The Oregon Department of Forestry has announced that all campgrounds in the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests will have reopened by Memorial Day weekend, with the last few stragglers opening Thursday, May 27. Joining campgrounds opened throughout the last few weeks are Browns Camp, Gales Creek Campground, Jones Creek, Nehalem Falls, and Reehers Camp (to both equestrian and non-equestrian users), all opening May 27. Campgrounds in the Santiam State Forest remain closed, said ODF spokesperson Jason Cox in an email to this publication, due to damage from the 2020 wildfires and more recent windstorms. Campsites and recreation areas in the Tillamook State Forest and elsewhere have faced extended closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. More information and locations for a variety of campgrounds, trails, trailheads, and other outdoor recreation facilities in the Tillamook State Forest can be found on the Oregon Department of Forestry's website.Campers can also check the agency's list of recreation sites impacted by COVID-19-related closures before heading to a campground or recreation site. A date for the reopening of the Tillamook Forest Center has yet to be released.
Cal Mukumoto, the head of the Oregon Department of Forestry announced his resignation in a brief letter Thursday during a Board of Forestry meeting, noting his last day would be Jan. 23. He'll temporarily be replaced by Kate Skinner, Tillamook District Forester.
A proposed toll road linking Forest Grove and Tillamook faced opposition, but Gales Creek residents would take any road they could get, according to a 1925 newspaper article.
"County Jail Filled to Overflow With Arrests Made" including Ernest Narver, Frank Kearns, Thomas Young, and Roy Kearns, all arrested at Balm Grove on liquor possession charges in Prohibition-era Gales Creek.
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May. These fires are all preventable, said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
