Tillamook Bay Task Force Report

Oregon State University Extension Service Special Report 462 November 1976 Location of Tillamook Bay study area

Introduction

The Tillamook Bay Task Force was problems, collected planning Next, the Task Force recorded organized in 1973 to study the documents and technical reports, and results, noting locations where Tillamook Bay area and to prepared overlays for maps. specific uses and activities were recommend guidelines for its future Agency representatives helped suitable or suitable with limitations. development. gather existing data on the natural Uses were eventually ranked, From its beginning the Task Force environment. Staff members assigning the highest priority to the set out to represent and respond to assembled and presented most desirable alternative within a the needs and desires of local information on governmental and particular unit. citizens. To this end, representatives land use characteristics. They performed this process three from port authorities, city councils, After they had collated the times, refining and modifying the the board of commissioners, and available data and had formulated order of suitable uses as they industry served on the Task Force. initial goals, members prepared a collected more information. This report summarizes the results Of equal importance were community attitudes survey to ensure that the goals defined during the of their work, including their contributions by members of the study reflected needs and desires of recommendations. It includes technical advisory group, who the local citizens. background information on the area advised the Task Force on a variety They then used the survey of the study, the Tillamook Bay of topics. This group consisted of estuary, and adjacent uplands. representatives from local, state, and responses to revise the initial goals and to shape their final This report is published by the federal agencies that exercise recommendations. OSU Extension Service as part of its jurisdictions in the study area. Six subcommittees were educational role in community In their work, Task Force members appointed to investigate particular development and its marine advisory examined natural, governmental, aspects of the Tillamook Bay program, and as a model for other land use, and economic resource environment. These dealt with: 1) development and planning efforts. characteristics. Diverse natural and natural resources, 2) marine man-made elements were included recreation, 3) transportation, 4) in their study. They divided the sedimentation and flood control, 5) Tillamook Bay shoreline and planning and zoning, and 6) public associated water areas into 15 units. education and study implementation. Specific elements receiving study As they were working out goals, ranged from geology, soils, and Task Force and technical advisory wetlands; through aquatic life and group members were also analyzing wildlife; to zoning, land use, and each unit of the bay. This analysis sewage services. examined physical, governmental, Early work involved central and resource characteristics of the coordination among agencies and units, and their ability to local authorities with jurisdiction on accommodate certain uses and the bay. Members quickly identified activities. 3

