Vancouver Lake
Encyclopedia
Vancouver Lake is a large lake
just west of Vancouver, Washington
, United States
, north of the Columbia River
and Portland, Oregon
), south of Ridgefield, Washington
and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
.
The lake is very shallow, with a maximum depth of 12-15 ft and a mean depth of less than 3 ft. There is an island in the northern half of the lake. The island was formed from the tailings of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project, which dredged around the perimeter of the lake in the early 1980s. Lake River flows from the north shore to the Columbia River
near Ridgefield, Washington
. Due to seasonal variation in relative river and lake levels, Lake River experiences intermittent flow reversal and flows into Vancouver Lake for considerable periods of time.
The sources for Vancouver Lake's water include a flushing channel (equipped with tidal gates to control flows) from the Columbia River near the southwest shoreline and Burnt Bridge Creek on the eastern shoreline, which winds about ten miles through many of the city
's residential areas. Until the 1980s this creek was neglected and a major source of pollution
for the lake.
Lower River Road leads west out of Vancouver to a park on the shore of Vancouver Lake which includes a large swimming area. A trail leads to Frenchman's Bar Park on the nearby Columbia River.
. Descriptions from the late 19th century describe Vancouver Lake as clear, up to twenty feet deep and containing sturgeon
. Current turbidity, more shallow depths and a lack of aquatic plant structures have diminished the variety of species and more recent surveys showed the most abundant fish by mass were brown bullhead
, white crappie
, black crappie, and common carp
, with a few juvenile salmonid
s and a population of channel catfish
, largemouth bass
, bluegill
, pumpkinseed
, yellow perch
, naturalized goldfish
, northern pikeminnow, American shad
, mosquito fish, largescale sucker
, and freshwater sculpin
. Rich fringe environments provide habitat for amphibian
s such as tree frog
s, reptile
s such as garter snake
s and a wide variety of birds, including large species such as great blue heron
s, osprey
and bald eagle
s. It is within the Pacific Flyway
. Large mammal
s on its banks include raccoons, a few black-tailed deer
and an occasional coyote
.
Shortly after the lake was deeded to the Port of Vancouver, WA in 1919, agricultural interests proposed draining it, but by the end of the 1920s, recreational uses were also considered. Because of cold weather, the lake was frozen solid to "several inches" in depth on February 10, 1929, and was home to 500 ice skaters one weekend. The lake was briefly considered as a decommissioning harbor
in 1945, but after the Memorial Day flood of 1948
was also seen as a possible resource in flood control.
Suburbanization
of its watershed
area led to an increase in water pollution
. Surface runoff
brought increased sediment
while residential drain fields
and increased use of fertilizer
s rich in nitrogen
and phosphorus
contributed to eutrophication
. DDT
was also used for mosquito control
until its effects on fish and birds became apparent, and the county discontinued it.
Since then there have been various interests in the area as it relates to habitat preservation
, recreation and industry, culminating in the "Habitek" plan of the mid-1980s and the multi-agency Burnt Bridge Creek Watershed Plan of 1995. Algal bloom
has been an intermittent problem for recreational use of the lake (officially recognized by the county in 2003) since cyanobacteria such as Anabaena
, Microcystis aeruginosa and Cylindrospermopsin raciborskii may produce neurotoxin
s such as cylindrospermopsin
.
The Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership was formed in October 2004, bringing various public agencies with interest and jurisdiction together.
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
just west of Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, north of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
), south of Ridgefield, Washington
Ridgefield, Washington
Ridgefield is a city in the pastoral, rolling-hills countryside of northern Clark County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,763 at the 2010 census....
and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a wildlife preserve, one of the National Wildlife Refuges operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service...
.
The lake is very shallow, with a maximum depth of 12-15 ft and a mean depth of less than 3 ft. There is an island in the northern half of the lake. The island was formed from the tailings of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project, which dredged around the perimeter of the lake in the early 1980s. Lake River flows from the north shore to the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
near Ridgefield, Washington
Ridgefield, Washington
Ridgefield is a city in the pastoral, rolling-hills countryside of northern Clark County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,763 at the 2010 census....
. Due to seasonal variation in relative river and lake levels, Lake River experiences intermittent flow reversal and flows into Vancouver Lake for considerable periods of time.
The sources for Vancouver Lake's water include a flushing channel (equipped with tidal gates to control flows) from the Columbia River near the southwest shoreline and Burnt Bridge Creek on the eastern shoreline, which winds about ten miles through many of the city
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
's residential areas. Until the 1980s this creek was neglected and a major source of pollution
Water pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
for the lake.
Lower River Road leads west out of Vancouver to a park on the shore of Vancouver Lake which includes a large swimming area. A trail leads to Frenchman's Bar Park on the nearby Columbia River.
Natural history
Vancouver Lake is home to a variety of wildlife species, many of which it shares with the nearby Ridgefield National Wildlife RefugeRidgefield National Wildlife Refuge
The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a wildlife preserve, one of the National Wildlife Refuges operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service...
