Pollution likely won't stop park DEQ analyst says contamination should not prevent recreation at Minto-Brown December 23, 2007 On a chilly morning at Riverfront Park, Jeremy Crofoot watched intently as dozens of geese nestled on the grass, then bolted skyward as children scurried toward them. Crofoot, 30, smiled and turned his gaze south to look at a lonely patch of land on nearby Minto-Brown Island. The Salem man, who lives downtown and plays the piano at local restaurants, said he's intrigued by prospects for a new state park at the 310-acre island expanse. "That would be a big draw for people," he said. "Personally, I'd love it. I'm an avid hiker. I'd probably be over there a lot." Here's promising news for hikers, bikers, birdwatchers and others hoping for a state park on Boise Cascade's mothballed island acreage: Lingering toxic contamination probably won't stand in the way. And possible creation of a state park at the island could jumpstart long-stalled city of Salem plans to build a footbridge over the Willamette Slough, linking Riverfront Park to the island's northern tip. In the past, Boise's island property was used to store and treat industrial waste. It has been gated and off-limits to the public for decades, even though it's barely a stone's throw from the south end of popular Riverfront Park. A narrow band of water called the Willamette Slough is the only thing separating the downtown park from the northern tip of the island. The Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation's prospective purchase of the firm's island acreage could receive a regulatory green light by next spring under a timeframe put forth by a state environmental analyst. Environmental testing at the site previously found small amounts of dioxin, dissolved hazardous metals and the banned pesticide DDT. However, the presence of "low-level contamination" shouldn't prevent potential park and recreation use, said Mary Camarata, the state Department of Environmental Quality analyst who's coordinating an ongoing site review. Camarata said she's optimistic that vestiges of pollution can be safely contained or removed. "I'm happy that we don't have a lot of nasty chemical soil contamination that we have to deal with," she said in a recent interview. "I really think that we can manage any exposure on the site and that this would work for passive recreational users." Key to firming up that preliminary assessment is a final round of environmental testing projected for early next year. "Once we go out and sample again, that should be the last information we need to make sure that we're being protective," Camarata said. "Overall, we just have to work through a few things, and this will be a good piece of property for recreational users." The regulatory agency could recommend some restrictions. For instance, heavy metals detected at the island site, including arsenic and lead, could preclude well-water drinking supplies. "We've told them, no wells," Camarata said, referring to parks officials, "it's got too much metal in it. You'd have to do something to take the metals out." Financial seeds for a potential park were sowed in September, when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission approved spending $825,375 in state lottery proceeds to buy the land. The panel made the purchase contingent on the property receiving clearance from state environmental regulators. If all goes smoothly, that could happen by spring, Camarata said. State parks officials said the island property -- bordering the Willamette River and close to Salem's downtown core -- is ideally situated for recreation. "The reason we're interested in this, of course, is as part of the Willamette River Greenway and also as part of the Willamette River Water Trail that goes from Eugene to the confluence with the Columbia," said Chris Havel, a spokesman for the state Parks and Recreation Department. Havel stressed that purchase of the property hinges on the outcome of the make-or-break environmental review. State parks recently hired an outside consulting firm to help assess the island's environmental conditions, along with liability issues. "DEQ cannot act as a consultant to state parks because it's a conflict," Camarata said. "So it's just better for them (to contract with an outside consultant)." Such consulting work is common when private developers or public agencies explore purchasing property known to have environmental issues, Camarata said. "Anybody who would be purchasing this property would hire their own consultant," she said. "They want to make sure that they understand their liability." So far, state parks officials haven't given the DEQ any specifics about potential park uses, Camarata said. That means she has to consider varied scenarios to craft protective measures. "They're vague," Camarata said, referring to parks officials. "It's like, 'Well, we might do unimproved camping. Or we could put in some trails. Or we might want to resculpt the pond.' There's just sort of this vagueness." "Parks is not in a hurry," she added. "They already got permission to buy it, so they can take their time and let the process unfold. We may finish our assessment before we know what the final picture is going to look like. That's OK. I just have to go through each of the different things that could happen."
