South Willamette Valley
Lane County
The Willamette valley is an old lake bed or inland sea. The outlet was and is the Willamette river running north into the Columbia. The result is that the south Willamette valley has wet soils. The crop diversity is restricted mostly to grass seed. The valley floor is broken by frequent lava buttes, volcanic vents that died long ago. The valley is flanked east and west and south by mountains. Logging and lumber milling is still prosperous here although the level of activity is only a fraction of the 1980 level. This area paid perhaps the highest price in support of the spotted owl with tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.