. Descriptions from the late 19th century describe Vancouver Lake as clear, up to twenty feet deep and containing sturgeon
White sturgeon
The white sturgeon , also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon, is a sturgeon which lives along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central...
. Current turbidity, more shallow depths and a lack of aquatic plant structures have diminished the variety of species and more recent surveys showed the most abundant fish by mass were brown bullhead
Brown bullhead
The brown bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus, is a fish of the Ictaluridae family that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead...
, white crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, black crappie, and common carp
Common carp
The Common carp is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia. The wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction, but the species has also been domesticated and introduced into environments worldwide, and is often considered an invasive...
, with a few juvenile salmonid
Salmonidae
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family currently placed in the order Salmoniformes. It includes salmon, trout, chars, freshwater whitefishes and graylings...
s and a population of channel catfish
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
, largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, bluegill
Bluegill
The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...
, pumpkinseed
Pumpkinseed
The pumpkinseed sunfish is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is also referred to as "pond perch", "common sunfish", "punkys", and "sunny".-Range and distribution:...
, yellow perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
, naturalized goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
, northern pikeminnow, American shad
American shad
-Introduction:The American shad or Atlantic shad, Alosa sapidissima, is a species of anadromous fish in family Clupeidae of order Clupeiformes. It is not closely related to the other North American shads...
, mosquito fish, largescale sucker
Largescale sucker
The Largescale sucker is a species of sucker found in western North America....
, and freshwater sculpin
Cottus (genus)
Cottus is a genus of the sculpin family Cottidae. It is often referred to as the "freshwater sculpins", as the principal genus of sculpins to be found in fresh water.They are mostly small fish, rarely reaching more than 15 cm in length.-Species:...
. Rich fringe environments provide habitat for amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s such as tree frog
Pacific Tree Frog
The Pacific Tree Frog has a range from the West Coast of the United States to British Columbia, in Canada. They live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings. They are the only frogs that go "ribbit"...
s, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s such as garter snake
Garter snake
The Garter snake is a Colubrid snake genus common across North America, ranging from Alaska and Canada to Central America. It is the single most widely distributed genus of reptile in North America. The garter snake is also the Massachusettsstate reptile.There is no real consensus on the...
s and a wide variety of birds, including large species such as great blue heron
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
s, osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
and bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
s. It is within the Pacific Flyway
Pacific Flyway
The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south route of travel for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to...
. Large mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s on its banks include raccoons, a few black-tailed deer
Black-tailed Deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer occupying coastal temperate rainforest on North America's Pacific coast are subspecies of the mule deer. They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies...
and an occasional coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
.
History
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
in 1945, but after the Memorial Day flood of 1948
Vanport, Oregon
Vanport City was a hastily constructed city of public housing located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States, between the contemporary Portland city boundary and the Columbia River. It is currently the site of Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway.It was constructed in 1943 to house...
was also seen as a possible resource in flood control.
Suburbanization
Suburbanization
Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...
of its watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
area led to an increase in water pollution
Water pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
. Surface runoff
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
brought increased sediment
Sediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
while residential drain fields
Septic drain field
Septic drain fields, also called leach fields or leach drains are used to remove contaminants and impurities from the liquid that emerges from the septic tank. A septic tank, the septic drain field, and the associated piping compose a complete septic system. The septic drain field is effective for...
and increased use of fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
s rich in nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
and phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
contributed to eutrophication
Eutrophication
Eutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the movement of a body of water′s trophic status in the direction of increasing plant biomass, by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system...
. DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
was also used for mosquito control
Mosquito control
Mosquito control manages the population of mosquitoes to reduce their damage to human health, economies, and enjoyment. Mosquito control is a vital public-health practice throughout the world and especially in the tropics because mosquitoes spread many diseases, such as malaria.Mosquito-control...
until its effects on fish and birds became apparent, and the county discontinued it.
Since then there have been various interests in the area as it relates to habitat preservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
, recreation and industry, culminating in the "Habitek" plan of the mid-1980s and the multi-agency Burnt Bridge Creek Watershed Plan of 1995. Algal bloom
Algal bloom
An algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. Typically, only one or a small number of phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be recognized by discoloration...
has been an intermittent problem for recreational use of the lake (officially recognized by the county in 2003) since cyanobacteria such as Anabaena
Anabaena
Anabaena is a genus of filamentous cyanobacteria that exists as plankton. It is known for its nitrogen fixing abilities, and they form symbiotic relationships with certain plants, such as the mosquito fern. They are one of four genera of cyanobacteria that produce neurotoxins, which are harmful to...
, Microcystis aeruginosa and Cylindrospermopsin raciborskii may produce neurotoxin
Neurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
s such as cylindrospermopsin
Cylindrospermopsin
Cylindrospermopsin is a cyanotoxin produced by a variety of freshwater cyanobacteria. CYN is a polycyclic uracil derivative containing guanidino and sulfate groups. It is also zwitterionic, making it highly water soluble. CYN is toxic to liver and kidney tissue and is thought to inhibit protein...
.
The Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership was formed in October 2004, bringing various public agencies with interest and jurisdiction together.