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The chum salmon may historically have been the most abundant salmon species in the Columbia. Annual runs in the early 1900s were over a million fish. By the 1950s the number of chum spawning each fall was between 300 and 5,700. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the chum salmon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. Ives Island near the Pierce National Wildlife Refuge is the most significant Columbia River mainstem spawning area for chum salmon and, along with nearby Hardy and Hamilton Creeks, comprises one of the two remaining population centers for the species.

"Pierce National Wildlife Refuge consists of 336 acres of river bottomland habitat with riparian areas, wetlands, grasslands and hardwoods. The refuge provides habitat for Canada geese, a variety of other waterfowl and numerous other wildlife species. Hardy Creek supports one of the last remaining chum salmon runs in the lower Columbia River drainage.” -- Courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service The refuge, one of five units in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex, lies on the banks of the Columbia River just east of Beacon Rock State Park in Washington. It is closed to the public

Jutting out 733 feet above the Columbia River on the Oregon side, Crown Point arguably offers the most spectacular view in the Gorge. It is fitting that the Columbia River Highway, a thoroughfare as important for its access to scenic wonders as for its transportation pragmatism, was dedicated here in 1916. Samuel C. Lancaster, the Multnomah County highway engineer who oversaw the highway’s construction, first proposed a building here as both a rest stop for travelers and a monument 'to the trials and hardships of those who had come into the Oregon country.' Vista House was built in 1916-17 at