Page 53 - Clackamas County Watertourism Strategic Plan. Final.v3

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WATER-BASED TOURISM IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON THE PEOPLE
4-11

Oregon’s most frequently visited river is the Columbia closely followed by the
Most Frequently Visited Body of Water by Group
Deschutes and the Willamette. When we change the question from favorite water
body to most frequently visited water body, the Deschutes drops from 24% to 18%
31.71% and the Columbia increases from 17% to 19%. Willamette’s ranking increases from
29.57% 29.76%
26.49% 25.37% 26.34% fourth place to third while the Rogue drops to fifth place after the Willamette and
North Coast. It appears that distance from Portland has some influence on the
18.54% frequency of visitation. However, there is not a direct correlation, otherwise the
17.07%
14.78% 15.40% 13.76% 14.63%
11.22% 12.68% 12.68% Willamette, Sandy, and Clackamas would have higher rankings than they do currently.

Each of the three user groups have similar but not identical sets of responses for most
COLUMBIA RIVER DESCHUTES RIVER OREGON COAST NORTH OF NEWPORT ROGUE RIVER WILLAMETTE RIVER COLUMBIA RIVER DESCHUTES RIVER OREGON COAST NORTH OF NEWPORT OREGON COAST SOUTH OF NEWPORT WILLAMETTE RIVER CLACKAMAS RIVER COLUMBIA RIVER DESCHUTES RIVER OREGON COAST NORTH OF NEWPORT WILLAMETTE RIVER most; motor boaters, frequent the Columbia and Willamette, and paddlers visit
frequently visited water body. Anglers tend to frequent the Deschutes and Columbia

Deschutes and Willamette most frequently. Paddlers are the only group that includes
a Clackamas County waterbody in their top-five list.

visited most frequently. This is especially true for anglers (57%) but less so for
ANGLERS MOTOR BOATERS PADDLERS About half of the respondents said that their favorite river is the same as the one they
paddlers (43%)

Frequency of Visitation
Respondents were asked how often they visited their most frequently visited waterbody. Motorboaters visit their most
Table 4-10 Visitation to Most Frequented Water frequented waterbody most often among the three groups. The data was analyzed by combining the three most
Body frequented responses (from about 4-6 times per year to once per week). This results in a combined rating of 4 to 52
Group 4-52 times per year times per year and allows us to compare total frequency by group. The results show that motorboaters go to the water
Motorboaters 93% most often, followed by paddlers and then anglers. The results show that 93% of motorboaters go to the water 4 or more
Paddlers 87% times per year, followed by paddlers at 87% and anglers at only 53%.
Anglers 53%