Effective Thursday, August 26, 2010, the off-highway vehicle trails in the Tillamook State Forest are RE-OPEN. This includes off-highway vehicle trails in the Browns Camp, Jordan Creek, Diamond Mill, and Trask off-highway vehicle areas, and the BLM Upper Nestucca Riding Area. Fire Season Regulated Use Precautions are still in effect.

Thank you for helping keep the Tillamook State Forest fire-safe!

The popular recreation area southeast of Salem closed on July 5 to provide for public safety during a timber harvest in the area. Shellburg Falls, two miles north of Lyons, lies within the Santiam State Forest. The closure is expected to extend into the fall.

Oregon Department of Forestry offices throughout the state will BE OPEN on the following days during fire season that other state offices will be closed due to furloughs: August 20, and September 17 (both Fridays). The next ODF-furlough closure day will be Friday, November 26, with offices re-opening on Monday, November 29.

Coping with reduced state revenues requires closing most state offices and facilities on certain days from September 2009 through June 2011, with employees taking unpaid furloughs on those days.

As an emergency response agency, the Oregon Department of Forestry will NOT observe required state office closure dates that conflict with fire season - June through October - although ODF employees are required to take the same total number of unpaid furlough days as all other state employees.

CLOSURE DATES FOR ALL ODF OFFICES: Friday, November 27, 2009; Friday, March 19, 2010; Friday, April 16, 2010; Friday, November 26, 2010; Friday, March 18, 2011, and Friday, May 20, 2011.

New views of Oregon's forests are now available on the department's website. The Oregon Forest Atlas project can provide a broader understanding of Oregon's forests using geographic information systems data and contemporary technology.

The Tillamook Forest Center's Fall operating hours began September 8, 2010. The Center is now open Wedneday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through November 28, when the center closes for the winter, re-opening in the spring of 2011 on March 2.

Programs on forest edibles, the fungus among us, the history of the Tillamook State Forest, and fire lookouts are just some of the many activities you and your family can enjoy there this fall. Check the Center's web site for information on the center and upcoming programs.

Fall Hours: The Forest History Center on the Oregon Department of Forestry's Salem Campus is open on Fridays from 10 a.m to 3 p.m., and at other times by appointment. Stop by and learn more about Oregon's forest past.

Oregon has a tremendous opportunity to enhance our forests and create jobs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - "The Oregon Way" - and State Economic Recovery dollars signed into law by Governor Kulongoski - "Go Oregon!"