Park concept embraced Interviews with Riverfront Park patrons and other local residents found most people strongly favoring the idea of transforming the defunct industrial site into a state park -- the first within city limits. "Right now, nobody's enjoying it. If it was a state park, it could be enjoyed by everybody," said Willamette University student Patti Dellaport, who was warming up to jog along a paved path at Riverfront Park. Dellaport, 21, said she would relish development of an expanded riverway trail system. "This is pretty limited," she said, referring to the existing park path. "Even changing the scenery would be cool." What kind of park would she like to see on the undeveloped island? "As natural as possible," she said. Echoing that sentiment was Crofoot, who grew up in Salem, fished along the riverfront as a boy and now makes frequent visits to Riverfront Park. "I'd hate to see them clear it off like this," he said, referring to the manicured park lawns. "Parks that are natural become an education for people." The 310-acre Boise property is located just north of the city of Salem's nearly 900-acre Minto-Brown Island Park, which features a sprawling network of trails, stretching along the Willamette River and meandering through wooded areas, agricultural fields and grasslands. West Salem resident Ron Schuchardt, 76, said he'd like to have quick access to the island by a footbridge, opening a gateway to the new state park and Minto-Brown Island Park. The retired SAIF Corp. employee walks almost every day at Riverfront Park. "This is really a beautiful park here. It's done a lot for the community," he said. "I think that a new park would make for a really nice addition. There's a lot of deer and wildlife to see at Minto-Brown." Potential birth of a park causes some people to worry about the island area being overrun by people. "I kind of like it the way it is," said Alexander Garibay, 18, a student at North Salem High School. "It's a nice environment, undisturbed." A steady stream of bicyclists, joggers and dog walkers could spoil the area's character and dislodge wildlife, Garibay said. Betsy Belshaw of Salem, a longtime local parks activist, has similar concerns about negative effects caused by an influx of humans. "Because Minto-Brown (park) is so heavily used, all the animals -- the deer, geese, raccoons and the rest of them -- have been pushed up in that (Boise) section because they can get away from people," she said. "You put a trail right down the middle of it, and they're going to be impacted. We've already moved them out of the rest of the park. I think they ought to have that area to themselves." Rather than blazing a trail through the heart of the Boise property, Belshaw said she favors creating a trail along the east side, leaving more space between people and wildlife. Going beyond trail connections, some people pitched park amenities aimed at complementing Minto-Brown Island's natural attributes, such as a nursery specializing in native Oregon plants and an enclosed showcase for birds. Salem social worker Barry-Lee Coyne said it's the ideal setting for a tourism-friendly aviary for bird watchers. "Portland has its famous zoo. Newport has a great aquarium. By contrast, Salem has zilch," Coyne wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper. His "Oregon Aviary" idea was inspired by fond childhood memories of "the wonderful one I witnessed at the site of the NY World's Fair in Flushing Meadows Park," Coyne wrote. "Yours truly grew up in Queens, N.Y. "An aviary is an educational tool for local students, a respite for senior citizens, and a source of amusement for those in between who are lifelong students. ... "We need a powerful vehicle to reclaim our individuality. With an aviary, using 52 weeks per year, each state can alphabetically have its bird and habitat featured in rotation. Plus possibly D.C. and Puerto Rico to round out 52. Thus, ornithology and geography can be blended, with a pavilion and auditorium to make presentations."
Pollution legacy retraced A review of environmental reports in DEQ files in Eugene shed light on past industrial practices that produced a legacy of pollution at the site now being eyed for a park. Small amounts of dioxin contamination stem from a chemical bleaching process used at a riverfront mill, closed by Boise Cascade in 1982, environmental reports show. No source of DDT pollution has been determined. Conceivably, the pesticide could have been sprayed long ago, prior to Boise's ownership of the island acreage. "We don't know where it came from," Camarata said. "There used to be a time, especially in the late '50s and '60s when people would spray it for insect control." Farmers dominated the northern section of the island until industry took over in the mid-20th century, reports show. Downtown mills began piping industrial waste to the island in the 1950s. In the early '50s, a state-approved "impoundment" pond was built to store pulp liquors pumped to the island from a riverfront sulfite mill. State regulators wouldn't let the waste storage happen under today's environmental standards, Camarata said. "This would never happen now," she said. "You wouldn't put a treatment pond in a floodplain. It's ridiculous. It would never be built today. We would never permit it. So we just have to deal with the legacy." Boise came to Salem's riverfront in 1962. In the 1970s, the firm expanded the island lagoon system by creating two additional ponds to supplement the one already in operation. After Boise closed its riverfront pulp mill in 1982, the three-lagoon system was "decommissioned" and "cleaned" under state supervision, reports show. Settled solid wastes were pulled out of one lagoon, called the emergency holding pond, and spread over adjacent fields. The defunct lagoon was topped with soil and planted with grass seed. Two other lagoons reportedly were flushed with fresh water for about a year. Today, the site has only one lagoon filled with water. The 50 million-gallon pond covers about 14 acres. Dioxin concerns focus on the remaining pond. Environmental testing performed early this year found dioxin in a sediment sample taken from the bottom of the pond. Testing indicates that the toxic chemical doesn't lurk in the pond water. "Typically, dioxin likes to be bound up in organics, so that's why it was found in the sediment," Camarata said. Potential steps to deal with dioxin could range from draining the pond and removing sediments to leaving the pond filled with water but declaring it off-limits to fishing. "Dioxin is a bioaccumulative chemical, so we want to make sure that we're not going to have a problem with it up the food chain," Camarata said.
