SILETZ BAY

Siletz Bay estuary
Siletz Bay

Siletz Bay (Oregon Coastal Atlas)

The Siletz Bay estuary is located on the Oregon coast at Lincoln City. The estuary is approximately 1461 acres in area and has a watershed of approximately 373 square miles.

The Siletz Bay estuary is designated as a Conservation estuary under the Oregon Estuary Classification system. The geomorphology of the area is that of a Drowned River Mouth estuary.

The Siletz Bay estuary is located in Lincoln County. Principal industries of the county are lumber, fishing, agriculture and tourism. The county seat of Newport is home to Oregon State Universitys Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Coast Aquarium and a busy commercial fishing fleet. By 2006, it had grown to 44,500 representing an increase of 12.7% over 1990, but less than 1% since 2000.

Much of the land around the Siletz estuary is part of the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Public access to the Refuge is limited to special events, such as guided summer canoe trips. Wildlife can be watched from the highway. The refuges primary ecological goal is to restore the salt marsh to its natural tidally influenced state. The refuge provides nursery grounds for salmon and trout.

The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries maintains a tsunami inundation map for the Siletz Bay and Lincoln City area.

Sources

Komar, Paul D. and C. Cary Rea. Beach Erosion on Siletz Spit, Oregon. OreBin 38 (8) (1976): 119-134.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Habitat Map of the Siletz Estuary. Portland, OR: The Department. 1978.

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Tsunami Hazard Map of the Lincoln City Quadrangle, Lincoln County, Oregon. Portland, OR: The Department. Open File Report O-95-25. 1995.

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

Starr, Richard M. Natural Resources of Siletz Estuary. Portland, OR: Research and Development Section, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 1979.

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