Environmental advocates gathered at Willamette Falls on Feb. 8 to recognize the "huge contributions" of business, industry and government that resulted in the restoration of the Willamette River.
Advocates hope that the story of environmental restoration is included in historical exhibits being planned for the falls site. Ongoing planning efforts at the falls intend to redevelop the historic mill with mixed-use buildings, while providing public access and closer views of the river.
During the recent gathering of environmental advocates, the Clackamas County Historical Society accepted into its collection an award for environmental excellence that was originally presented by then-Congresswoman Darlene Hooley.
Environmental changes during the 20th century led to improvements in both the air and water quality around the falls.
Jerry Herrmann, president of environmentally oriented nonprofit Rivers of Life Center, organized the Feb. 8 event. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
"I remember waking up at night choking whenever the south winds blew, bringing choking sulfur to our neighborhood in West Linn," said Herrmann, who went on to lead the development of Clackamas Community College's Environmental Learning Center.
Native peoples referred to Oregon's great waterway as a "River of Life," and the name "Willamette" is Native in origin. For thousands of years, the river sustained thousands of Native people with salmon and lamprey over its 300-mile journey. But decades of largely untreated pollution discharges to the Willamette River by industry, municipalities and agriculture created a "River of Death," its new nickname through the 1960s.
Much of the industrial pollution came from nine pulp and papermills in the Willamette Valley, including those at Willamette Falls, as recalled by longtime resident and State Sen. Bill Kennemer (R-Oregon City/Canby).
"The river often ran carrot-red in some areas and brown with sewage in others, and in general, it was full of fiber from industrial processes such as papermaking and the contributions of many food processors as they turned Willamette Valley fruits and vegetables into products," Kennemer said.
Since the early 1800s, American industries used the Willamette River and its falls, which had been a sacred site to Native Americans since time immemorial. Between 1850-1950, the Willamette River's water quality was severely degraded, and its restoration was one of the most significant environmental accomplishments in Oregon's history.
Herrmann organized the gathering of dignitaries this month to recognize an "enlightened state government" and the private-sector funding of pulp and paper mills that led to changes and pollution-control systems at the mills adjacent to the falls, significantly improving river and air quality. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
Publishers Paper Company, the predecessor of subsequent owners Smurfit Newsprint and Blue Heron Paper Company, occupied the Oregon City side of the falls until Blue Heron's bankruptcy in 2011. A Crown Zellerbach mill (now Willamette Falls Paper Company) occupies the other side. Industry and commerce on both sides provided thousands of jobs in the early "settlement" economy, and eventually Publishers Paper Company set a new industry standard in creating recycled products.
At one time Austrian-born Anthony Zellerbach's mill employed thousands, creating many grades of paper for fine printing. Across the river nearly a thousand people were once employed by the Publishers Paper Company mill making newsprint and other grades.
During the first half of the 1960s, under newly elected Gov. Tom McCall, Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality initiated regulations requiring substantial treatment of wastewater prior to discharge. Environmental efforts to clean up sources of pollution to the Willamette River were largely successful — but also very expensive — approximately $150 million (nearly $1 billion in today's dollars).
The state provided funding for much of the cost of municipal sewage treatment systems. Although partial tax credits were provided gradually subsequent to environmental expenditures, industry was faced with huge expenditures. Total industrial costs for river cleanup efforts amounted to $50 million (over $300 million in today's dollars), the majority of which was spent by pulp and paper companies.
Rod Schmall, former environmental and energy manager for Publishers, recalled how the Oregon City mill previously attempted to reduce impacts on fish by barging waste cooking liquids to the larger Columbia River.
"That practice — and others, including reduced production during low river flows… were hopelessly inadequate," Schmall said. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
To meet environmental goals, Publishers chose to explore the technical and financial feasibility of pulping wood chips with a different acidic chemical formula. Crown Zellerbach's mill, then on the other side of the falls, chose to discontinue chemical pulpmaking.
Publishers' new processes were far softer on the environment with most previously discharged waste materials now able to be burned for energy or otherwise recovered for reuse. This represented a "world-class change" in papermaking. Publishers also installed a primary clarifier to remove fibrous solids from papermaking wastewater prior to its being pumped across the river via a river-bottom pipeline towards final treatment. These actions by private industry — along with those by cities, food processors and agriculture — greatly helped the Willamette to become a restored "River of Life."
For its environmental improvements that reduced pollution in the Willamette River, Publishers received DEQ's first "Cleaning Up Pollution" award. It received the same CUP award in multiple subsequent years.
Zen Rozycki, Publishers technical director, later received a separate CUP award (as an individual) for developing the world's first chemical process for new technologies and methods that created a market for recycled newsprint. The successes made Publishers a significant regional consumer of wastepaper and reduced the number of trees cut for pulp.
"This mill's efforts made the first region's recycling efforts work predictably and reliably," said Pam Bloom, owner of Oregon City Garbage, Gladstone Disposal and Molalla Disposal. "Nonprofit organizations — including Lions, Kiwanis, Boy Scouts and scores of others — were finally able to collect and receive good payment to help their many community efforts through paper recycling."
In addition to Publishers Paper Company's CUP awards, the Oregon City mill (under Smurfit ownership) received a national award for energy conservation presented by the U.S. Department of Energy for a system installed to recover previously lost heat. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
"Even with all its energy conservation systems and practices, including the installation of a cogeneration system at its Newberg mill and a riverwater turbine at its Oregon City mill, which together generated approximately one-third of the company's two-mill electrical consumption, the company remained Portland General Electric Company's largest customer until closure," Schmall said.
Dan Fowler, founding member of the Oregon City Business Alliance, said that business owners in the area "could not be happier with the continued improvement" around the falls.
"It has been a source of life and commerce since time began. It's taken many forms and shapes over the years, and now under the stewardship of the Grand Ronde tribe, we feel it will be cared for into the future," Fowler said.
Kennemer believes that the former Blue Heron mill's corporate office building, located at Highway 99E and Main Street in Oregon City, reflects forward thinking by papermakers and should be retained as a welcome center for visitors to gain greater understanding of American firsts in industry.
"It would make a great orientation and technology center for the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, all these recognitions and awards need to be taken seriously and should be the subject of a beautiful exhibit and showcase area — as that corporate building is retained and reuse for public and school visitations," Kennemer said.
Pamplin Media Group would like to thank those quoted in this article for their historical research. Additional contributions were provided by Rivers of Life Office Administrator Craig Holfeld and John Borden, retired regional director for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
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