Tillamook Bay: its natural setting

"That part of the mouth and lower To the southeast, the Tillamook, is 115 inches, with a 90-inch average course of a river in which the fresh Wilson, Trask, and Kilchis Rivers at Tillamook and up to 150 inches water of the river mixes with the salt create a broad flood plain. In the at higher elevations. water from the sea" is the glossary northeast a fifth river, the Miami, The average January temperature depiction of an estuary. Dictionary enters the estuary at Miami Cove, is 42°F and the average July definitions fail to convey any sense east of the town of Garibaldi, over a temperature is 58°F at Tillamook. of the natural beauty of an estuary— narrow flood plain. Temperatures seldom drop below or recognition of benefits derived All five rivers rise in the Coast freezing near the shoreline of the from its use. Range, which borders the estuary to estuary. This results in a growing A definition by the American the east. Together they drain 533 season of 190 days without a killing Association for the Advancement of square miles of the west slope of the frost. Fog is common throughout the Science helps round out the meaning range. year, particularly during night and but does little more to portray the The terrain in this area is steep, morning hours. significant qualities of an estuary with only a small percentage in Whatever the weather, the water such as Tillamook Bay: "A semi- slopes of less than 20 percent. Flat temperature within the estuary enclosed body of water which has land occurs on the flood plains, on usually remains in a range from 50° free connection with the sea and fills in the Garibaldi area, and on to 59° F all year, benefiting aquatic within which ocean water is several remnants of marine and river life. Salinity—the proportion of salts measurably diluted with fresh water terraces. As a result, little land is in the waters of the estuary—also from land drainage." suitable and available for urban or affects the growth of aquatic life. However defined, estuaries are rural development. The Tillamook Bay estuary special places whose natural mixing Flat lands on the flood plain are provides a range of habitat which of salt and fresh waters causes flooded annually in many locations. supports a diversity of aquatic life beneficial things to occur. The These plains are now used primarily and wildlife. No single type of habitat Tillamook Bay estuary is a good for agriculture. in nature is independent of the others. example of an estuary. The strong marine influence of the This interaction influences estuarine Located 50 miles south of the Pacific Ocean dominates climate in diversity and contributes to high Columbia River and 65 miles north of the Tillamook area. Wet winters and natural productivity. In short, a Yaquina Bay, the Tillamook Bay dry summers characterize the region, healthy estuary is of great value in estuary is six miles long, three miles and temperature ranges are narrow. the food chain. wide, and has a surface area of 12 Frequent storms between November The Tillamook Bay estuary has square miles at high tide. Steep, and March drop heavy rainfalls over been classified by the Oregon forested uplands flank it on the short periods. Average annual Coastal Conservation and northeast and southwest. precipitation for the drainage basin Development Commission as a 5 Tillamook Bay drainage basin and study area partially mixed, or two-layered, shellfish, and birds depend on eel- debris from the marshlands is carried estuary with high marine biological grass. Eelgrass also provides into the lower estuary by tide and value and high to moderately high protective cover for young fishes and flooding, where it decays. In the terrestrial biological value. An active, is an important diet of many types of process, it nourishes organisms interdependent ecological web links