Killin Wetlands Loop Hike

Overview

Metro’s Killin Wetlands Nature Park was officially opened to the public in September 2018. Short loop trails lead down a slope above the expansive wetlands, formerly known as Moore’s Lake. Willamette Valley depressions that held such wetlands were scooped out by the Missoula Floods 15,000-13,000 years ago. In the case of the Killin Wetlands, which drain into the West Fork Dairy Creek, generations of beaver dams created peat soils to depths of 40 feet. When early Euro-American settlers arrived, they looked upon the landscape and saw rich farmland in the organic soils – known to them as “beaverdam” soils - that were periodically flooded. Such shallow depressions became the most valuable tracts for commercial produce, including small grains, hay, and a variety of vegetables, especially onions. In the 1890s, a central east-west ditch was dug across the wetland to drain the lowlands, and dikes were built to contain the swamp. As a result, while productive farmland was created, the ground level subsided due to oxidation and decomposition. Maintenance of the dike and canal systems was neglected from the 1940s, and a gradual reversion to a natural wetland ensued. A willow/ash/alder swamp augmented by the local population of beavers began to reestablish itself. Beaver dams have resulted in the occasional flooding of Highway 6 and a kill off of the bottomland trees. The Hon. Benton Killin (1842-1905) travelled the Oregon Trail from Iowa as an infant. He was a well-known Portland judge and, at the end of the 19th century, owned most of the land now inundated by the Killin Wetlands. The prime time to visit the wetlands is in the spring, when American bitterns and sora and Virginia rails are announcing their presence. Hooded mergansers, cinnamon teals, and greater yellowlegs are among the birds that frequent the area. There’s a barn owl in the big white barn at the trailhead, several species of swallows present in the summer, and a bald eagle may flap overhead at any time of the year. From the parking area, shaded by a

Trail Stats

Photos

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400px-KillinWetlandsMap

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250px-Washington_County_farmlands_from_Killin_Wetlands

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400px-The_peat_swamp_from_Waterfowl_Way%2C_Killin_Wetlands

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TKO put tools to trail here.png

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