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Swan Island…Jobs AND Wildlife!
Twenty two years ago I went to work for Boise Cascade Research and Development located along the Greenway Trail on Swan Island. I have had the good fortune of walking that path almost every day since. Canada geese, killdeer, white-crowned sparrows, juncos…not to mention good old “Joe Crow”... are among the other regulars along the Willamette.
Summer brings ospreys. I saw the first one this year in March at the Lagoon boat launch. On rare occasions, I’ve seen bald eagles up close, beaver, and even a family of river otters. Oh, and once I saw, above Going Street in the middle of a work day, a red-tailed hawk with a fox squirrel in its talons!
But Swan Island you say is an industrial area! What’s with all the wildlife? Well, the truth is that it’s home to both. Swan Island has more than 200 businesses where more than 10,000 people come to work every day…many of them from nearby North and Northeast Portland. Daimler Trucks North America (formerly Freightliner LLC) is the granddaddy of them all with over 3,000 employees at their North American headquarters and the Western Star Truck Plant (set to close in June 2010 with production relocating to Mexico). So far corporate headquarters, engineering, and R & D are staying put.
But that is not the whole story. UPS is doubling the capacity of their primary Portland regional hub, Vigor Industrial (formerly Cascade General) is building barges in a joint venture with Oregon Iron Works, and the Kroger Swan Island Dairy is producing milk products for all Kroger/Fred Meyer stores in the Northwest. And so on...
Now back to nature. Today Swan Island has a mile of North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail from the Ash Grove Cement Company’s dock to the far northwest end of Daimler’s parking lot.
And better access is on the way. This year Portland’s Bureau of Transportation will construct a multi-million dollar seismic upgrade to the Going Street railroad viaduct that will widen the sidewalk and add a crash barrier between it and the traffic lanes. Also coming this year are some additions to the Greenway Trail between its current terminus at the small public parking lot on Channel Avenue and the boat launch at the Lagoon. Last of all, it looks like work (design, permits, etc.) is underway on the Waud Bluff Trail to connect the north end of Swan Island with the University Park and Arbor Lodge neighborhoods.
Learn more about the North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail and the vision shared by North Portland residents for a Trail “from the Esplanade to the Columbia River” at www.npGreenway.org. Sign up to help make it happen.
by Lenny Anderson
Project Director, Swan Island TMA
Overlook Views, Vol. 6, No. 1, May/June 2009
Vigor Industrial’s Portland Shipyard
Swan Island dry dock circa WWII courtesy Vigor Industrial As I wait to pass through the security gate at Vigor Industrial’s Portland Shipyard on Swan Island, the massive sheds of the Kaiser shipbuilding days of WWII loom up on the right. Sea going vessels are still fabricated there. On the left behind some trees sits the latest military type vessel...“lFSF or Fast Sea Fighter”, a block long jet powered catamaran, that, visible as it is to all, is not a subject for discussion on the record.
Once inside the gate...I proceed at the 10 mph posted speed watching for forklifts coming and going and for other bicyclists...burly welders, pipe fitters and boiler makers going from one end of the 57 acre to the other. It is a busy place with no visible evidence of the recession outside; on a busy day almost a thousand skilled workers are employed by Vigor Industrial, its partners and tenants.
Amy Hill, Vigor Industrial’s communication manager, meets me at the admin building for a tour starting with the two sea going barges in final stages of construction by US Barge, a joint venture of Vigor Industrial and Oregon Iron Works (of local streetcar fame). They sit in what was once the shipyard parking lot...what a much more productive use of industrial land than storing employee automobiles. (Almost all yard employees receive a 50% subsidy for transit passes and vanpool seats.)
Sea going, double hulled barges are in demand; the next to launch is the “Nathan Schmidt” for Harley Petroleum. It will be transported over temporary tracks to the dock edge and onto a special dry dock that will then lower the barge into the waters of the Willamette River. Then to be towed to its home port in Puget Sound.
Vigor Industrial’s Portland Shipyard on Swan Island. Photo - Craig Alness Vigor Industrial’s Portland Shipyard is one of only three on the US west coast that has the capacity to raise, lower and drydock sea going vessels. While Drydock #4 was sold a few years ago after the tanker repair business it was designed for went to Asia with Alaski oil, it’s sale allowed Vigor Industrial to expand, diversity and innovate to make full use of the shipyard’s infrastructure.
The Shipyard tank farm, built to clean ship ballast tanks, now cleans rail tank cars as well as separating and disposing of the mess scooped up from oil spills, including the recent one in the Bay Area. Drydock #1 and 3 are in operation for routine maintenance and repair of barges, ferries (Alaska Marine Highway), and navy ships of the Military Sealift Command. Drydock #2...a wooden structure...is being dismantled for the old growth lumber it contains.
Over along the lagoon side of the yard, Tyco’s cable laying ship, Global Sentinel, has its home berth and ocean survey ships are being refitted for civilian operations. Two Ospreys land on a nearby crane, a roost convenient to the water as well as to their nest on a utility pole with platform provided by V.I. on the quieter side of things.
While young Osprey learn how to fish, young Portlanders learn the art of welding at the Swan Island Training Center, a joint venture of V.I. and Portland Community College. Now students can learn the welding trade and cross the crane tracks to CWI...Columbia Wire and Iron...a long time yard tenant that does custom metal fabrication (including Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project in Seattle) or US Barge.
And that’s not all...I’ve yet to note Specialty Finishes where they sand blast and paint, among other things, massive anchor chains; Vigor Machine, which provides precision maching; or Cascade General which outfits newly built navy ships out of the ship yard in San Diego.
See it all...or some of it…for yourself. Bike down to the far end of N. Channel Avenue on a quiet weekend...watch for the rail lines crossing the street to enter the old WWII shed...to check out the Fast Sea Fighter; then back track to the viewpoint at the head of the Lagoon next to the boat launch; proceed north on Basin Avenue and climb the Waud Bluff path (someday Trail) up to Willamette Blvd…being sure to look over your shoulder and finally venture into the U. of Portland for a great overview of Vigor Industrial’s Portland Shipyard.
by Lenny Anderson
Project Director, Swan Island Transportation Management Association
Overlook Views, Vol. 6, No. 3, September/October 2009