waterfowl. throughout the estuarine food chain. the water, tidelands, marshlands, Phytoplankton and zooplankton, The marshes benefit the estuary in rivers, and sloughs of the estuary. which swim or drift freely in the other ways. They absorb large Total productivity in an estuarine waters of the estuary, are an amounts of flood water and chemical area is proportional to the ratio of important food source for wildlife. and organic contaminants. They length of shoreline to area of water These small estuarine plants and afford excellent habitat for wildlife. surface. The longer the shoreline per animals provide a large part of the More than 30 species of waterfowl unit of water area, the greater the food required by small fishes, which and over 20 species of shore birds potential for biological productivity. in turn are eaten by larger fishes that make the marshlands their home in Thus, irregular, natural shorelines are of direct importance to the local one or more seasons. So do tend to be more productive than commercial and sport fisheries. countless snails, worms, insects, and filled, straightened shorelines. When Gravel, sand, and mud flats sup- other invertebrates and plants upon ratios of shoreline-to-surface area port large populations of benthic life which the birds depend for their diet. are favorable—as they are in the such as clams and burrowing worms. Freshwater mammals, including Tillamook Bay estuary—aquatic The estuary and its tributaries are mink, otter, beaver, and muskrat, are vegetation is abundant, making the spawning grounds and rearing areas common in the marshlands. estuarine system a food-rich habitat for a variety of fishes, including The diked and undiked lands on that serves as a nursery ground and herring, smelt, shad, salmon, and the flood plains along the tributary habitat for a great many species of trout. Herring, for example, spawn on rivers support many of these same life. rocks and pilings; surf smelt, in sand. mammals plus deer and elk, which Tides affect growth of estuarine Shad, salmon, and searun trout sometimes come into now-fenced vegetation, by decreasing or reproduce in the rivers. The waters pasture lands to graze. increasing the exposure of algae, of the bay provide rearing areas for The uplands surrounding the phytoplankton, and other aquatic these and other species during one estuary are home to certain of the plants to sunlight as the volume of or more stages of their life cycles. same wildlife and inland aquatic life water changes over the marshes and At least seasonally all of the forms as inhabit the flood plains. tidelands. Thus, not only the length of following abound within the Tillamook Freshwater game fish inhabit the the boundary between land and water Bay estuary: salmon, steelhead, and upland lakes and streams, and bear but the surface area of and depth of searun cutthroat trout; bottomfish and are still to be found in the stands of the water in the estuary are important rockfish; Pacific herring, northern timber that thrive on the slopes of the factors in estuarine productivity. anchovy, and surf smelt; Dungeness surrounding Coast Range. There are 4,163 acres of tideland crab; ghost and mud shrimp; oysters; and about 800 acres of marshland in and cockle, littleneck, butter, gaper, Tillamook Bay. and Eastern softshell clams. Tidelands in Tillamook Bay estuary Marine mammals including the support several large communities of hair seal, fur seal, and sea lion live in eelgrass, which are critical to the the estuary seasonally. maintenance of a productive The area's marshlands are an estuarine system. Many forms of important source of vegetative crustaceans that are food for fish, nutrient. Vegetation and organic 7 Sport fishing and herring spawning areas General habitat types in the Tillamook area 8 Principal shellfish harvesting areas Wildlife habitats 9

