Major support for Oregon Field Guide is provided by... [ ♪♪♪ ] MAN: My rappel!

MAN: Oh, my gosh, it's beautiful.

MAN: Good morning, everybody.

Woo!

Let's do it again!

MAN: Nicely done!

MAN: Oh, yeah!

Fourteen and a half.

Yes, that was awesome!

[ people cheering ] There you go, up, up... ED JAHN: Next, on Oregon Field Guide: The Willamette River was once a dumping ground.

Nobody wanted to swim in it.

Oh, yeah!

And as the river got cleaner, new problems emerged.

Then, a good cleansing rainstorm in the Wallowas turned out to be one photographer's delight.

But first, this is a story you have to feel as much as watch.

WOMAN: It's almost kind of like thunder a little bit.

Bison are back.

We're out here in northeast Oregon, and we're out on this ranch, but it's not just any ranch.

It's a bison ranch, like actual epic bison.

And I've never seen anything like this or been anywhere like this in my life.

But I've already learned one thing: You can herd a bison anywhere it wants to go.

[ birds chirping ] Bison are an iconic symbol of the West.

They're America's national mammal.

They have a reputation to live up to, and they don't disappoint.

WOMAN: It's almost kind of like thunder a little bit.

You can feel the bison running the ground.

We sort of think of them as domesticated, but basically they're almost wild animals.

We've worked with them a lot and kind of know their habits or what they might do, but they can always surprise you a little bit.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "Bison?

Bison are just like cattle."

But there are important differences between the two.

It's not a big deal if a cow gets out.

But, like, if the bison get out, you know, it's a little bit more of a catastrophe.

Whoa, you turds!

Seriously?

This is going to be a race now.

The bison were just escaping from one pasture to another, so no one was in danger, but still, this wasn't the plan for the day.

I'll chase them at the fence line back up to that gate.

They're pretty cute-looking when they're little, but they grow up to be menaces.

Just don't give them any other option but to do what you want them to do, but sometimes they still figure out a way to get around that.

Wayward bison like these are a problem Marta's father, Bob Stangel, has been dealing with for decades.

BOB: By observing them for 40 years, why, I have picked up on a few things.

But about the time you think you've got 'em figured out, they'll prove you wrong.

MARTA: It's not quite a train wreck, but they, uh, put a pretty big hole in the gate.

They always make it exciting, it seems like.

How do you normally do that wrap?

-You want to tighten that some?

-Yeah, it's pretty loose.

BOB: The apprentice is becoming the master, because I won't do it anymore.

[ chuckles ] Trying to get it turned over to next generation a little bit.

So, yeah, I'm glad they took an interest.

You know, you wonder sometimes whether they should've gone and done something else, but they wanted to do this, and so I'm trying to make that opportunity work for them.

MARTA: A lot easier to close than it used to be.

BOB: My parents bought this property in 1958, and it was a grain and cattle operation.

I always worked on the farm.

And then when I got out of college, I came back home and I'd read some articles about people raising bison, and so in 1979, my older brother Joe and I went back to northeast Colorado and bought six heifers and two bulls just to sort of try it out.

By 1987, we switched solely to bison for our livestock operation.

The Stangels have more than 500 head of bison on almost 7,000 acres of land at the base of the Wallowa Mountains.

Bob is starting to take more a back seat as his daughters, Marta and Theresa, learn the ins and outs of running the ranch.

THERESA: If you're going to make it real simple, Marta does a lot of the land and animal management, and then I do more of, like, the people/office/meat sales management.

It works really well, because Marta and my dad really enjoy being outside, and if they don't have to talk to people, that's great for them, where I really enjoy getting to do the marketing or customer service.

Hey, Morgan, this is Theresa Stangel with Stangel Bison Ranch.

Is now a good time?

So as far as round steaks, we can do cubed, plain, keep them as roasts-- Yep, perfect.

We live in a society where, if you're going to do business with somebody or you find something, like, you Google it.

It is definitely not Dad's thing, so that was really helpful to have, like, both Marta and I, and then me being able to focus and learn about it.

Theresa taught herself marketing while Marta got a degree in crop and soil science.

They're taking what they learned from their father and his brothers... MARTA: Come on!

and building on it.

A lot of the stuff I learned in college was how the grass grows and the different stages and then the different soil types and what they're best for.

So I brought a lot of that back.

We generally try to do like a three-year rotation with our grazing so we're not coming into the same pasture at the same time every year, and so we're trying to revitalize the soil and the grasses with the bison.

THERESA: Bison used to be here naturally, and due to people being horrible, decided to go on a track to where we are at, like 500,000 bison in the United States.

