Wildfire season is nearly upon the Gales Creek Valley and surrounding Tillamook Forest, and the Gales Creek Neighborhood Watch wants you to learn how to prepare your home at an upcoming community gathering.

Dozens of contenders have thrown their hat into the ring to lead, represent, and hold positions of authority in local school and fire boards that will define where the tax dollars of voters go to provide fire and emergency services, education and more.

The Oregon average price is 17 cents more than it was in April 2018, the sixth-largest annual increase in the U.S.

A wildflower and butterfly sketching workshop hosted by Seaside-based artist, educator and forager Dorota Haber-Lehigh is coming to the Tillamook Forest Center Sunday, April 28 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Preregistration is required.

In this column, Sharon explores the topic of Balm Grove and our local CPO program. Gales Creek Gatherings is a column by guest writer, Sharon Hundley. Sharon will be covering local events and gatherings in the Gales Creek Valley, featuring community events, businesses, and special happenings. If you know of an upcoming event and would like to see it in here, please contact news@galescreekjournal.com, with Sharon Hundley in the subject line.

A roundup of Easter events in Gales Creek, Hillside, Banks and beyond. See one we missed? Email us at news@galescreekjournal.com!

The "Art of the Story" is returning to Washington County for its 15th year. Catch events locally at the Forest Grove and Banks libraries.

After initially announcing in 2017 that the bridge over Prickett Creek on Stringtown Road would be replaced in the summer of 2019, the county now says its characterization of the bridge as a "decaying timber structure" was somewhat misleading and that construction has been pushed to 2022.

Gales Creek Gatherings is a column by guest writer, Sharon Hundley. Sharon will be covering local events and gatherings in the Gales Creek Valley, featuring community events, businesses, and special happenings. If you know of an upcoming event which is outside the regular community calendar events and would like to see it in here, please contact news@galescreekjournal.com, with Sharon Hundley in the subject line.

Gales Creek, 1930 By Esther Lilly Hundley. Transcribed by Sandra Evans. These are the diary entries of Esther Lilly Hundley, who lived in Gales Creek with the Lilly clan after the family moved to Gales Creek in the 1880’s. They paint a picture of what it was like to live in Gales Creek and the surrounding areas. They are published as they were written, with original spelling.

A community gathering in Gales Creek will feature a potluck, an update on the Balm Grove Dam removal project, and a presentation on recycling.

A public roundtable meeting will be held in Salem on Friday, April 12 to discuss the timeline and processes behind proposed changes to how the state manages some 667,000 acres of state-owned forestland west of the Cascade Mountains.

The Tillamook Forest Center, an ODF-managed facility located in the heart of the Tillamook State Forest along Highway 6 will play host to thousands of visitors in 2019 who visit the Tillamook State Forest. Check out the events offered this month.

Bev Clarno, a former state legislator and George W. Bush appointee, will fill the rest of former Secretary of State Dennis Richardson's term, who died on February 26.

All but one race is contested in elections for seats on the Forest Grove School Board and the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District for the May 21 special district election.