The Stephens Creek Stormwater System Plan recommends watershed restoration and stormwater management projects to improve watershed health in the Stephens Creek watershed in southwest Portland. Environmental Services has completed and will continue to implement many of the plan’s recommended projects.

Stephens Creek begins at a steep ridge south of the Hillsdale Neighborhood center and flows about two miles to the Willamette River just north of the Sellwood Bridge. The creek drains a 754-acre watershed of mostly residential and commercial development around Burlingame, part of the Interstate 5 corridor, and the SW Taylors Ferry Road canyon.

The Stephens Creek watershed is one of 27 subwatersheds in the lower Willamette River. It is one of the few remaining streams in Portland that flows mainly on the surface from its headwaters to the Willamette River mainstem. The mouth of Stephens Creek provides important off-channel habitat for fish in the Willamette River.