Factors affecting life in Tillamook County

Abundant natural productivity in out of concern for maintaining docks on Hoquarten Slough. Now, and around the Tillamook Bay balance between quality of life and the channels that they plied are estuary has always attracted human natural productivity within the study impassable to shipping because of settlement. Settlement weaves the area. sedimentation. Shallow-draft smail human animal into the web of Lumbering, farming, recreation, boats have trouble navigating the biological interdependence of the shipping, and fishing are the lifeblood south bay. estuarine ecosystem. The human of the communities around Tillamook Sediments carried down the rivers resident, however, looks to satisfy Bay. Human population in Tillamook and into the bay have built up at rapid economic as well as biological County has grown from a few hundred rates, filling former channels south of requirements. Effects of the human settlers a century ago to 18,000 by Garibaldi. All of the navigation presence have escalated from 1970. The economic development channels south of the existing negligible, when only a scattering of accompanying this expansion has Garibaldi channel now have been Northwest Indians frequented the accelerated certain rates of change, abandoned. region, to inescapable—at the such as erosion and sedimentation. Recent heavy erosion has been present population level and Some timber resources have been traced in part to the devastating fires economic pace. devastated by fires; areas of the bay that burned over extensive areas Harvesting and managing that were once navigable have filled between 1933 and 1951. Trees and renewable resources such as the with sediments eroded from burn shrubs that had sheltered the soil timber of the upland slopes; fencing, areas; several species of fish are from the direct impact of precipitation diking, and converting flood plains to scarcer than before these influences were denuded or consumed, pastures for dairy herds; and altered the estuary; some waterfowl exposing the soil to heavy erosion. extending stone jetties into the and wildlife habitats, modified by This exposed and destroyed root Pacific to protect shipping in the economic activities, now sustain systems that normally anchor soils entrance to Tillamook Bay can reduced bird and animal populations. on the steep slopes, further elevate quality of life—to a limit. These shifts, in turn, adversely affect contributing to the erosion. However, if pushed beyond that limit, some area residents and visitors who After a severe fire and until plants the resulting alterations of natural are not involved directly in the and grasses regenerate, precipitation conditions can move the human economic pursuits that accelerated strikes the exposed soil directly. population into the province of the changes. Water saturates the soil, runs off the diminishing returns, and hasten the surface, and quickly erodes small collapse of the natural productivity Sedimentation channels. As these become larger, on which economic welfare depends. Four-masted schooners and more soil particles and debris are Thus, the Tillamook Bay Task steamers once loaded cargoes of carried downslope. Large channels Force began its study at least partly lumber, cheese, and wood boxes at and gullies form and move still larger 11 loads of sediments into streams and rivers. Rapidly flowing streams carry the sediments along. The faster water moves, the greater the sediment load it can transport. But where flowing streams enter a body of standing water, as in the case of an estuary, the water velocity drops and the sediments settle to the bottom. In this way river channels become filled with sediments, often aggravating flooding when runoff is heavy. Thus, over a very brief period in relation to the geologic evolution of the bay, this process has caused significant reduction in the volume of Tillamook Bay. Adding to the problem have been road construction, logging of green timber, and salvaging of burned and partially burned timber. Rains; denuded, shallow rocky soils; and steep slopes combine to produce abnormally high erosion rates. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been cooperating with Tillamook County and the Ports of Tillamook Bay and Bay City in local attempts to initiate a study of the feasibility of restoring navigable channels into the south bay. The project promises benefits beyond restoration of navigation. It can lower flood levels and avert potential property losses. If channels are created to allow salt water to intrude into the south bay, economically important estuarine production can be enhanced. Land fill This sedimentary filling of the estuary has caused rapid expansion Composite of comprehensive plans of marshlands in the deltas of the 12 Kilchis, Trask, and Wilson Rivers. Over the past century the diking of tidal marsh area for dairy land has to some extent claimed acreage that once was part of the estuary. Often the filling of estuarine wetlands and tidelands results in loss of natural productivity. However, some filling or placement of piling is occasionally unavoidable when making economically essential improvements for water-dependent human activities. Review of proposed fills by appropriate resource agencies that are equipped to assess the results of proposed alterations can minimize or eliminate destructive impacts. Ocean-front erosion has been a major concern in the Tillamook area for many years. Erosion and storm waves breached the Bayocean Peninsula in 1952 and contributed to the final loss of the resort community. Because sandspits are dynamic and change constantly under the onslaught of waves, currents, and winds, anything that upsets natural sand transport processes such as construction of jetties, removal of sands from beaches, and disruption of dune vegetation, may cause rapid changes in the configuration of a sandspit. The Corps of Engineers believes that conditions have stabilized on the Bayocean Peninsula since it placed a rock fill there in 1954 to close the breach. The more recent construction of the south jetty is expected to contribute to stabilizing the peninsula too. Wind erosion is a problem on the sandspit. Rabbit Hollow, a large wind Composite of zoning maps 13 Shoreline changes from 1867 to 1971 Comparative changes in Bayocean Penninsula

