Step Up Your Stewardship: Adopt a Stretch of the Slough!

On a brisk, sunny morning in April, volunteers of all ages gathered at a little-known boat launch on the upper Slough. They climbed into canoes, kayaks and paddle boards, and pulled trash of all shapes and sizes out of the Slough. Most of these volunteers joined the event as part of 55th Cascadia Scouts, a gender-inclusive scouting group based in North and Northeast Portland. Despite the small size of most of the day’s volunteers, the group hauled out 1,360 lbs of garbage! 55th Cascadia Scouts never cease to amaze!

Members of 55th Cascadia Scouts pull objects large and small out of the Slough…including a full-size truck canopy!

A smaller contingent of the day’s volunteers included four new members of SOLVE’s Adopt-a-River Program. All four had adopted sections of the Slough from Kelley Point Park up to about a mile east of Whitaker Ponds. These four volunteers have taken it upon themselves to clean up sections of the Slough on their own, in their own watercraft and on foot. The Slough adopters have been tracking their efforts, and have collected hundreds of bags of trash on their own since late last year.

Paul, who has adopted a two-mile section near Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, says, “When I paddle along the stretch of the Slough that I've adopted, it fills me with joy to see how clean it is and how much progress that has been made. This motivates me to keep doing it. I'm hopeful that we can build up a community of adopters that will keep the entire Slough trash free and I'd like to play a part in that.”

However, there are still many sections of the Slough that are not adopted, and all of them are polluted with various types of garbage. Some items are small, some are large, and many are toxic to the environment such as household cleaners, paint cans, used oil and propane tanks. A great deal of the garbage is plastic, which can take hundreds of years to break down and contributes to giant patches of garbage in the Pacific Ocean.

Members of SOLVE’s Adopt-a-River program clean up the Slough not only at Council events, but on their own throughout the year

With all the garbage that enters the Slough from around our urban watershed, it’s impossible to keep up with for only four Slough adopters and the Council’s various cleanup events, even with the scouts on our side. We need people like you who want to do more!

Are you interested in having an even bigger impact on watershed health by adopting your own section of the Slough? Is there a section where you like to kayak or watch birds, or nearby your home that you’re willing to care for? Even if it’s not a section that has particular meaning for you, it all flows downstream, ultimately ending up in the Willamette, the Columbia, and the Pacific Ocean. Any part you can do to get waste out of water bodies is a big help!

Zora, who has adopted a two-mile stretch east of Kelley Point Park, says, “This watershed is a gem and provides a home for so many species of wildlife, trees, and plants. Cleaning up makes a difference and you can see it by the return of wildlife. I am happy if I can help just a little to conserve and provide a cleaner habitat for wildlife to thrive.”

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can adopt your own section of the Slough, visit our Adopt the Slough page for more information.

The scouts can’t do it all! Step up your stewardship by adopting a stretch of the Slough!