The Death & Life of Kulla Kulla Creek

From the crest of the Tualatin Mountains, Balch Creek flows down a canyon through Forest Park. The stream runs wild and free until a mile from its confluence with the Willamette River, where it is imprisoned in a sewer pipe. Balch Creek once flowed into Guild's Lake, a wetland lake that merged with the Willamette. What was once a lake was filled and now is an industrial sacrifice zone.

 

On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Portland historian Tanya March about the transformation of this once vibrant creek and wetland into a highly contaminated hardscape of concrete and industrial infrastructure. And we visualize how to someday return this ravaged landscape back to its natural state.

 

Another aspect of reclaiming Balch Creek is renaming it. Northwest Poretland resident Nancy Helmsworth proposed renaming Balch Creek to Kulla Kulla Creek—the Chinook word for bird—to honor local indigenous tribes and remove association with Danford Balch due to the fact that he was a convicted criminal. We'll talk about that history as well.