Nehalem Bay State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

located on the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

, near the communities of Nehalem and

Manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to Or ...

on the Nehalem Spit, a

sand spit A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents. The drift occurs due t ...

west of

Nehalem Bay Nehalem Bay is a bay formed by the confluence of the Nehalem River with the Pacific Ocean in northern Oregon, United States. The city of Nehalem (pop. 271 in 2010) is situated on US Highway 101 north of Garibaldi and south of Cannon Beach. Wes ...

. Tillamook County transferred the land to the State of Oregon for a park in the 1930s. During the 1940s and 1950s, workers planted European beach grass, shore pine, and Scotch broom to stabilize the dunes—a process that took an additional twenty years. The park opened in 1972. This park has a day-use areas, and a campground for tents, recreational vehicles, horse riders, hikers and bicyclists. Its wildlife includes a variety of birds,

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

s and

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

s. There is an air strip for small planes, the

Nehalem Bay State Airport Nehalem Bay State Airport is a public airport located two miles (3.2 km) southeast of Manzanita in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The airport is located within the boundaries of Nehalem Bay State Park. It offers several campsites ...

, and an

amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

that has interpretative programs throughout the summer months. The park is south of nearby

Neahkahnie Mountain Neahkahnie Mountain is a mountain, or headland, on the Oregon Coast, north of Manzanita in Oswald West State Park overlooking U.S. Route 101. The peak is part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range, which is part of the Oregon Coast Range. It is be ...

the highest coastal land mass north of San Francisco and south of Canada. The trail to the summit of the mountain was constructed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC). in the 1930s. Nehalem Beach is within the park.

References

External links

* {{authority control Oregon Coast State parks of Oregon Parks in Tillamook County, Oregon

See also

References

External links