A new storymap created by NOAA and the Portland Harbor Natural Resource Trustee Council depicts a visual journey of restoration efforts in Portland Harbor in Oregon. Since the 1900s, numerous facilities have released oil, PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, and other hazardous substances into Portland Harbor. Salmon and lamprey, as well as birds and mammals, have been exposed to these contaminants and may have been injured. Additionally, the Willamette River is culturally and spiritually consequential to the local Tribes, providing food and transportation, and serving as an economic center for the people of this area for thousands of years.
The storymap highlights four restoration projects that provide broad, long-term ecosystem benefits concentrated within and around the area where the injuries to natural resources have taken place.