Water quality in Bear Creek is also impacted by sawmill contaminants.
Decades ago, pentachlorophenol was used to protect lumber from staining. At the mills in Molalla, stacks of cut lumber were lowered into the ‘dip tanks’, then forklifted to drip-dry locations. Dangerous chemicals were dripped all over the place, and the remnants persist even today.
The contamination means that hundreds of acres are unusable for residential development, so these lands lie barren while officials hope for industrial/commercial ‘brownfield’ development.
(…more information and links coming soon…)