2000 clearance reconsidered In 1999-2000, testing was done to fill "a number of environmental data gaps" regarding the island property, according to reports in DEQ files. Testing at the time found traces of dioxin in soil samples, but a report dated March 23, 2000, asserted that the "potential for exposure to this material is mitigated by the presence of an underlying soil cover, placed in accordance with the 1984 site closure plans." Groundwater testing in monitoring wells near the lagoons found small amounts of dissolved hazardous metals, including arsenic. However, the 2000 report concluded that "these results are not of concern due to the unlikelihood that groundwater in the area will be used as a drinking water source." DEQ halted environmental monitoring at the island site in March 2000, citing Boise's stated intention to "retain the property in its current condition for the foreseeable future." At the time, the agency issued a no-further-action-required decree for the site, seemingly closing the book on regulatory oversight. But the DEQ launched fresh environmental reviews after a panel of experts assembled by the Urban Land Institute released a June 2006 report suggesting ambitious redevelopment ideas for Boise Cascade's 13-acre industrial complex on Salem's downtown riverfront. The panel recommended creating a mixed use waterfront development, featuring condominiums, shops, restaurants and more. The DEQ subsequently gave the company's 13-acre site a clean bill of health, and Boise closed its riverfront paper-converting plant in September. (As it stands now, Boise still is seeking to sell the vacated property to a group of local investors). The Urban Land Institute panel also recommended that Boise Cascade donate its island acreage to the city of Salem. However, Boise nixed the idea of a land donation. State parks and recreation then stepped in and emerged as the prospective buyer of the 310 acres on the island. The $825,375 purchase price agreed to buy Boise and the state falls between two markedly different property-value appraisals. A firm hired by the city of Salem pegged the value at $660,000, much lower than the $934,000 set by a firm hired by Boise. Negotiations resulted in a compromise purchase price, officials said. Assuming the land sale is completed, future recreation use, along with maintenance responsibilities eventually could be spelled out in a management agreement between state parks and the city of Salem, officials said. "State parks has offered to buy the land, which is really great for us -- to preserve that land as open space along the Willamette River," said Thom Kaffun, parks planning and project manager for the city of Salem. "If everything works out and they acquire it, that's great. If they don't acquire it, we don't know what's going to go on there."
Final testing looms Earlier this year, CH2M- Hill, a consulting firm hired by Boise, conducted a new round of environmental tests at the island property. In February, the consulting firm collected 13 soil samples from "across the Minto Island site both within the former industrial areas of the site and the undisturbed, nonindustrial portions of the site," states a June report prepared by the firm. The CH2M-Hill report is replete with technical data and math calculations used to determine "risk estimates" for potential recreational users of the property. Amid such complexities, the report asserts this central safety conclusion: "site risks are within acceptable levels as defined by DEQ guidance." State regulators weren't fully satisfied, however. They called for additional testing. In September, Camarata sent a letter to Boise managers calling for the firm and its environmental consultant to expand on the reported findings by taking more samples for laboratory analyses. Representatives from the DEQ, state parks and Boise were expected to meet this month to discuss the final round of testing and prospective sale of the property. Prior to completing her review, Camarata gave this upbeat assessment about the projected outcome: "I think it's going to work out. I think it's going to be a good site for the city and connecting downtown with this piece of property. I think it's a win-win for everybody." agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709 |