Lake Tahoe Closure Summer 2019

Access to the Lake Tahoe Recreation Site in the Tillamook State Forest will be closed starting May 28 to ensure public safety during construction and logging operations.

The area will be closed through the summer of 2019 and affects all day use and weekend activities, including fishing, boating and hiking access to Lake Tahoe as well as two campsites in the South Fork Trask River Dispersed Campsites area. The road into the Lake Tahoe Recreation Site will be closed. 

The South Fork Trask Road will be open but the public should use caution, as the road will be busy with log hauling.

Activities taking place in the area during summer 2019 include logging operations and developing a heliport. The heliport will allow use of the lake as a dip site for fire protection.

“Temporarily closing Lake Tahoe to recreational use is a necessary step to ensure public safety,” Tillamook District Forester Kate Skinner said. “We are encouraging users of the Tillamook State Forest to find alternate recreation areas this summer, and visiting the recreation page on the ODF website is a great way to find additional places to get out in the forest.”

For more information on recreation or local forest road closures, visit the Oregon Department of Forestry’s website at Oregon.gov/odf or contact the nearest ODF district office.

Volunteers Clean It ALL Up!

Picture Courtesy of Ride Revival

April 20th was a welcome gorgeous day after the spring rains.  The volunteers who gathered at the ODOT Sandshed were energized by the sun and that energy made the Forest Grove District’s 2019 SOLVE Day Clean-up held on Saturday, April 20^th a resounding success.  

Thank-you to everyone who participated.  It's obvious, Tillamook State Forest Volunteers ROCK!

At the end of the day 3 ODF staff members working with a group of 80 volunteers from a bunch of different clubs and organizations removed over 8,000 pounds of garbage (about 40 cubic yards) and 162 tires from the Tillamook State Forest in just under 4 hours!  Additionally, the spring spruce up of Stagecoach horse camp was completed including the removal of brush and installation of 6 bollard posts.

Picture Courtesy of Ride Revival

Clubs and Organizations Represented were:

·         Oregon Equestrian Trails

·         Trash No Lands

·         Gitout.com (4x4 club)

·         Ride Revival

·         Cascade Cruisers (4x4 club)

·         Jolly Jeepers (4x4 club)

·         Tillamook State Forest Trail Patrol

·         Flat Broke and Four Wheeling

·         Cascade Cruisers

·         Oregon Team Trophy Challenge

Site partners included:

• SOLVE
•  SWATCO Sanitary, Inc of Banks who donated the dumpsters and the hauling services.  (This business has been supporting our SOLVE project since 1996.)
• ODOT who provided the staging area for the dumpsters and volunteer registration.

Picture Courtesy of Ride Revival

Some of what was pulled out of the brush included:

     Tires, tires and more tires

     Several small appliances

     3 vehicle dash boards

     A bunkbed frame

   10 bags of shotgun shells from  the Beaver Dam Rock Pit

  Tons of items that had been used for targets

Thanks again for a great day in the woods!

Spring Spruce-Up Success!

Thank-you to all 80 of the fantastic volunteers who came together on Saturday, March 30, 2019, to do a spring trail maintenance work party on the non-motorized trail network that meanders through the eastern half of the Tillamook State Forest!

These enthusiastic volunteers completed pruning of trees and trail side vegetation, removal of down trees, cleaning of water drainage structures and general tread maintenance on 10 miles of the trail network in four hours of work time.  

After the work was done, volunteers returned to Gales Creek Campground to enjoy a BBQ lunch hosted by Daybreak Racing and Oregon Equestrian Trails.  There were even raffle prizes donated by some of the work party partners.

Plans are already in the works to make this Spring Spruce-Up an annual event to kick off the Oregon Department of Forestry work party season.  (Check out the volunteer tab for the 2019 trail work party schedule.)

Many thanks the following organizations who partnered to host the work party efforts:

• Trailkeepers of Oregon
• Northwest Trail Alliance
• Daybreak Racing
• Oregon Equestrian Trails
• Oregon Timber Trail

And thanks to Nathan Frechen, Jeremy Long and Juntu Oberg for sharing their photographs from the day's activities!