Metro has added 41 acres to its Killin Wetlands holdings near Banks, continuing a decades-long effort to protect one of the region's last remaining peat wetlands.
The acquisition, finalized in November, expands the natural area adjacent to the Killin Wetlands Nature Park, located between Banks and Gales Creek along Highway 6 and Cedar Canyon Road. Metro said the new acreage will allow for expansion of the wetlands visible from the park and offers the chance to protect and restore rare peat soils, which are known for their capacity to store atmospheric carbon.
The purchase was funded through the Protect and Restore Land program of the 2019 parks and nature bond, approved by voters in the Portland Metro area, the agency said in a press release.
The acquisition was first reported by the News-Times.
"Each of these acquisitions strategically stitches together a network of natural areas that adds to our region's ability to continue enjoying clean water, green spaces and healthy fish and wildlife habitat for generations to come, even in the face of challenges like climate change," Metro parks and nature director Jon Blasher said.
The Killin Wetlands sit outside Metro's jurisdictional boundaries, but the regional government has been acquiring and restoring land there for more than two decades. The site contains one of the few remaining peat wetlands in the region, where partially decomposed plant material draws carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil. Wetlands store even more carbon than forests, and that carbon is less vulnerable to being released during a wildfire, Metro has said.
The wetlands are also home to one of the few known natural populations of Geyer willow in the Willamette Valley, and seeds from Killin have been used to reintroduce the willows to other sites in the region.
Metro last expanded the Killin Wetlands in 2022 with a 52-acre purchase for $465,000, bringing the total protected area to more than one square mile of peat soil wetlands. Much of the site was converted to farmland in the mid-1800s, and years of draining collapsed the dried-out peat soil. Today, beaver dams and the lowered elevation have left much of the area resembling a lake, and Metro has said it could take a century for the peat to slowly rebuild.
The Killin Wetlands Nature Park, which opened in 2018, includes trails and interpretive signs. The broader natural area surrounding the park is where the acquisitions have been added.
Metro's Killin Wetlands purchase was one of 11 acquisitions the agency made in 2025. The largest was a 553-acre purchase in unincorporated Clackamas County that included the former Eagle Creek Golf Course. Other acquisitions included land near Forest Park off Germantown Road, a 118-acre purchase in Gaston establishing a new conservation target area, and a small parcel at the confluence of the Sandy River and Beaver Creek in east Multnomah County that supports salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey habitat.
The Killin Wetlands Nature Park is located at 46280 NW Cedar Canyon Road, Banks, and is open sunrise to sunset. More information is available at oregonmetro.gov/places/killin-wetlands-nature-park.
