2 min
Overview
A restoration of Lint Slough, a backwater of the Alsea River estuary, was completed in 2009 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, In 1963, ODFW had dammed the north and south ends of the slough, essentially creating a large pond for rearing salmon smolts. A canal along the west side of the slough, and separated from it by a levee, brought salt water from the estuary. The experiment failed because the enclosed nature of the scheme exponentially increased mortality from disease and encouraged harmful algal blooms. Now, the slough is a quiet stretch of natural water popular with birdwatchers and kayakers. A trail runs along the west shore. Note that even though the trail is short, it is rough, narrow, and rooty in places. The grassy road track behind the trail sign leads along a split-rail fence and soon becomes a graveled tread that enters a dark Sitka spruce/hemlock forest with a dense understory dominated by evergreen huckleberry, salal, deer fern, and sword fern. You’ll soon pass a memorial plaque to Jack Christensen, a former Waldport city councilman. The path dips to a quiet bench, the first of many from which you can scan the backwater for bird life. Hooded mergansers pair up here, and mallards and great blue herons are common. A kingfisher may swoop across the open water. You may also notice remnants of the levee, now breached in many places, that ran parallel to the western shore and once contained a canal that regulated saltwater in the former ODFW fish rearing operation. From the bench, the trail becomes narrower as it undulates under spruce and hemlock. A short parallel trail leads along the shore before you pass through a sedge-carpeted alder grove to reach another bench with a view over Lint Slough. Next is a patch of dark young conifers before you drop to the slough again. The path splits, with the left branch going to a viewless bench, so keep right. Swish through sword ferns in an elderberry thicket and drop again to the shore of the slough. The trail ends at a marshy area near the sou
Trail Stats
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12 m
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Photos
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300px-LintSloughMap
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