For Immediate Release

DateTuesday, March 23, 2004

Editor’s Note: We invite you to attend this dedication. Transportation to and from Bartlett Landing is being provided. The Sea Scout boat Reliant will disembark from the 42nd Street Boat Ramp (M. James Gleasen) at 11 a.m. April 8. Please call for additional information.

‘Better Than New’ Bartlett Landing Opens to Boaters

After suffering the effects of age, heavy use and a collision with a barge, a new, state-of-the-art transient tie-up and gangway at Bartlett Landing on Government Island is completed and ready for the boating season.

Barlett Landing is located on the lush northeast corner of Government Island in the Columbia River just north of the Portland Airport. It has been a favorite location for boaters for decades. During warm summer months, the floats are packed with dozens of boats, large and small, spending days amidst the cool water and tall cottonwood trees.

The improvements are the product of a close partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept., the Oregon State Marine Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Marine Board applied for and received a federal grant of $326,250 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) Program. The Marine Board, Parks, Port of Portland and Columbia River Yacht Assoc. provided additional funding to complete the $675,000 project. The funds were used to replace and expand the aging, damaged, wood transient moorage with two rows of new concrete transient moorage, elevated walkways, an 80-foot accessible gangway and a debris deflection boom.

A formal dedication of the facility is scheduled for April 8. The event will take place at Bartlett Landing at noon.

The BIG program is administered through the USFWS as authorized by the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Act of 1998. It is funded by an excise tax on motorboat fuel. The program was created by Congress to provide funds to states to build, renovate and maintain facilities designed for use by recreational vessels 26 feet or longer. The program also seeks to enhance access to recreational, historic, cultural, natural and scenic resources; strengthen local ties to the boating community and its economic benefits; promote public/private partnerships and entrepreneurial opportunities; provide continuity of public access to the shore; and promote awareness of transient boating opportunities.

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