregon Route 210 (Scholls Ferry Road), and enters Tigard about 5 miles (8 km) from the mouth. In quick succession, Hiteon Creek enters on the right, Ash Creek on the left, and Summer Creek on the right before the creek reaches Woodard Park, goes under Oregon Route 99W (Southwest Pacific Highway), and flows through Fanno Park and Bonita Park as well as residential neighborhoods. Between the two parks, Red Rock Creek enters on the left about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the mouth. Slightly downstream of Bonita Park, Ball Creek enters on the left. Fanno Creek then enters Durham, passes a USGS gauging station 1.13 miles (1.82 km) from the mouth, flows through Durham City Park, and empties into the Tualatin River 9.3 miles (15.0 km) from its confluence with the Willamette River.^[5][6][7][9The first people of the Fanno Creek watershed were the Atfalati or Tualaty tribe of the Kalapuya, or "long grass" people, who inhabited large parts of the Willamette Valley for up to 10,000 years before the arrival of non-indigenous people. The valleys of the Willamette River and its major tributaries such as the Tualatin River consisted of open grassland maintained by annual burning, with scattered groves of trees along the rivers and creeks. The Kalapuya moved from place to place in good weather to fish, to hunt small animals, birds, waterfowl, deer, and elk, and to gather nuts, seeds, roots, and berries. Important foods included camas and wapato. In addition to fishing for eels, suckers, and trout, the Atfalati traded for salmon from Chinookan tribes near Willamette Falls. During the winter, the Kalapuya lived in longhouses in settled villages. Their population was greatly reduced after contact in the late 18th century with Europeans, who carried smallpox, syphilis, and malaria. Added pressure came from white settlers who seized and fenced native land, regarded it as private property, and sometimes punished natives for trespassing. Of the original population of 1,000 to 2,000 Atfalati reported in 1780, only 65 remained in 1851. In 1855, the U.S. government sent the survivors to the Grande Ronde reservation further west.^[17]
Fanno Creek is named after Augustus Fanno, the first European American settler along the creek. In 1847, he started an onion farm on a 640-acre (260 ha) donation land claim in what later became part of Beaverton.^[11] Other 19th century newcomers along the creek engaged mainly in logging, farming, and dairy farming until the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Electric Railway lines made the watershed more accessible for urban development around the turn of the 20th century. The Oregon Electric, a 49-mile (79 km) system built between 1903 and 1915, ran between downtown Portland and Garden Home in the Fanno Creek watershed, where it split into branches leading to Salem and Forest Grove.^[11] The Southern Pacific began running electric passenger trains, known as the Red Electric, in the watershed in 1914.^[18] The company that eventually became Portland General Electric installed electric service in the area, and by 1915 the population of the upper Fanno Creek neighborhoods of Multnomah, Maplewood, Hillsdale, and West Portland Park had grown to 2,000.^[11]

WES trains use the former Oregon Electric line along lower Fanno Creek between Durham and Beaverton.

Passenger service on the Red Electric line ended in 1929,^[11] and the Oregon Electric Railway ceased passenger operations in 1933.^[19] Private autos largely replaced interurban rail service. Oregon Highway 217 between Durham and Beaverton, and Oregon Highway 10 between Beaverton and Portland, follow the creek. Although passenger rail ceased for nearly 80 years, freight trains continued to use the tracks. In 2009, a new rail passenger service began along a former Oregon Electric line owned by Portland and Western Railroad in Washington County.^[19] The Westside Express Service (WES) runs 14.7 miles (23.7 km) between Beaverton on the north and Wilsonville on the south.^[19] The middle stretch of this run lies close to the lower 8 miles (13 km) of Fanno Creek between Beaverton and Durham.^[15] WES is the first modern commuter rail in Oregon and one of the few suburb-to-suburb commuter rail lines in the United States.^[19] At the northern end of the line, WES connects to the MAX Blue Line, an east-west light rail line linking Hillsboro and Gresham via Portland and the MAX Red Line, with connections to Portland International Airport.
The highways and railroads serve a population that increased most dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. When Beaverton became a city in 1893, it had a population of 400.^[20] By 2010, the number had soared to 87,000, although not all of them lived in the watershed.^[21] Tigard, which did not exist as a city until 1961,^[22] grew to 41,000 by the year 2000,^[23] all in the watershed.^[24] The estimated population of the entire watershed reached 123,000 just before the 2000 census.^[25] Fanno Creek, which had few people living near it until 1850, "is surrounded by the most populous region in Oregon".^[24]

