Balch Creek runs through much of Forest Park. Fed by springs at the summit of the Tualatin Mountains, the creek provides habitat for native cutthroat trout. It is one of the few creeks in close-in Portland that still flows primarily above ground. Most of Portland's creeks were culverted under the streets of the westside downtown and eastside residential and industrial areas nearly a century ago, but Balch Creek is free-flowing until it reaches the northern edge of Forest Park, where it disappears into a large culvert that carries it to the Willamette River, less than a half-mile away.

Producer Barbara Bernstein, enjoying a quiet moment along Balch Creek.

OAKS BOTTOM

Oaks Bottom in Southeast Portland, is the last remnant wetland along the Willamette River within the city of Portland. 170 acres of swamp, upland forest land and open water became Portland's first wildlife refuge in the 1980s. Over 200 species of birds can be seen throughout the year, including nesting pairs of Bald Eagles and Osprey, over fifty nesting pairs of Great Blue Herron, as well as hawks, kingfishers and countless ducks.

Oaks Bottom in the winter, on one of those rare occasions when snow falls in Portland, and the Bottom's open water freezes.