Vancouver Lake’s uniqueness is largely unknown, even to those who frequently visit it.
Core sampling indicates that Vancouver Lake dates back at least 4,000 years. It has attracted attention for centuries, including from Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, whose journals record the lake in 1805.
The mechanisms that support Vancouver Lake and other lakes in the Portland-Vancouver Basin are remarkable, according to Curt Peterson, a retired Portland State University geology professor who researched the area’s geomorphology.
Water levels rise and fall in the Columbia River extending up to Bonneville Dam, a twice-daily tidal fluctuation.
“River” is a slight misnomer for this stretch of water, according to Peterson. It’s actually a fluvial-tidal system, meaning it’s influenced by ocean tides. Water bodies in floodplains are more commonly temporary, getting washed away as a river flows back and forth — otherwise tapped as ephemeral, or short-lasting, lakes.
