The Tillamook State Forest is a publicly owned forest in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Managed by the

Oregon Department of Forestry The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is the agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Orego ...

, it is located west of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in the

Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part ...

, and spans

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Tillamook Tillamook may refer to: Places: * Tillamook County, Oregon, United States * Tillamook, Oregon, a city, the seat of Tillamook County * Tillamook River, United States * Tillamook Bay, a bay in the northwestern part of Oregon * Tillamook Head, a natu ...

, Yamhill, and

Clatsop The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia R ...

counties. The forest receives large amounts of precipitation and is dominated by

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

trees. Activities include commercial logging, recreation, and other commercial resource extraction activities such as mushroom hunting.

History

The area was extensively burned in a series of

forest fires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

between 1933 and 1951. Collectively known as the

Tillamook Burn The Tillamook Burn was a series of forest fires in the Northern Oregon Coast Range of Oregon in the United States that destroyed a total area of of old growth timber in what is now known as the Tillamook State Forest. There were four wildfire ...

, the forest was replanted between 1949 and 1972 with a billion Douglas-fir seeds dropped from helicopters and more than 72 million seedlings planted by hand, about a million of them by young volunteers. In 1973 Oregon governor

Tom McCall Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American statesman, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, McCall grew up t ...

officially designated "The Burn" a State Forest.

Operations

The forest's recreation sites include campgrounds, hiking and backpacking trails, fishing, swimming and an interpretative center. Some of the trails are open to horses and pack animals, mountain bikes and motorized vehicles in various combinations. In 2006, the Tillamook Forest Center opened on

Oregon Route 6 Oregon Route 6 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon that runs between the city of Tillamook on the Oregon Coast, to the Willamette Valley, near Banks. OR 6 traverses the Wilson River Highway No. 37 of the Oregon state highway s ...

between Portland and

. The Forest Center's features include a short film about the Tillamook Burn, and a suspension bridge crossing the Wilson River. With exhibits designed by

AldrichPears Associates AldrichPears Associates is an interpretive planning and exhibit design firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They work for museums, science centers, interpretive centers, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and children's museums a ...

and architecture by MillerHull Partnership, the Center won the Oregon Tourism Achievement Award in 2007. Commercial activities include timber harvesting managed by the Department of Forestry that benefits county governments. In addition to logging, other commercial activities include mushroom hunting, and moss and

salal ''Gaultheria shallon'' is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. In English, it is known as salal, shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria. Description ''Gaultheria shallon'' is tall, spra ...

harvesting. The forest is managed by the department's Forest Grove and Tillamook districts. Tillamook forest

Tillamook Rainforest

The Tillamook Rainforest is a

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American ...

located in the Coast Range of northwestern

, United States, between Hillsboro and

and

counties. Part of the forest is administered as part of the Tillamook State Forest. Weather in the Tillamook Rainforest is variable but can total more than from late fall through early spring. Precipitation may accumulate as snow at higher elevations. The western part of the forest has coastal varieties of trees, while the east is dominated by

. Much of the forest is young, as early deforestation was rampant and the

, a large

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

, passed through the area in 1933.

References

External links

Oregon Department of Forestry page for the Tillamook State Forest
->
Tillamook Forest CenterThe Tillamook Rainforest - Sierra Club
{{Authority control Oregon state forests Protected areas of Tillamook County, Oregon Protected areas of Washington County, Oregon Protected areas of Yamhill County, Oregon Protected areas of Clatsop County, Oregon Pacific temperate rainforests 1973 establishments in Oregon Tillamook Burn

History

Operations

Tillamook Rainforest

See also

References

External links