The Gales Creek Overlook in the Tillamook State Forest. File photo: Chas Hundley//Banks Post
The Oregon Department of Forestry has announced that all campgrounds in the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests will have reopened by Memorial Day weekend, with the last few stragglers opening Thursday, May 27. Joining campgrounds opened throughout the last few weeks are Brown’s Camp, Gales Creek Campground, Jones Creek, Nehalem Falls, and Reehers Camp (to both equestrian and non-equestrian users), all opening May 27. Campgrounds in the Santiam State Forest remain closed, said ODF spokesperson Jason Cox in an email to this publication, due to damage from the 2020 wildfires and more recent windstorms. Campsites and recreation areas in the Tillamook State Forest and elsewhere have faced extended closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. More information and locations for a variety of campgrounds, trails, trailheads, and other outdoor recreation facilities in the Tillamook State Forest can be found on the Oregon Department of Forestry's website.Campers can also check the agency's list of recreation sites impacted by COVID-19-related closures before heading to a campground or recreation site. A date for the reopening of the Tillamook Forest Center has yet to be released.
The 2022 wildfire season in Oregon has been among the mildest in the last decade, with human-caused fires down nearly 20% from the 10-year average, according to state data.
Humans
Discovered Friday evening, the Fishhawk Loop Fire has grown to an estimated 120 acres in Clatsop County near the Fishhawk Lake community that straddles the Columbia and Clatsop County line.
More than a hundred teachers and staff from Banks' three public schools gathered in the Banks Elementary School cafeteria Aug. 19 for a breakfast with their peers and school officials as another school year began. With construction, new security, and a cell phone ban looming, many changes await staf
A crash in Glenwood snarled Labor Day weekend traffic for up to three miles and resulted in minor injuries to at least four people, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said Saturday.
