Fernhill Wetlands — Attraction in Forest Grove

An awesome medium length easy walk through well maintained greenery and native plants. Lots to see and watch for. The last time we went around the 1 mile loop (Early July) we saw giant geese, frogs, blue herons, pelicans, nutria, jumping fish, a bald eagle, several hawks, giant dragonflies, tons of wildflowers, and more! It was really awesome and a great reprieve and quiet walk around the Sewage Lagoon. Don't let the name fool you, it isn't filled with Sewage, but more of a man made watershed that the local animals seemed to really enjoy.

Along the trail there are several covered blinds that you can rest in and look out and from some areas you can even seen Mount Hood!

From their website: Fernhill Wetlands is part of more than 700 acres in Forest Grove owned by Clean Water Services and managed in partnership with the City of Forest Grove and Fernhill Wetlands Council. It is a popular destination for birders who come to see rare...

Nice area to walk around and view birds and beavers/nutria. I'm not sure how much of it is natural, but I know it's at least partly engineered. Clean Water Services built a series of wetlands that they use to treat and cool their wastewater effluent before discharging to the Tualatin. It doesn't smell funky and it's not gross. It's actually a pretty neat solution to a resource management issue. Wastewater is warmer than the river, so when they discharge during the summer it warms up the river which is not good for fish. So they use these wetlands to do some cooling as well as remove additional compounds that they may not have to to meet their permit requirements but is better for the river. Anyhow that's how I understand it at least. Definitely worth checking out if you are in the area and want some fresh air and...

This was our first time here, despite only living 15 minutes from it. We were blown away with how gorgeous it is here!

I was turned off to coming here because when you pull it up on google maps, the name “Sewage Lagoon” doesn’t sound like it would be a nice place to explore. We were greeted with a wonderful storybook walk, a meandering path through a beautiful garden area, and nice wide gravel trails to get around the various lakes and ponds.

It was full of wildlife! We saw thousands of ducks, some beautiful white cranes, and many other birds that I couldn’t identify as we aren’t birders. We got up close and personal to a very friendly nutria, and watched a great blue heron stalk pray in the shallows. It is wonderfully kept up, and has ample parking and services on site. 10/10 we will be exploring every inch...