14 gap, extends from the foredune Garibaldi, which completed a maintain private industrial sewage across the sandspit to a point close comprehensive plan in 1964, systems. to the bay shoreline. Sand that has recently formed a citizens advisory Bay City has one of the newest collected behind the south jetty is committee to begin preparing a new sewage treatment facilities in the also blowing over its top. Unless both one with the help of the Clatsop- county, with a potential to serve more areas are stabilized, this sand will Tillamook Intergovernmental Council. than 2,000 units. Garibaldi recently continue to be deposited in the Tillamook County along with the updated its treatment plant, although estuary at an abnormal rate. Strict Port of Tillamook Bay, which has it still lacks the capacity to handle regulation of activities on the sandspit jurisdiction over the southwest wastewater from seafood processing is needed to prevent disruption of portion of the bay, have contracted plants on the waterfront. dune vegetation. with a consultant in cooperation with Treated sewage is monitored by the Port of Bay City to prepare a the Department of Environmental development report for the bay. The Quality at the Garibaldi boat basin, at Local government jurisdictions Port of Bay City has jurisdiction over Bay City, and on the Trask River. Tillamook County, the cities of the northeast portion of the bay, and Sewage facilities in the area generally Tillamook, Bay City, and Garibaldi, shares jurisdiction over the channel suffer problems because of infiltration and the ports of Tillamook Bay and entrance with the Port of Tillamook during the winter months when Bay City are the main governing Bay. precipitation is heavy. bodies. The offices of the Port of Tillamook Although many state and federal The county maintains a planning are at the Tillamook industrial park, agencies are active in the area, the staff who are responsible for orderly formerly a naval air station, southeast principal federal presence consists development outside incorporated of the city. The port is evaluating the of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, areas. The cities do not have full- potential for channel improvements the Bureau of Land Management, and time planning personnel but are very to provide shipping facilities in the the U.S. Forest Service. The National conscious of the need for planning. south bay. The Port of Bay City has Land Use Policy Act, if passed by They have recently made progress facilities at Garibaldi including a Congress, will emphasize procedures toward assuring orderly development barge dock and a boat basin. Several for establishing and maintaining a within incorporated boundaries. commercial and industrial firms lease continuing inventory and guidelines Tillamook County has adopted a property from the port. for major land use decisions that comprehensive plan and a zoning In addition to these traditional have regional or statewide impact. and subdivision ordinance. These levels of local government, the area The federal Coastal Zone serve as the basic controls for is dotted with many water and sewage Management Act encourages and development. The county has also districts. Water supplies for the region assists states to develop and prepared a comprehensive water and are drawn mainly from wells and administer management programs to sewage study, a transportation plan, creeks. The availability or lack of use land and water resources in the and a parks and recreation study. water and sewage treatment services coastal zone wisely. The city of Tillamook, which has a influences residential and industrial A number of state agencies also planning commission, recently development. have a major impact on the area: the completed a comprehensive plan and Garibaldi, Tillamook, and Bay City State Land Conservation and zoning ordinance. Bay City's planning have sewage treatment plants that Development Commission, the now commission approved a provide collection and treatment to defunct Oregon Coastal Conservation comprehensive plan and zoning more than 3,500 services. The Port of and Development Commission, the ordinance and is now preparing a Tillamook Bay and the Tillamook Department of Geology and Mineral subdivision ordinance. County Creamery Association Industries, the Department of 15 Land ownership patterns 16 Environmental Quality, the Division citizens, a situation contributing to on the south bay flood plain are used of State Lands, the Nuclear and confusion. More than 50 percent of primarily as pasture for dairy herds. Thermal Energy Council, the Soil and the immediate shoreline of Tillamook Commercial development is Water Conservation Commission, the Bay is in state highway or Southern concentrated in the cities and along Water Resources Department, the Pacific Railroad rights of way, greatly U.S. Highway 101. Residential Department of Health, and the restricting use and activity in many development is also centered in the Highway Department, among them. locations. cities. All five population areas have Ownership patterns indicate a lack urban densities exceeding two or of land suitable for development in more dwelling units per acre. Land ownership the shoreland area. Ownership in the Upland areas are important timber Patterns of land ownership rugged uplands, on the tidelands, producers that are managed by the influence economic growth. Small, and at the Bayocean Peninsula is all Oregon Department of Forestry and privately owned parcels tend to be in large parcels. Incorporated cities, by private industry. developed before larger parcels. communities, and flood plain areas Public and semi-public lands are Larger parcels in the study area, are divided generally into smaller, concentrated at Barview and on the mostly held by the state or the privately held parcels. Bayocean Peninsula. The main federal government, probably will not The land east and south of Bay City concentration of urban land use is in be available for development in the and Tillamook is in private ownership, Garibaldi, Bay City, and Tillamook. foreseeable future. Some of the large but flooding and agricultural use Low-density rural concentrations are private holdings may have potential curtail development. Garibaldi, found on the south flood plain and for large-scale development into Barview, and Cape Meares have few Hobsonville Point on the county road. residential subdivisions, industrial private parcels of land. complexes, or recreation sites. Existing land-use patterns include Much of the uplands outside industrial, commercial, residential, incorporated areas is held by the navigational, pasture, timber Oregon Department of Forestry. production, or public purposes. Federally owned parcels at Barview Industrial development on Tillamook (for the U.S. Coast Guard) and on the Bay exists principally along the north end of the Bayocean Peninsula Garibaldi shoreline, where ocean- account for a small portion of the going barge facilities, wood products study area. processing plants, and fish processing The largest areas of public lands facilities are located. Oyster owned by the county are at Barview processors are located at Garibaldi, and on the Bayocean sandspit. Cities Bay City, and on the southwest shore. in the area hold only small parcels, Other major industrial complexes which are mostly reserved for open within the study area include the Port space, public utility, or watershed of Tillamook Bay industrial park and needs. the Tillamook cheese factory. Private lands lie within incorporated Channels for shallow-draft cities and on the flood plain. Crown shipping extend from the bay Zellerbach and Publishers Paper entrance to a turning basin near Company own large upland areas. Miami Cove. The tidelands are owned by the Lands along the Miami River delta state, county, port, and by private and flood plain and an extensive area 17

