Preserving history at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Bonneville and its many partners spent years and millions of dollars reconnecting and restoring historic wetlands for fish and wildlife at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. When the project was completed and the refuge, which is located near Washougal, Washington, reopened in the spring of 2022, the land was much improved for fish and wildlife. 

While Bonneville and its partners worked hard to repair the negative environmental impacts of past land uses at Steigerwald, BPA historians worked to ensure they protected that history for future generations. Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, BPA is required to mitigate for adverse effects to significant historic properties.

“One way we do that is by creating signage that can speak to the various uses of the land,” says Tama Tochihara, historian in BPA Cultural Resources. “Whether it’s preserving the history of levees and flood control at Steigerwald, or railroad grades or mine tailings at other BPA environmental restoration sites, it’s important that people remember our history, be mindful of the heritage and perhaps even learn from it.” 

Newly installed historical signage at Steigerwald was designed by BPA and describes how indigenous people used the wetland to harvest Wapato and fish for salmon and lamprey, long before Europeans arrived in the West. In 1914, the Steigerwald family bought 800 acres to farm where the refuge stands today. The Steigerwalds ran a dairy farm on the property until about 1925 when they sold the land, most likely because of constant flooding. The Steigerwald Dairy Company continued to grow, however. Just a year later in 1926, the Dairy dedicated a new bottling plant topped by a huge milk bottle at 37th and Sandy in N.E. Portland.  

Another historical impact to the Steigerwald land was the construction of a large dike, or levee. In the 1960s, an industrial park was sited near the property, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed a 5.5-mile long levee system to protect the area from flooding.

Bonneville’s recent restoration effort reconfigured the old levee, allowing 965 acres of land to flood, similar to how it flooded before Europeans arrived in the west. The changes reactivated the historic wetlands with a goal of providing young salmon and steelhead a place to rest, eat and grow as they migrate to the sea. A list of the many improvements during the Steigerwald Restoration Project include:

• Building 1.6 miles of new setback levee.
• Removing 2.2 miles of levee, connecting the river to its historic floodplain for the first time in more than 50 years.
• Expanding the refuge by 160 acres.
• Restoring salmon-bearing Gibbons Creek to its natural channel and removing the fish ladder at the confluence of the creek and the Columbia River, providing unobstructed access for salmon and lamprey.
• Creating more than 100 acres of wetland and reforesting 250 acres of riparian habitat.
• Adding just over a mile to the existing trail that meanders through the refuge.

The Steigerwald Project, including the historical signage, is the result of BPA partnerships with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Washougal, the Port of Camas-Washougal and many other groups and organizations invested in the region's environmental health.