NEHALEM BAY

Nehalem River estuary
Nehalem River estuary

Nehalem River (Oregon Coastal Atlas)

The Nehalem River estuary is located on the Oregon coast at Nehalem. The estuary is approximately 2749 acres in area and has a watershed of approximately 855 square miles.

The Nehalem River estuary is designated as a Shallow Draft Development estuary under the Oregon Estuary Classification system. The geomorphology of the area is that of a Drowned River Mouth estuary.

The Nehalem River estuary is located in Tillamook County. Principle industries of the county are agriculture, lumber, fishing, and recreation. The county seat of Tillamook is home to Tillamook Bay Community College, and bordered by the Tillamook State Forest. The 1997 population of Tillamook County of 23,800 represented an increase of 10.3% since 1990. By 2006, it had grown to 25,530, an increase of 18.4% over 1990, and 5.2% since 2000.

Although much of the land around the Nehalem River estuary has been diked and converted to pastures, there are still significant coastal marshes around the bay.

The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries maintains a tsunami inundation map for the Rockaway, Manzanita and Nehalem River area.

Sources

Coast Range Association. Salmon and forests: report on the Nehalem Watershed. Corvallis, OR: The Association. 2000.

Lower Nehalem Watershed Council. The Nehalem Estuary. Nehalem, OR: The Council. 2001.

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Tsunami Hazard Map of the Nehalem Quadrangle, Tillamook County, Oregon. Portland, OR: The Department. Open File Report O-95-24. 1995.

Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program. Learn about the Nehalem River Estuary in Oregon's Coastal Atlas. Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. 2000.

Excerpts with permission from The Oregon Coastal Atlas, Compiled by Susan Gilmont, Staff, OSU Libraries (2007)