Pollution

Although the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rated the average water quality of Fanno Creek as "very poor"^[26] between 1986 and 1995, it also noted steady improvement over that span. Historically, Fanno Creek has been polluted by urban and industrial sources, small sewage treatment plants, ineffective septic systems, farming and grazing operations, and illegal dumping. Health and environmental concerns led to the closing of substandard wastewater treatment plants in the 1970s, and urban development reduced the number of farms and farm animals along the creek. A ban in 1991 on phosphate detergents, increased connection to municipal sewers, stormwater management, and greater public awareness helped to reduce urban pollution not coming from point sources, and water quality improved.^[26]
DEQ monitors Fanno Creek at Bonita Road in Tigard, at about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the mouth. On the Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) used by DEQ, water quality scores can vary from 10 (worst) to 100 (ideal). The average for Fanno Creek between 1986 and 1995 was 55 but steadily improved to 65, or "poor",^[26] by the end of the period. By comparison, the average in the nearby Willamette River at the Hawthorne Bridge in downtown Portland was 74 during the same years.^[26] Measurements of water quality at the Tigard site during the years covered by the DEQ report showed high concentrations of phosphates, fecal coliform bacteria, and suspended solids, and a high biochemical oxygen demand. Moderately high concentrations of ammonia and nitrate nitrogen occurred during high flows during fall, winter, and spring. High temperatures and low dissolved oxygen concentration in the summer were evidence of eutrophication.^[26]
The high fraction of impervious surfaces in the watershed makes it difficult to improve water quality in the creek. The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services estimates that one-third of the surface area of the watershed that lies within its jurisdiction is impervious.^[27] All of the roughly 12 square miles (31 km²) of the surface of Tigard, much of it impervious, drains into Fanno Creek.^[24] The watershed watch coordinator for Tualatin Riverkeepers, a volunteer group, was quoted in a July 2008 newspaper article saying that "the biggest impact to Fanno Creek is the impervious area".^[24] To slow run-off, reduce erosion, and keep pollutants out of streams, watershed councils, neighborhood groups, and government agencies have been planting native species of vegetation at selected sites throughout the watershed.^[24]

Biology

Fish and wildlife

About 100 bird species, several kinds of mammals, and a few fish species live in the watershed. Mammals commonly seen include beaver, raccoon, opossum, spotted skunk, Douglas squirrel, and Townsend's chipmunk; black-tail deer and coyotes are more rare. Fanno Creek supports non-migrating cutthroat trout that spawn in the fast-flowing, gravel-bottomed headwaters and grow to a maximum length of about 7 inches (18 cm). Other fish species found in the creek include sculpins and mosquitofish.^[11]

Vegetation

Purple loosestrife is an invasive plant deemed harmful to the watershed.

The creek begins in the Coast Range ecoregion designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and flows thereafter through the Willamette Valley ecoregion.^[28] The narrow riparian corridors along streams in the watershed commonly include native species such as western redcedar, Douglas fir, vine maple, and sword fern as well as invasive species like English ivy.^[3] Many red alder and big leaf maple grow in the watershed, and shrubs include red huckleberry, Oregon-grape, elderberry, wood rose, and salmonberry.^[11] A restoration project in Tigard along the main stem has removed invasive plants such as reed canary grass and Himalayan blackberry and replaced them with native species.^[29] A project in Beaverton is replacing turf and degraded habitat along the creek with native shrubs and trees such as Oregon white oak.^[30]
The Tualatin Riverkeepers, a nonprofit watershed council based in Tigard; Clean Water Services, a public utility that protects water resources in the Tualatin River watershed, and the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) have formed the Tualatin Basin Invasive Species Working Group to identify and eradicate invasive plants that displace native plants, cause erosion, and diminish water quality. The five plants considered most threatening are Japanese knotweed, meadow knapweed, giant hogweed, garlic mustard and purple loosestrife. The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the city of Tigard are working to eradicate giant hogweed from lower Fanno Creek.^[31]