They are such amazing animals, and to think of a world where they might not be there is a pretty depressing one.

A lot of them are on farms and ranches, but it is great to be a part of trying to rectify that history where the bison should get to be back to where they were.

BOB: Ready for breakfast.

Come on.

A bummer calf is one that isn't going to be raised by its mother for one reason or another, and we end up feeding it artificially.

We call them the bottled baby or the bummer calf.

If we hadn't stepped in and caught Wanda and started feeding her, she would've probably died out there.

That's all.

There you go.

Milk's all gone, but she's not done.

Maintaining the bison population in America isn't just about the past.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Good, how are you doing?

-Good.

It has a direct impact on the local community in the present.

We love bison!

MARTA: Well, good, I'm glad you like it.

Thank you.

MAN: They know exactly what the meat is.

They know what it came from.

They might even tell you the name of the animal.

You know, and so, like, they say farm to table, this is it.

[ laughs ] Buying local is... that's how we survive.

It's the only way we go.

Like, if we don't support each other, then what's community?

[ dog barking ] THERESA: When we were younger, during different seasons, you know, we didn't see Dad as much because he was extremely busy doing a lot of things.

Like most things, once you get a little bit older, you really appreciate some of those things that you didn't when you were younger.

[ meat sizzling ] BOB: What I love about what I do is being able to work with my family, have that interaction with them every day.

Running the ranch has given us the opportunity to do that.

MARTA: As far as my relationship with my Dad and being able to take over the work that he does, he just has so much knowledge, I just feel like I'd never be at that level, you know?

Maybe when I'm as old as he is now.

Come on!

I hope to be there one day, but...

I'm getting there.

[ ♪♪♪ ] For a long time, Portland's stretch of the Willamette River was basically a dumping ground for sewage and toxic waste.

But it's a lot cleaner now and safe enough for recreation.

And now, it's getting pretty crowded.

The right kind of boat can turn Oregon's placid Willamette River into a place that feels more like the ocean.

This wake boat is designed to create a three-foot wave that sets the stage for spectacular water sports.

MAN: Yeah, Grant!

Scarecrows are hopping!

Wakeboarding is just one of the ways people are enjoying the river that runs through downtown Portland.

[ rowers whoop ] Decades of cleanup have transformed the city's waterway from a dumping ground to a summertime playground.

For about a century, industrial waste and raw sewage poured freely into the Willamette.

But in recent years, big sewer projects and clean water laws have dramatically reduced that pollution.

So the river's a lot cleaner now.

And so many people are using it for recreation that there's growing conflict over who can use the river for what.

In north Portland, industry and toxic pollution that hasn't been cleaned up are blocking some people from using the river.

MAN: Ready?

But in popular recreation areas, some users like this wake surfer are getting pushed out by people who want calmer water.

Oh, yeah!

Nice, Anthony!

Dan Lay has enjoyed water sports on the Willamette River since he was a kid.

I've lost many a hat.

Now he works for a company that sells the boats you need for wake surfing.

Wake surfing, it's really fun.

Anyone can do it.

The difference between ocean surfing and wake surfing is the wave is endless on a wake surfboard.

You can go for miles if you wanted to.

[ man yodels ] But those endless waves can be hazardous for other people on the river.

MAN: There's some serious paddling going on over there.

Paddlers in Portland's iconic dragon boats say large wakes can send water pouring into their vessels.

So the first time I was in a dragon boat that got swamped, that was in 2017.

And so we're 20 paddlers sitting in their boat, and all of a sudden there's this wall of water coming over our shoulders.

And the boat was half full of water within just a few seconds.

As wake surfing and other water sports have gotten more popular, Kaspar says they're making too many dangerous waves.

Some paddlers have capsized, and one boat even broke in half.

Wakes also impact the river itself.

They can cause erosion and harm fish and wildlife.

WOMAN: Welcome to River Huggers.

Good morning!

Make sure your buoy is fully inflated...

So people started getting organized... to protect the calmer waters they prefer.

I'll probably jump in and swim kind of like to there.

Now that the Willamette is clean enough for swimming, groups like the River Hugger Swim Team are spreading the word.

We're in the water six days a week now.

And, you know, when people actually went to work downtown, they would see the River Huggers swim every day, and it would help address that question: If I swim in the Willamette, will it kill me?

Willie Levenson wants to get more people in the river.

[ all laughing ] He helps organize early-morning swims and got a whole dock designated just for swimming.

People protect what they love.

You know, if we get people in the water, if we can get people to see the value of the river, they're way more likely to fight for it.

