According to data from U.S. News and World Report, Oregon ranked – somewhat surprisingly – 44th out of 50 states in the Natural Environment category, based on pollution levels and air and water quality. But you certainly wouldn’t know it if you found yourself in the Molalla River Corridor, just under an hour’s drive south of Portland and nearly as close to the historic Columbia River Highway. The corridor is an area made up of scented rainforests, steep canyons, and tumbling waterfalls, all connected by 20 miles of scenic hiking trails.
Molalla, which is also the name of the small city in the heart of the region, takes its name from the Molalla people, a Native American tribe that once roamed Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Because of its lush scenery, the region still has that pre-colonial atmosphere and is largely untouched by modernity. The Molalla River, in fact, is one of the state’s last wild rivers — a river whose flow has not been meaningfully altered by modern development.
Though nonprofit organizations are working to conserve the river and surrounding wildlife habitats, conservation in this case doesn’t mean avoiding the river altogether. Quite the opposite — groups like the Molalla River Alliance actively encourage activities like fishing for salmon and steelhead, kayaking or rafting the river’s waters, hiking through the mossy forests clinging to its banks, or bird-watching for ospreys and golden eagles, all as ways to enhance our appreciation of this precious natural environment.
Fishing and other outdoor activities on the Molalla River
From its headwaters in the Cascades until it flows into the Willamette River, the Molalla River is almost 50 miles in length and has long facilitated trade and transport in the region. Today, though, much of its traffic comes in the form of kayaks and canoes or inflatable dinghies bouncing along the frothing rapids…