Getting to know the watershed

Though we have changed cities and counties, we remain in the Tualatin River Basin, but now live in the Fanno Creek Watershed.


A few blocks from our house, several drainages converge in a forested section of a city park, forming Vermont Creek.


Water from this stream eventually enters Fanno Creek, which flows southwest out of Multnomah County into Washington County, where it enters the Tualatin River. Eventually, the Tualatin flows into the Willamette River in Clackamas County near Oregon City.


The water from our neighborhood re-enters enters Multnomah County as the Willamette flows north and joins the Columbia River at Kelly Point Park, pictured above. From there, of course, our water travels to the Pacific Ocean, providing a medium for passage of anadromous fish and huge shipping containers along the way.