Background
A number of mitigation projects were identified in the 1988 "Cooperative Agreement" between agencies, which was brokered to "Establish a Rivergate development program and an acceptable mitigation program for wetland impacts." The agreement was between the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corp of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Port of Portland. The Cooperative Agreement established mitigation obligations for the Port's planned development of the Rivergate industrial area and included the establishment of Ramsey Lake wetlands. The agreement has now been superceded by the Rivergate Consent Decree signed on January 31, 2001.

Mitigation Plan
Ramsey Lakes wetlands consists of three separate ponds with a total of at least 16 acres of water surface area. Construction was completed in 1990 and material removed from the lakes was used for construction of adjacent fill dikes and/or islands, or used to enhance upland soil before planting. The wetland fringe and islands associated with the ponds were planted with native vegetation following construction.

Status
Monitoring, which was required for three years, was completed in 1993 but continues on an annual basis, which is a standard procedure for completed Port mitigation sites. Plantings installed along the western slope in 2001 have become established and help to provide a buffer from the railroad and adjacent property. On the east side of the lakes, the Port conducted improvements of a meadow area that may provide nesting habitat for birds and reptiles. The meadow buffer, as it’s called, was mowed, disked, spot-sprayed and seeded with native species in 2003. The Port continues to manage and maintain these areas for invasive species control and native plant establishment.