Part of the popular Salmon Creek Greenway Trail is closed after high water covered the trail a couple of hundred yards east of Northwest 36th Avenue.
Clark County Parks put up signs Friday at both ends of the trail warning walkers, runners, cyclists and equestrians of the standing water.
Doug Keller, Clark County parks maintenance supervisor, estimated the water was about 2 feet deep over the trail along the south end of the greenway.
Keller said he expects it will be several days before water levels fall and the entire trail can be used.
Salmon Creek flows into Lake River, which in turns empties into the Columbia River.
“The whole Columbia has to recede,” he said.
As of Friday afternoon, the Columbia River was at 15.6 feet, which is slightly under the river’s 16-foot flood stage. Higher river levels are expected to increase the frequency of bridge lifts on the Interstate 5 Bridge, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Water covered a portion of the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail for six weeks in 2018, Keller said.
The standing water is not expected to affect the April 20 Earth Day Fest, which is hosted by Clark Public Utilities StreamTeam and Clark County Public Works.
Hundreds of volunteers are expected to participate in the annual event by planting native trees and pulling weeds.
Most of that work will be closer to the trail’s east end, near Salmon Creek Regional Park and the Vancouver Girls Softball Association’s fields.
Since 1999, StreamTeam volunteers have planted more than 15,000 trees and removed thousands of pounds of invasive weeds during Earth Day Fests.
Planting will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with an Earth Day Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
