State officials took the first step Tuesday to sell 65 acres of shoreline on the southwestern side of Hayden Island to the Oregon Department of Transportation. If ultimately approved, it would create a conservation area while satisfying the mitigation requirements of a new Interstate Bridge across the Columbia River.
Hayden Island sits on the boundary of Oregon and Washington. While the island’s eastern side is within the City of Portland and contains a mix of commercial, residential and marina developments, the west side is largely forested and undeveloped. It’s part of Multnomah County and is in Portland’s urban growth boundary.
Public access to West Hayden Island is restricted by a chain link fence. Beyond that is a mix of property owned by BNSF Railway, the Port of Portland and Bonneville Power Administration. Visitors can only access the shoreline by water.
If the land sale is approved, ODOT would remove dredged soils that have filled Hayden Island’s shoreline to offset potential flooding impacts when massive seismic foundations are built in the Columbia River to support the new bridge. Removing soil will also improve habitat for aquatic species in the North Portland Harbor, according to Bill Warncke, the deputy environmental manager for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program and ODOT.
“The removal will provide salmon habitat, offset our fill in the floodplain, [and] help satisfy our natural resource mitigation needs for the City of Portland,” Warncke said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The 65-acre area would be preserved in perpetuity under a conservation easement.
Preserving West Hayden Island has long been a goal for conservation groups in the Portland area. Writing in a 2022 blog post for the Bird Alliance of Oregon, then-Conservation Director Bob Sallinger wrote that West Hayden Island contains shoreline habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead, large stands of cottonwood and ash trees, and habitat for more than 120 species of birds.
“When fully protected, West Hayden Island will be one of the largest additions to the regional system of natural areas in decades and will be the third largest natural area in the City of Portland, behind only Forest Park and Smith and Bybee Lakes in size,” Sallinger wrote.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Warncke said ODOT is not planning to address barriers to public access for the shoreline.
The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program plans to begin in-water construction on a new I-5 bridge in 2027. Mitigation work involving the West Hayden Island natural area would likely occur at the same time, Warncke said.
“There is a lot of conversation finally with a future goal of making all of West Hayden Island a natural resource habitat/public access/transformation,” said Gov. Tina Kotek, the chair of the State Land Board during Tuesday’s meeting.
The board’s approval makes way for a 45-day public comment period on a potential sale to ODOT. It’s expected to open in the coming weeks. Members of the public and stakeholders will be able to comment on the Oregon Department of State Lands website.
