[ODF_Private_Forests] ODF works to maintain public safety following landslide in Tillamook State Forest

[WEEKS Kevin]

Oregon Department of Forestry
NEWS RELEASE

Forestry Department works to maintain public safety following landslide in Tillamook State Forest
October 7, 2010
Contact: Dan Goody (503) 815-7001 or Kevin Weeks (503) 945-7427

Officials from the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), Oregon Department of Transportation, and Oregon Emergency Management are working to maintain public safety on Oregon Highway 6 and minimize public impacts in the Tillamook State Forest from a landslide that was discovered earlier this summer.

During June 2010, ODF staff detected cracks in portions of Hoskins Creek Road, a forest access road within the Tillamook State Forest, located about 20 miles east of Tillamook. The department's geotechnical and engineering specialists began reviewing the area and determined the road cracks were part of a larger hillside failure in an a landscape where slide activity is part of the natural process. The landslide has continued to move at variable rates over the last four months, moving anywhere from a few inches per day to sometimes over ten feet in one day, depositing large amounts of soil, rock and trees into a tributary stream of Luebke Creek.

Preliminary investigation by the department's geotechnical and engineering specialists indicates that the current slide is a reactivation of an ancient landslide, and likely caused by a weak layer of sedimentary rock beneath the hillslope.  Road construction work performed in 2008 may have caused an acceleration of these natural geologic processes. The slide is occurring in an area that has a historic pattern of changing geology, and the June 2010 event is likely a continuation of an older, established pattern of land movement common to higher elevations throughout northwest Oregon.

During the coming rainy winter months, the potential exists for the slide material to enter the main stem of Luebke Creek and continue downstream to Oregon Highway 6.  The Luebke Creek crossing beneath Oregon Highway 6 is located at approximately milepost 21, about one mile west of the Tillamook Forest Center. Luebke Creek has experienced debris flows in the past, most notably in 1996, when a debris flow impacted Highway 6 in this location.

"ODF recognizes the potential risk to Oregon's motoring public on Highway 6 that could result from a debris flow," says Dan Goody, Tillamook District Forester for ODF. "We are working closely with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Oregon State Police (OSP), Oregon Emergency Management and the Tillamook County departments of Public Works and Emergency Management to develop an interagency response plan designed to protect public safety."

To protect public safety, ODF has taken several steps to date:


 *   Public access to Hoskins Creek Road has been blocked to protect public safety in the landslide area.
 *   ODF is working with transportation and emergency management agencies to clearly define roles and responsibilities for monitoring the site, keep the public informed, and maintain an action plan regarding the landslide area.
 *   ODOT and ODF are working together to develop a system to warn motorists on Highway 6 and maintain public safety.
 *   ODF is monitoring the landslide area to be sure the action plan is matched to the conditions.
Engineering staff from several state agencies are currently assessing the ability to install a motion-sensing early warning system for the slide area. In the event of a debris flow, a detection system would warn ODOT, OSP and Tillamook County that a debris flow situation is imminent, providing crucial advance warning to close Highway 6.

"If at any time ODF or ODOT feels there is imminent danger to the motoring public on Highway 6, actions will take place to close the highway," says Goody.

The Oregon Department of Forestry manages the 364,000-acre Tillamook State Forest. Additional information about forest management in Oregon is available on ODF's web site, www.oregon.gov/ODF<http://www.oregon.gov/ODF>

Additional information and resources for the news media and the public regarding the Hoskins Creek Road slide are available on the ODF web site at: www.oregon.gov/ODF/newsroom/newsreleases/2010/hoskinscreekslide.shtml<http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/newsroom/newsreleases/2010/hoskinscreekslide.shtml>

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Kevin Weeks
Public Information Officer
Oregon Department of Forestry
(503) 945-7427
kweeks at odf.state.or.us<mailto:kweeks at odf.state.or.us>

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