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Tillamook Story : An Oregon Legend: From Ashes to Forest
(Student Page)

The Tillamook State Forest is a temperate rainforest located in the northern Coast Range Mountains west of Portland, Oregon.

 

On a hot August afternoon in 1933, one spark ignited a fire that changed the lives of people, the landscape and the future of what is known today as the Tillamook State Forest. A series of devastating wildfires transformed the original forest into a virtual wasteland, but one of the world's largest reforestation projects has returned the area to a beautiful green forest once again.

After the fire

Figure 1: After the Tillamook Burn

Reforestation

Figure 2: Reforestation in Tillamook
Burn area.

The Tillamook Burn became the collective name for the series of large wildfires that began in August, 1933 and struck every six years through 1951. The combined total of acres lost to those wildfires was 355,000 acres. The fires had major environmental, economic, and social consequences for the coastal counties of northwest Oregon. The logging industry, the foundation of the local economies, was brought to a halt. Wildlife native to the area was destroyed due to habitat loss. Rivers were choked with sediment and debris. Seed cones—the genetic blueprint for a new forest—were wiped out by fire.

 

In the years since the fires, foresters, professional tree planters and volunteers have worked painstakingly to reestablish the forest and its many resources. Oregon voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1948 authorizing $12 million in bonds to rehabilitate the land. The long reforestation project, the largest ever undertaken, began in 1949. Helicopters were used for the first time for large-scale aerial seeding. On the ground, forestry crews, prison inmates and school groups planted trees by hand. In total, helping hands planted 72 million seedlings giving the burned-over landscape a new start.

Tree Planting

Figure 3: Tree planting was part of the reforestation effort.

Helicopter

Figure 4: Helicopter being used for large-scale aerial seeding.

Along with the reforestation came efforts at fire prevention. Crews worked to "fireproof" the forest with a network of roads that would provide better access for firefighters in the event of a fire. A network of forest lookout stations was also established.

The new Tillamook State Forest is a place of hope. Decades of investment and hard work are beginning to pay off. Harvests of some timber are beginning to provide revenue, jobs and raw materials for counties and local communities. Healthy fish and wildlife populations have returned, bringing a sense of wildness and diversity.  People are back in the picture today: campers, hikers, anglers, off-highway vehicle enthusiasts, horseback riders.

This hand-made forest is managed today by the Oregon Department of Forestry. It is managed to be a healthy, productive, and sustainable ecosystem that provides a full range of social, economic and environmental benefits to the people of Oregon. Products we need and use every day, habitat for native fish and wildlife species, recreational opportunities, from horseback riding to mountain biking, and revenue to fund local services all come from the Tillamook Forest. The Tillamook State Forest is a land to learn from and to enjoy.

The Tillamook Burn was officially renamed the Tillamook State Forest by Oregon Governor Tom McCall on July 18, 1973. Today the area is covered with young trees, but the charred trunks left by the old burn remind people of the vulnerability of our forest resources and the ever-present need to be careful with fire.

This information and story was provided by the Oregon Department of Forestry
(http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/TSF/tillamook_story.shtml)

 
Essay / Worksheet 1 / Worksheet 2 / Tillamook Story / Worksheet 3 Teacher Instructions / Worksheet 3 / Rubric 1 / Rubric 2 / Worksheet 4 / Rubric 3 / Application and Integration Exercise / Test / Reflective Exercise