Jedaiah Lunn. Photo courtesy DOC A man who walked away from a South Fork Forest Camp work crew near the Gales Creek Campground on Wednesday, April 14 is back in custody. Jedaiah Lunn walked away from his work crew on Wednesday around 2:30 p.m., and was implicated in an assault[Read More…]
Tillamook State Forest
South Fork Forest Camp inmate escapes custody near Gales Creek Campground
South Fork Forest Camp entrance in November 2017. Photo: Chas Hundley 4/15 5:50 a.m. update: Lunn is back in custody, according to the DOC. A South Fork Forest Camp inmate walked away from a work crew near the Gales Creek Campground Wednesday around 2:30 p.m., the Oregon Department of Corrections[Read More…]
ODF seeks to create clarity, rules when closing state forestland
The Gales Creek Overlook in the Tillamook State Forest. File photo: Chas Hundley//Gales Creek Journal The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) initiated its administrative rulemaking process to create a permanent rule for implementing state forest closures, and to update an existing rule to include language clarifying that parking fees are[Read More…]
Gales Creek stream restoration project highlighted in timber revenue report
The Tillamook Forest Center. Photo: Chas Hundley The Oregon Department of Forestry issued an annual report that shows revenue from timber operations in the Tillamook State Forest to Tillamook, Washington and Columbia County totals $31.4 in revenue in the 2020 fiscal year. Of that pool, Washington County and local districts[Read More…]
Fire season ends in NW Oregon forests
The Oregon Department of Forestry stages a vehicle at the Gales Creek Fire Station on Tuesday, August 27 2019. Photo: Chas Hundley The official fire season ended Monday, October 12 in this portion of NW Oregon, bringing to an official close a season unlike any other in recent history in[Read More…]
Tillamook, Clatsop forests to reopen to public use Friday
An Oregon Department of Forestry fire vehicle near the community of Watts, east of Gales Creek on Tuesday, September 15. Photo: Chas Hundley The Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests are expected to reopen to public use on Friday, September 18 at 1 a.m., according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. [Read More…]
Oregon Department of Forestry extends public forest shutdown through Wednesday
A sign at the Gales Creek Fire Station noting “Extreme” fire danger on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Photo: Chas Hundley The Oregon Department of Forestry plans to keep all forests under their purview closed to public entry and use through at least Wednesday, September 16. The earliest they could open[Read More…]
Region closed to logging, other industrial forest use
A “Super Scooper” plane fights the Powerline Fire near Cherry Grove. Photo taken from ODF video Beginning Friday, September 11 at 1 a.m., logging and other industrial forest activities in the entirety of the Northwest Oregon Forest Protective Association region will be closed due to wildfire danger and limited firefighting[Read More…]
Tillamook State Forest closed to public use
The Gales Creek Overlook in the Tillamook State Forest. File photo: Chas Hundley//Gales Creek Journal The Tillamook State Forest is closed to the public, as are other forestlands protected by the agency in northwest Oregon due to extreme wildfire danger and limited firefighting resources. In an alert issued Wednesday afternoon,[Read More…]
Hot weather prompts shift in precautions for logging in region
ODF offices in Forest Grove. Photo: Chas Hundley For those who work in the Tillamook State Forest and surrounding forests protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry, logging and other commercial activities will need to shift certain activities out of the hottest parts of the day as much of the[Read More…]