His group helped form A Calm Water Coalition to build a case against motorized boats towing water skiers, tubes, and wake surfers.

KASPAR: You know, we have the rowers, the paddlers, the people on the stand-up boards.

We have the swimmers, we have the floating home owners.

People started to complain and say, "Hey, this is dangerous.

We can't deal with these big wakes."

They got the state to pass new rules banning motorized water sports in crowded stretches of the river.

People don't like it when they get told to go play in another sandbox, but sometimes that's just what has to happen if you want to prevent serious accidents.

State surveys show the Willamette River now sees hundreds of thousands of user visits every year, more than any other water body in the state.

DAN: So we are now in the surf zone.

You are allowed to wake surf through this area.

Dan took us to a stretch of the Willamette just south of Portland, near West Linn.

At the time, it was one of the few places where he could do what he loves.

So this area will get super congested during the summer.

I mean, you can see, you add too many more boats in the mix, and it can get overcrowded really fast.

You might want to hang on, because we're going to go over some bumps.

Dan says adding more restrictions makes the few open areas even more crowded and chaotic.

After we visited, a new law passed banning wake boats from this area altogether.

So now there's even less space for boaters like Dan.

I fear that there won't be a Willamette River for my kids to teach their kids on, and, you know, where does it stop?

Nate Thompson's job with Clackamas County Marine Patrol is to enforce the new rules and all the old ones.

That means looking out for all kinds of users in this increasingly crowded river.

Did you guys bring life jackets with you?

-Yeah.

-Okay.

Okay, did you know that you have to have them onboard the boat when you're out here?

Lately he's noticed more paddlers on the river who aren't following safety rules.

So everybody goes to Costco, they go to wherever, they buy a stand-up paddleboard, they don't look at any of the rules and regulations.

They have no idea what they need or should need.

He says a growing number of novice paddlers are unknowingly putting themselves in conflict with motorboats.

But there's also a lot of motorized boaters who aren't following the new rules on towed water sports simply because they don't know about them.

The rules prohibit summertime tubing and water skiing on a narrow stretch of the river near Sellwood.

That's where Renee Morgan lives in a floating home with newly cracked walls.

So I don't know if the light is going to allow you to see, but it goes straight down to the door.

She led the Calm Waters Coalition that fought to ban water sports on some parts of the river.

It makes me very emotional, thinking about it now.

Because we won, we did it.

It was right.

She says the rules have cut down on the wakes that damage her property, but as we're talking on her deck, one boat after another passes by, towing people on tubes and water skis.

Her husband Rich takes photos.

They're tubing in an area where there's supposed to be no towed water sports.

It's right in the middle of the wrong place to be.

Look, these guys are airborne.

Whoo!

So just kind of tuck these things in here.

While some river users fight over congestion, North Portland resident Michael Pouncil has the opposite problem.

I understand that they may have their issues with, you know, overcrowding there as well, but we have no access to the river here.

Our river is totally behind an industrial wall.

In his community, many stretches of the river are still contaminated from decades of industrial use.

While they wait for cleanups, residents don't have many safe places to get in the river.

Michael finds a way to swim or paddle whenever he can.

He often rides his bike to the somewhat accessible beach next to the Daimler Trucks manufacturing plant on Swan Island.

There's no, you know, public transportation, really, down here that's regular.

I mean, it's a beautiful, beautiful spot, but it's hard to get to.

It's hard to get to.

So this is, you know, about access.

He's hoping the contaminated area known as Willamette Cove could one day be a safe new access point for North Portland.

It's going to happen.

We're going to get it cleaned up.

You know, today the beach looks great, the river's calling, and, you know, folks are out and about, and I'm excited to get in the water.

[ laughs ] This is an amazing resource that we have right here that is flowing through our city, and this is about equity.

We have to make our river accessible to low-income folks and working-class people, let them know that, hey, this is your river.

You have every right to be on the river.

As the river gets more and more crowded with paddlers, swimmers, and all kinds of motorized boats, Michael says cleaning up contaminated areas could help make more room for everyone.

[ ♪♪♪ ] We are super excited to host Adele Reich, an intern from Indiana who chose to come all the way out here to work for Oregon Field Guide.

And on a recent trip to Wallowa Lake, she even had a chance to put her photographer's eye to work, capturing the aftermath of a cleansing summer storm.

[ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ] You can now find many Oregon Field Guide stories and episodes online.

And to be part of the conversation about the outdoors and environment here in the Northwest, join us on Facebook.

[ birds chirping ] Major support for Oregon Field Guide is provided by... Additional support provided by... And the following... and the contributing members of OPB and viewers like you.