The Bull Run watershed

The Bull Run watershed is an integral part of the region's heritage and legacy. Because of its outstanding water quality and level of protection, the Bull Run has been listed among a handful of outstanding sources of water in the United States for more than a century.

The Bull Run watershed has been a City of Portland water resource since 1895. The 102 square-mile Bull Run municipal watershed is located about 26 miles east of downtown Portland and is within the Mt. Hood National Forest. Ninety-five percent of the land in the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit is federally owned and managed by the Mt. Hood National Forest; four percent is owned by the City of Portland, and one percent is federally owned lands managed by the BLM. Although the watershed is in the northwest foothills of Mt. Hood, snowpack and glaciers on Mt. Hood do not drain into the Bull Run watershed.

Watershed protection is a tradition for this resource and the landowners and managers of the watershed work cooperatively to protect and manage it as a potable water source for the Portland metropolitan region. 

Did you know that:

• The watershed drains about 102 square miles of forested landscape. 
• Over 250 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish may occur in the watershed, according to an Oregon Department of Forestry review of Oregon's forest habitats.  
• Almost 53% of the watershed is classified as 'old growth' and has never been logged.
• Rain, not snowmelt, provides 90-95% of the water in the watershed, averaging 130 inches a year.