2The study area of the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership includes the lower 146 miles of the Columbia River from Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean. The watershed includes 28 cities, nine counties, and 45 school districts within the states of Oregon and Washington. The area has wet, cool winters and warm, dry summers, though climate change is causing more intense storms and threatens the snowpack that sustains our rivers through the hot summer months. Image courtesy of the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership.