A new era of embracing the Willamette

One hundred years ago, in July 1924, the City of Portland closed the Willamette River for swimming due to pollution. There were many dry years that followed. Nobody got in the river for decades. People made jokes about this poor waterway in Portland.

In 2011, the City of Portland completed its 20-year, $1.44 billion investment in the Big Pipe, the largest public works project in Portland’s history. This was a game-changer for Portland-area swimmers and other river users.

For Portland, this meant the potential for improved livability, environmental connection/stewardship, economic bolstering via tourism, reduced carbon footprint by providing an in-city river recreation option, and pride in a key city amenity which had been long absent.

Willie Levenson and Team HAP knew the power a river had in impacting a city. We wanted to ensure that Portland’s game-changing Big Pipe did not go unnoticed. We developed a transformational event called The Big Float (named in tribute to the city’s Big Pipe project).

Willie then formed a non-profit — Human Access Project as a 100% volunteer organization, which has now grown to a staff of 1 1/2. Events like The Big Float, Duckworth Wednesdays, Mayoral Swim and River Hugger Swim Team became one of the tenets of HAP’s work, finding fun, creative ways to coax people into experiencing the Willamette River in a positive way.

HAP Impact timeline:

• 2010 Willie Levenson begins organizing the inaugural The Big Float.
• 2011 The Big Float brings 1,000 people to the Willamette River inner tubing and swimming in downtown Portland.
• 2012 Levenson forms Human Access Project and files for nonprofit status.
  • HAP forms the River Hugger Swim Team, an open water swim group of which 1,000 individuals have participated in swims with the River Huggers.
  • HAP begins to remove riprap rock from the river's edge of Tom McCall Bowl in downtown Portland to improve water’s edge access, safety and aesthetics.

• 2013 HAP officially becomes a 501c3.
  • HAP successfully lobbies the City of Portland to add “swim at your own risk signs” to popular river edge parks.
  • HAP sets a Guinness Book World Record for organizing 620 people to form the “longest line of swim rings / tubes”.
  • HAP successfully negotiates with Portland Fire and Rescue to add swim ladders to the public Station 21 Fire House dock (effectively creating a new access point to the river). Portland Fire and Rescue agrees to support the River Hugger Swim Team by adding a storage locker to facilitate activation from this dock.
• 2014 HAP’s Ringleader writes and performs the song “Our River” at City Council as public testimony to advocate for HAP’s work. This song has had close to 25,000 plays on SoundCloud to date.

• 2015 Ross Island Lagoon toxic algae bloom triggers a health advisory by Oregon Health Authority and threatens The Big Float.
• 2016 HAP holds the inaugural Mayoral Swim where the public has the opportunity to swim across the Willamette River with the Portland’s Mayor. This event will happen annually over the next three years, with over 1,000 people participating.
• 2017 HAP spearheads the opening of Poet’s Beach, the first recognized public beach on the Willamette River in Portland in nearly 100 years. To catalyze this opening, HAP and hundreds of its volunteers move over 25 tons of riprap from the beach. We also privately fundraise and negotiate permission to improve trail access, engrave 30 excerpts of children's poetry and 11 Chinook Wawa words on rocks lining the path to the beach (in partnership with Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) and subsidize, produce and install placemaking signage. At this time, HAP begins partnering with Oregon State University to develop a solution to the Ross Island Lagoon toxic algae issue.

• 2018 HAP organizes the Valentines Dip in February to address the public’s misconception that raw sewage flows into the Willamette River every time it rains (holding the event at one of the rainiest times of year in Portland). This event was held a total of three years, in 2022 HAP works with Special Olympics Oregon to move their Polar Plunge event to the Willamette River and fold it in with the Valentines Dip.
• 2019 HAP spearheads the opening of Audrey McCall Beach, the second recognized public beach on the Willamette River in Portland in nearly 100 years. To catalyze this action, HAP removes over 200 tons of concrete from this beach over four years and privately fundraises and manages a river’s edge lifeguard program for opening season.
• 2020 HAP spearheads the conversion of the Kevin Duckworth Dock from a motorized boat dock to a non-motorized swimming and fishing dock. It took 6 years to get permission to add 8 swim ladders that took less than 4 hours to install. HAP also privately fundraises and permits the installation of 10 bike racks at the dock.

• 2021 HAP collaborates with landscape architecture firm GreenWorks P.C. to develop a concept for a park and ramp design in connection with the proposed Burnside Bridge replacement. Portland City Council voted to further investigate with cost analysis and feasibility.
• 2022 HAP collaborates with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to name six swimming areas on the Willamette River and gets them listed on the PP&R website.
• 2023 HAP continues its work from 2012 and removes 25 tons of riprap from the river's edge of Tom McCall Bowl and creates paths to the beach area from the park.
  • HAP kicks off a summer Duckworth Summer Wednesday series with Lloyd EcoDistrict (over 7,500 people participated in 2023 and 2024)
  • HAP fundraises $150,000 to complete a peer reviewed advanced hydraulic model proving proof of concept that adding a channel to the Ross Island Lagoon will solve the Ross Island Lagoon toxic algae problem.
  • HAP negotiates and pays for the addition of six swim ladders to the Sellwood Riverfront Park Dock with PP&R.
  • HAP receives grant from Travel Oregon to put together a team to work to kick start a public planning process to redevelop Tom McCall Bowl.

• 2024 HAP ultimately completes the removal of 150 tons of concrete from Cathedral Park Beach (work that began in 2021) and fundraises $300,000 to catalyze the replacement of the Cathedral Park Dock effectively opening a new swim area for Portland. Over 2,500 people attended the grand opening, and key speakers include Portland’s Mayor Wheeler, two City Counselors, and the Directors of PP&R and Bureau of Environmental Services.
  • HAP fundraises $485,000 for 30% design work for channel design for Ross Island Lagoon. Sources include a Federal Earmark, Multnomah County Budget Amendment (channeled directly to OSU), Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (Spirit Mountain Community Fund), The Nature Conservancy, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District and others.
  • HAP removes 215 derelict piles and 10 tons of concrete from Cathedral Park Beach with partners Waterside Renewal Foundation and Green Anchors.
• 2025 HAP partners with Portland Parks and Recreation to kick start a public planning process for to redevelop Tom McCall Bowl.
  • HAP hires first part time employee in an Community Engagement Manager Role.