River Forest Creek is a small tributary the feeds into the Lower Willamette River near river mile 21. The culvert at River Forest Rd. is an impoundment near the confluence of River Forest Creek and the Willamette River. River Forest Lake is created by this impoundment. A study was completed in 2007 for River Forest Lake and states that "data collected since 1996 from the outlet of River Forest Lake show that the water is warm, turbid, high in phosphorus, organically enriched, depleted in oxygen, and occasionally contaminated with excessive numbers of enteric bacteria."

Juvenile Chinook Salmon are known to utilize the Lower Willamette River as rearing habitat, and it is thought that small