As any motorist or visitor to the coast can sadly attest, most of Oregon's coast range has already been heavily logged, and most of the smaller second growth, on both private and state forestland, is planned for future logging.

Learn more about our work in the Coast Range and how Oregon Wild is teaming up with local citizens, logging companies, and others to restore previously clear-cut areas.

A return visit from the coast can leave you dizzy from clear-cuts stretching as far as the eye can see.

With productive soils and plenty of rain, Oregon's Coast Range is a bread basket of timber. Trees grow fatter and taller here than almost anywhere else in the world, and for decades, the logging industry knew it and exploited it without restriction.

Oswald West State Park

Oswald West State Park is located immediately west of Hwy. 101 and was named for Oregon’s 14th governor (1911-1915), who first protected our ocean shore for public use. Os West State Park's "Short Sand Old Growth Sitka Spruce grove" contains some of the largest and most accessible old growth Sitka spruce trees still remaining to be found anywhere along the entire northern Oregon coast!

With 13 miles of the Oregon Coast Trail wandering through the park and along the coastal bluffs, the Short Sand Old Growth Sitka Spruce grove is nestled in between a 750-foot-high coastal overlook at Cape Falcon, and 1661 ft. high Neahkahnie Mountain--the north coast's only peak to rise directly above the sea. Against this magnificent forest backdrop, hiking, surfing and beachcombing are this State park area's most popular activities, with this special location attracting nearly one million visitors annually!

In the summer of 2008, a large tree unexpectedly fell in the small 30 unit campground beneath the sitka forest. In response, Oregon State Parks closed “Short Sand Campground, but also additionally felled another 9 giant trees that they felt posed additional risk of falling, on other campground developments. In order to reopen the campground for the 2009 season, State Park foresters said as many as 49 additional standing mature and old growth trees would need to immediately be logged.

Logging at Os West, sadly, is not a new thing. Oregonians had long believed that Oswald West State Park was protected from logging with it's designation in 1931. However, they were rudely awakened in 1983, when State Park foresters sold 3 million board feet of timber, in the northern end of the park following a wind storm, despite the fact they very few trees had actually blown down. Later investigations revealed that up to 95% of the trees cut, were standing healthy trees, but were removed to facilitate the "salvage" of down trees, and for the purpose of maximizing timber revenues. This was not an appropriate "use" of Oregon's State Parks.

The state has learned its lesson well, and in March of 2009 proposed closing the campground indefinitely in order to leave the trees standing. Oregon Wild supports this decision and believes this park's remaining forests are vitally important to the coastal zone’s ecology, as well as for recreation and our state’s local tourism economy.

Find out more about our campaign to permanently protect old-growth forests with federal legislation.

Photos by OPRD.