Proper framework for development: public participation As the preceding overview suggests, 1) conserving resources and They want to discourage: planning for regional development preserving the rural nature of 1) continued development of the is involved, complicated, and time Tillamook County county tourist industry consuming. In attempting to draft 2) supporting local government 2) additional motels and recommendations for development in and planning and management restaurants near the bay the area of the Tillamook Bay estuary, programs to solve problems 3) additional marinas (although the Task Force sought the counsel of 3) controlling growth to ensure they strongly favor more boat the residents of the communities that that natural amenities are ramps) will be most affected by development. preserved 4) rapid urban growth In April 1974 the Tillamook 4) lack of job diversity and job Most respondents favor using the Headlight Herald published a Task opportunity Bayocean Peninsula as a natural Force survey designed to profile 5) rundown areas preserve with no development or as community opinion on conservation Residents place high value on: a day-use park with only limited and development issues pertaining to facilities; few favor its development Tillamook Bay. 1) lack of urban pressures 2) recreational amenities for commerce or homesites. Responses to the survey also Survey questions dealt with residents' 3) natural beauty and environment support consolidating the Ports of attitudes about: 4) quality of life Tillamook Bay and of Bay City, if an 1) use of the Bayocean Peninsula They think that Tillamook Bay equitable tax base can be established 2) restoration of the bay resources should be managed to although 21 percent are undecided 3) additional recreation facilities provide: on this issue. 4) recreational use of the bay 1) new industrial locations around Finally, respondents prefer using the bay local taxes to help pay for restoration Approximately 1,000 people 2) water transportation and of the bay. responded, and their responses gave shipping facilities Thus armed with knowledge of the valuable insight into public opinion 3) additional access to the opinions of concerned citizens and on future management and shoreline background information on resource development of Tillamook Bay. 4) additional boat ramps and planning concerns for the According to respondents area 5) general recreation including Tillamook Bay estuary, Task Force residents are generally concerned fishing, boating, clamming, and members were ready to begin about: sightseeing. formulating recommendations.

