Tillamook Bay and Tributaries – State Wildlife Action Plan

The Tillamook Bay and Tributaries COA (271 mi²) extends from Tillamook Bay eastward into the Coast Range, across the crest and nearly all the way to the eastern foothills, past Stagecoach Horse Camp. This is a very large COA, containing Tillamook Bay, along with large swaths of mixed conifer forest habitats. This COA is adjacent to the Nehalem and Salmonberry River Headwaters, Gales Creek, and Netarts Bay COAs.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Improve water quality, maintain and enhance in-channel watershed function, and improve connection to riparian habitat.
Maintain undeveloped character of Bay Ocean Spit, ensure disturbance free area for migrating and nesting birds, and manage public use to minimize disturbance for shorebirds and marine mammals.
Link lowland conservation efforts with upland forest management.
Reconnect cutoff sloughs in the wetlands around the Tillamook Bay and restore tidal wetlands in the river delta at the southern end of the bay.
Seek additional opportunities for tidal wetland connections.
Improve monitoring of Chinook salmon.

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Special Features

General

Tillamook Bay is a large bay (~6 miles long) with five rivers flowing in to it (Tillamook, Trask, Wilson, Kilchis, and Miami Rivers), draining a large portion of the Coast Range in this region. The bay contains extensive sand and mudflats, which provide habitat for migratory and breeding waterfowl and shorebirds. The bay is protected from the open ocean by the Bayocean Spit, which was historically used by nesting Western Snowy Plovers.
This COA contains important wintering habitat for a significant wintering population of Brant.
There are opportunities for continued wildlife conservation on the large tract of publicly owned working forest landscape within this COA.

Protected Areas

Airbase Reserve County Park
Bayocean Peninsula County Park
Bay Ocean Spit
Bayview Jetty Park
Kilchis Park
Tillamook State Forest
Wilson River Highway Forest State Park

Previous COA Association

Previously Associated with (2006 COAs)
- CR-08 (Tillamook Bay and tributaries)
Size Change from 2016 boundaries: +64.9 mi² (32% increase)

Specialized Local Habitats

Aquatic vegetation beds
Bays
Forest openings
Intertidal mudflats
Off-channel habitat
Sand bars
Springs, seeps, and headwaters

Ecoregions

Coast Range

Oregon's Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

Nearshore

The Nearshore ecoregion includes a variety of habitats ranging from submerged high-relief rocky reefs to broad expanses of intertidal mudflats in estuaries and hosts a vast array of fish, invertebrates, marine mammals, birds, plants, and micro-organisms. This ecoregion encompasses the area from the outer boundary of Oregon's Territorial Sea to the supra-tidal zone, and up into the estuaries.

Key Habitats

Coastal Dunes

Occurring along the Oregon coastline, coastal dunes provide habitat for species that prefer open, sandy habitats with a high degree of disturbance from winds and tides.

Estuaries

Estuaries are broadly defined as partially enclosed coastal bodies of tidally influenced water with one or more inputs of freshwater, and with a free or intermittent connection to the open sea. Estuaries typically occur at locations where freshwater from rivers, streams, or creeks meets saltwater from the nearshore ocean, creating a tidal basin that experiences frequent …

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Natural Lakes

Natural lakes are relatively large bodies of freshwater surrounded by land that were formed through geological processes, such as glacial scouring, tectonic movements, volcanic activity and river meander cutoffs. In Oregon, natural lakes are defined as standing water bodies larger than 20 acres, including some seasonal lakes. Depth is not a reference for characterization of …

Example of Oak Woodlands, which is a Strategy Habitat within the State Wildlife Action Plan

Oak Habitats

There are several oak habitat types in Oregon, where oaks comprise most of the canopy. These can include oak woodlands, oak forest, oak chaparral, and riparian oak. Oak savanna is covered in the Grasslands Key Habitat. Oaks may also co-dominate a canopy in oak/fir, oak pine, and oak hardwood habitats.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are habitats that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support vegetation typically adapted for life in sodden soil conditions. While dominated by periods of inundation, the natural ecological cycle may also include dry intervals. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, peatlands, …

Nearshore Key Habitats

Nearshore Habitats encompass the coastal and marine habitats in the area from the 3 nautical mile outer limit of Oregon’s territorial sea, where water depths average 66 m (216 ft) and range from 17 m to 194 m (56 to 308 ft), to the supratidal areas of the shoreline affected by wave spray and overwash …