Balch Creek

General data

Name: Balch Creek
Water system: Columbia River
Water type: River
Progression: Willamette River -> Columbia River -> Columbia River Estuary -> Pacific Ocean -> Planet Earth
Climates: Subtropical
Continents: North America
Countries: United States of America

Balch Creek is a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the crest of the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills), the creek flows generally east down a canyon along Northwest Cornell Road in unincorporated Multnomah County and through the Macleay Park section of Forest Park, a large municipal park in Portland. At the lower end of the park, the stream enters a pipe and remains underground until reaching the river. Danford Balch, after whom the creek is named, settled a land claim along the creek in the mid-19th century. After murdering his son-in-law, he became the first person legally hanged in Oregon. The historic creek likely supported diverse fish species, including salmon. After people filled the wetlands and diverted the lower stretch of the creek into a pipe, fish could no longer migrate to and from the Willamette River.

The industrial parts of the watershed have no remaining aquatic habitat, but above the pipe the aquatic habitat remains relatively high, and Balch Creek and its tributaries support a resident population of coastal cutthroat trout of up to about 7 inches (18 cm).

Signal crayfish can also be found in the creek. In 2005, Balch Creek was the only major water body in Portland that met state water quality standards for bacteria, temperature and dissolved oxygen.

Balch Creek

General data

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