19

Task Force recommendations

For orderly development in the 5. An investigation should be made 10. Appropriate and innovative Tillamook Bay estuary area, The Task to determine the feasibility of regulatory techniques should be Force makes the following consolidating the Ports of Bay City developed for Tillamook Bay. recommendations: and of Tillamook Bay, with a fair and equitable tax base. Uses and activities Planning 11. 6. The Port of Bay City and the Shoreline uses that are water- dependent 1. The development guidelines governments of Bay City, Garibaldi, should have first priority contained in the Task Force Report and Tillamook County should for development in the areas should be adopted and incorporated immediately prepare a traffic flow, identified by the study as suitable; water-oriented into comprehensive plans. New access, and parking plan for the shoreline uses should management programs for the area Garibaldi shoreline. receive second priority. should be prepared by local, state, 12. Public access to the shoreline and federal agencies. 7. The U.S. Army Corps of of the bay should be unrestricted Engineers should be encouraged to 2. There should be a coordinated, everywhere possible, with access follow through after completing an on-going planning program for points well marked, permissible uses approved, multiple-purpose study of integrating the present and future clearly identified, and parking Tillamook Bay, to effect maximum studies of Tillamook Bay; it should facilities provided. restoration of the bay, including flood strike a balance between alleviation, restoration of navigation, 13. Planning programs should development and conservation and improvement for recreational uses, strive to separate conflicting or should be monitored by the Task and enhancement of aquatic incompatible land and water uses Force. environment. and activities. 3. A site-specific development 14. 8. Policies of the Oregon Coastal Effective pollution control program should be prepared measures should be established and immediately to coordinate activities of Conservation and Development Commission and of the Land enforced in the Tillamook Bay all local, state, and federal agencies drainage basin; sewage treatment and authorities on the Task Force Conservation and Development Commission should be reviewed; services should be provided as many that have interest and that exercise residents as is economically feasible; jurisdiction in the area. those judged applicable and consistent with Task Force subsurface sewage disposal should 4. The Task Force should be recommendations should be adopted. be carefully managed; and the air granted authority to conduct initial shed of the Tillamook Bay drainage review of any development proposals, 9. Studies should begin basin should be studied and air with all local government agencies immediately on the Nehalem, quality standards should be represented. Sandlake, and Nestucca estuaries. maintained. 21 15. Creation and maintenance of 21. The south jetty at the channel Resource conservation navigation channels that can entrance should be extended to the 29. Maintaining a healthy and accommodate barge traffic into the authorized length. functioning physical and biological Tillamook River should be 22. Recreational uses of the bay system in Tillamook Bay is vital to the encouraged. and development of associated region's economy and is, therefore, a 16. The effect of increased sand support facilities should be basic goal of the Task Force; this and ghost shrimp populations on encouraged. goal includes placing high value on other estuarine resources should be 23. Recreation sites for fishing, the estuary's food production and investigated and methods to control hunting, boating, scuba diving, and cycling of nutrients for fish and or reduce ghost and sand shrimp shellfish harvesting should be wildlife, absorption of pollutants, populations should be studied. identified with appropriate markers rearing and sheltering of fish and 17. Aquatic habitats within inland at all suitable locations. wildlife, suitability for commerce and water systems should be enhanced 24. Open space in and around shipping, and recreational diversity. and maintained; the filling of inland Tillamook Bay should be conserved 30. Fish and wildlife should be well marshes that provide wildlife habitats as much as possible. managed and the populations of should be discouraged except when 25. Historic and otherwise unique finfish, shellfish, waterfowl, and other resulting losses can be justified. sites and structures should be wildlife species should be increased 18. Surface and ground water identified with appropriate markers. to the estuary's carrying capacities. quality in the Tillamook bay drainage basin should be kept at the maximum 26. The visual and aesthetic 31. Management guidelines and level attainable under practical qualities of the bay should be regulations for the harvest of fish and principles and standards. enhanced and conserved. shellfish should be enforced rigidly. 19. Oyster farming should be 27. The fish industries should be expanded by developing appropriate 32. A coordinated program should encouraged as a compatible, be established to monitor and control productive and viable industry. programs, particularly in aquaculture and mariculture, by emplacing land use in the Tillamook Bay Multiple-purpose restoration artificial reefs to enhance fish drainage basin; its scope should not and protection populations, and by constructing a be limited to logging, road marine science facility to house construction, land development, and 20. Tillamook Bay should be reclamation. restored by removing recent studies on methods for improving sedimentation, the south bay should estuarine production. 33. Debris and sediments should be made navigable, aquatic and 28. The status of proposed be removed from inland waterways wildlife habitat should be restored, improvement and bypass route for to increase stream flow capacities and diverse economic opportunity U.S. Highway 101 should be and to limit downstream transport of should be encouraged. monitored by the Task Force. debris.

