Tillamook State Forest

A last minute change in plans – our solar panels couldn’t be installed until July 30 and some good friends wanted to meet us on the Oregon Coast – so we headed west to spend a little time in the Tillamook State Forest before travelling on to Florence, Oregon to meet our friends.

The Tillamook State Forest is quite a wonder.  It was a very dense old-growth forest until 1933, when one of the worst forest fires in US history burned 374 square miles in a scorching, uncontrollable crown fire.  Then 6 years later (1939) another fire burned 296 square miles and then in another 6 years (1945) yet another fire burned 281 square miles.  The six year jinx was not yet over, in 1951 another 51 square miles burned bringing the total to over 355,000 acres of old-growth forest burned to the ground.  Literally.  All those fires had ‘sterilized’ the soil and all that was left was a ghost forest of burnt trees.  They called it the silver forest – a dead and silent forest of silver tree trunks.

But there was a dream to bring the forest back and for 25 years starting in the 1950’s, over 750 thousand seedlings were planted by forest service workers, surrounding communities, school children, prison crews - anyone who would volunteer to help.  Also millions of seeds were dropped from planes.  No one really knew if this plan would work, but the dream to bring back the forest was strong. Many of the new trees were eaten by elk and deer almost immediately after planting.  But then slowly the trees took root and the forest came back. 

Although it will still be a long time before there is a true old-growth forest, today the Tillamook State Forest is a multi-use forest accommodating camping, hiking, horseback riding and some off-road vehicle use. Timber is also sustainably harvested.  There is a beautiful interpretive visitor center (one of the best I have seen). Thousands of school children and families visit yearly. It is so touching to read the letters left by adult visitors who remembered planting the trees when they were school children and are so happy to have seen the forest return in their lifetimes.

Tillamook State Forest Interpretive Visitor Center

Inside the Fire Tower at the Visitor Center

This Coastal Range area of Oregon gets over 100 inches of rainfall annually and that is a big reason the forest came back so quickly.  I can’t help but wonder how long it will take forests burned in this summer’s fires in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana and other western states to return.  Those areas are experiencing such drought and heat, I expect it will be much, much longer before those forests heal.