TILLAMOOK BAY

Tillamook Bay estuary
Tillamook Bay

Tillamook Bay (Oregon Coastal Atlas)

The Tillamook Bay estuary is located on the Oregon coast at Tillamook and Garibaldi. The estuary is approximately 9216 acres in area and has a watershed of approximately 540 square miles.

The Tillamook Bay 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 Tillamook Bay 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.

Tillamook Bay is extremely productive: in 1998, one stream feeding into Tillamook Bay, the Wilson River, produced the most juvenile Chinook salmon of any monitored stream on the Oregon coast. Five major tributaries flow into Tillamook Bay: the Tillamook, Trask, Wilson, Kilchis and Miami. Four rivers, the Tillamook, Trask, Wilson and Kilchis, are relatively close together when they enter the bay, and their valleys merge to create one big floodplain. Thanks to this unusual topography, the area has experienced problems with flooding and sedimentation. In response to these issues, in 1992 Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts nominated Tillamook Bay to the National Estuary Program. Since then, the bay has been extensively studied. Federal and State agencies, along with vigorous local involvement, are working to solve the challenges facing this unique estuary.

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

Sources

Coulton, Kevin G., et al. An environmental history of the Tillamook Bay Estuary and Watershed. Garibaldi, OR : Tillamook Bay National Estuary Project. 1996. With Illustrative Figures.

Lund, Ernest H. Coastal landforms between Tillamook Bay and the Columbia River, Oregon. OreBin 34 (11) (1972) 173-194.

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Tsunami Hazard Map of the Tillamook Quadrangle, Tillamook County, Oregon. Portland, OR: The Department. Open File Report O-95-21. 1995.

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

Terich, Thomas A. and Paul Komar. Development and Erosion History of Bayocean Spit, Tillamook, Oregon. Corvallis, Or. : School of Oceanography, Oregon State University. 1973.

Excerpts with permission from The Oregon Coastal Atlas

Compiled by Susan Gilmont, Staff, OSU Libraries (6/2007)