Tillamook Burn

The Tillamook Burn is a forest area in Oregon's coastal mountains damaged by successive large fires between 1933 and 1951. The site now covers about 355,000 acres as part of Tillamook State Forest, where you can observe how the landscape has recovered over decades.

A major fire started in 1933 during logging operations and spread rapidly through the forest. Additional fires followed at regular intervals across the following decades, fundamentally changing the landscape.

The burned lands represent a story of community determination to restore what was lost through natural disaster. Walking through recovering forests today, you can sense how the area came to mean resilience and renewal for the region.

The Tillamook Forest Center provides information and displays about the fires and forest recovery efforts. The location is accessible to visitors seeking to understand the site's history and observe the ongoing restoration firsthand.

The fires occurred at remarkably regular intervals, helping foresters develop new forest management strategies across the region. This recurring pattern was unusual enough that it taught fire scientists valuable lessons for planning ahead.