22 34. River banks and the bay shore should be stabilized wherever erosion is taking place; after critical sites are identified, riprap or other means of stabilization should be used. 35. Timber harvesting along major river banks and the bay shore should be managed to minimize shoreline disruption. 36. Establishment of multiple- purpose channels for navigation, flood abatement, and greater saltwater intrusion should be studied further; the impacts of dredging on estuarine habitats should be assessed; disposal of dredge spoil should be consistent with Task Force guidelines; and restoration or removal of existing pile dikes in the south end of the bay should be investigated. 37. Disposal of dredge spoils within the drainage basin should be at sites recommended by the Task Force; the formation of spoil islands or artificial tide flats should be prohibited unless associated with suitable and approved shore-related development or with enhanced marine productivity. 38. Any development on the flood plain or along the bay shore which would restrict free passage of water or would interfere with flood overflow should be prohibited.

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Epilog: the ideal for Tillamook Bay

This report looks at the Tillamook An important preliminary step has Bay estuary, past and present. already been taken: the residents Resource management problems are around the Tillamook Bay estuary multiple but far from insoluble. have recognized that significant But what of the estuary's future? problems exist; concerned individuals The restoration of Tillamook Bay —and groups such as the Task Force is a goal desired by a majority who —are motivated to find solutions. live around it. Any project of this The condition of the estuary can magnitude implies a great investment never be as it was before the area in time and capital for: was settled. The future reality will 1) extensive dredging of the always be less than the ideal. But estuary human impact on natural productivity can be managed, in the Tillamook 2) reestablishing aquatic life in Bay estuary and elsewhere, if disturbed areas concerned residents will act. 3) detailed scientific studies employing sophisticated monitoring to predict effects of dredging and the probability for enhancing aquatic life— before taking action. Such restoration cannot result from a single governmental or institutional program, however. The costs loom prohibitive and the ecological effects are as yet unknown. A realizable first step in restoration is proper management and regulation of existing resources.

25 Glossary

anadromous—(of fish) migrating from water to protect a channel or harbor the sea up a river to spawn. by deflecting waves and currents. aquaculture—the artificial raising, or mariculture—the artificial raising, or farming, of freshwater species. farming, of marine species; similar aquatic life—that which lives or to aquaculture except generally used grows in water. in reference to activity in salt water. benthic—on or in the bottom of a marshland—an area characterized body of water, usually in reference to by marshes, swamps, or bogs. marine minerals, plants, or animals. pelagic—of, relating to, or living or carrying capacity—ability of a nat- occurring in the open sea. ural system to support a finite, spe- riprap—the placement of boulders or cific number of a species on a per- other heavy material along a shore petual basis. or bank to lessen the impact of waves crustacean—aquatic animal that has or currents against it. a hard, jointed outer shell, such as slough—an inlet from a river or lobster, shrimp, or crab. estuary, generally in bottom land. dredge spoil—disposable material terrestrial—that which lives or grows excavated by dredging. on land; not aquatic. ecology—branch of biology dealing tideland—land alternately exposed with the relation between organisms and flooded by the ebb and flow of and their environment. the tide. estuary, estuarine—that part of the upland—land or an area of land mouth and lower course of a river in lying above the level where water which the fresh water of the river flows or flooding occurs. mixes with the salt water from the wetland—a tract of land having wet sea. and spongy soil. flood plain—a nearly flat plain along wildlife—animals that live free in the course of a river that is naturally nature, as opposed to those fenced subject to flooding. in and domesticated, including spe- habitat—the native environment of cies hunted for food or sport. an animal or plant. invertebrate—an animal without a backbone. jetty—a pier or structure of stones or piles projecting into an open body of

26 Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored, forests and meadows which surround it. We need the tonic of wilderness—to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of Nature. . . . —HENRY DAVID THOREAU WALDEN This report summarizes the work of the Tillamook Bay Task Force Study Team and cooperating State and Federal agencies. - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY Extension Service, Oregon Stele Dish/lenity. eurcrlih. Henry A. Wadsworth, director. This publication was pro- duced and distributed in furtherance of the Act, el ,.:ongress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Extension work Is a EXTENSION cooper/vise progra,n ai Oregon Slate lini pefelt. the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. M SERVICE Extermion Invitee participalion in its programs end offers them equally to all people, without discrimination.