Crime, South Fork Forest Camp, Tillamook State Forest

Escaped South Fork Forest Camp inmate arrested

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 and carjacking in the same area shortly after look leaving his work crew.

He was arrested on Sauvie Island by Oregon State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office around 10:37 p.m. Wednesday, according to an Oregon Department of Corrections press release issued late Wednesday night.

According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, South Fork Forest Camp, established in 1951 as a joint venture between the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of Corrections, houses up to 204 incarcerated adults and has a staff of 24. Those who reside there must apply for the program, which sees inmates perform a variety of tasks, usually related to forestry. The facility is located 28 miles east of Tillamook near Highway 6 in the Tillamook Forest.

Crews from South Fork are often sent to assist at wildfires in the Tillamook State Forest and elsewhere in Oregon, and supply labor in replanting efforts, sign building (the sign at the entrance to the Forest Grove Oregon Department of Forestry offices was built by South Fork crews), metal fabrication and tool and equipment repair. The facility is largely self-sustaining in many ways, with a gas station, religious facilities, a small fish hatchery, and auto repair shop.

Crews also work on campgrounds, trails and trailheads and day use areas throughout the NW Oregon area.

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Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.

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