 Tillamook State Forest's Future Outlined in Talk - Scott Hanson
Doug Decker, Director of the Tillamook Forest Interpretative Program for the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) was the featured speaker at the Clackamas County Farm Forestry Association's (CCFFA) Annual Meeting held April 19 at Mountain View Golf Club in Boring, Oregon. Doug's talk and slide presentation were part I of a two part series to bring us up-to-date with what is going on in the Tillamook State Forest (TSF). This summer the CCFFA will sponsor part II as a field tour on the TSF. The TSF covers 365,000 acres of which one-third of the area is in Washington County and two-thirds of the area is in Tillamook County. Doug's presentation included four parts:
FIRES The land that is now the TSF, brings back memories to many of us through family stories and car rides to the beach in the 1950's and 1960's about the "Tillamook Burn". Over 240,000 acres were burned in a series of four major fires (1933, 1939, 1945, and 1951) over eighteen years. Following the fire's devastation much of these private lands went into tax delinquency and were ultimately deeded to the State of Oregon. The year 1949 saw two activities take place to help rehabilitate the forestland. Loggers began salvage operations for 10 billion board feet of lumber from snags on the fire-scarred land. And a monumental reforestation project was also started. Diverse groups (contract crews, school children groups, and prison inmates) began to plant 72 million seedlings that created a new even-aged single species Douglas-fir forest. In 1973 under Tom McCall, these state lands became the TSF. BEFORE the FIRES The first settlement in this area was in 1851. The Smith family homestead site has and continues to be preserved near Lees Camp. The main roads through the area became a travel corridor to the coast. A major railroad was completed from Hillsboro to Tillamook in 1911. Logging on this private forestland was largely limited to the edges of the forest. The forest was a mosaic of stand types. VISION The TSF provides a variety of benefits to Oregonians including revenue to counties, raw materials, fish & wildlife habitat, and recreation. Recreation includes fishing, hiking, mountain biking, off-highway vehicle exploring and equestrian trails. Current challenges for the ODF are to keep these activities separated and enjoyable for all near a large metropolitan area. A key ODF vision concept is to "understand the future by understanding the past". The TSF uses a management philosophy known as "structure-based management". Under this philosophy some clearcutting occurs in the TSF, however thinning is the predominate forest management practice. The forest management goal is to enhance bio-diversity of this even-age, single species (Douglas-fir) planted forest, and create a variety of different stand types. The INTERPRETATIVE CENTER Plans are underway to open the Tillamook Forest Interpretative Center (16,000 square feet) at milepost 22 on Highway 6 near Lees Camp in 2004. The setting for the Center is a forested site along a narrow gorge of the Wilson River. The Center will provide many opportunities for forest learning, fun, and exploring. The goal is to help people reconnect to the forest, and validate the public's permission to manage the TSF. Planners estimate having 100,000 visitors per year. There will be no admission, and the facility will be financed through timber harvests. n Editor's Note: Master Woodland Manager, Scott Hanson, is an associate editor of the Forest-Tree Leader and Clackamas and Marion county tree farmer. |