Imagine kayaking with friends on the Willamette River between Wilsonville and Portland. Right now, you can only daydream about the adventure because it has not actually been possible since the Willamette Falls Locks closed in 2011. But the Willamette Falls Locks Authority hopes this type of activity could soon be a reality once again.
Since it was formed by the Oregon Legislature in 2021, the authority has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the longtime owner and operator of the locks, to repair and reopen the passageway that allows boats to traverse the falls.
For more than a century, the locks — which work thanks to a series of gates that open and close to raise and lower water levels, creating a hydraulic staircase of sorts — ferried passenger and cargo vessels between the upper and lower portions of the Willamette. Seismic issues and corrosion of the gates led the Corps to close the locks in 2011.
But the Corps recently completed repairs and is working with the authority, which aims to take over ownership of the locks in the next few years.