Tillamook Basin River Workgroup

Species

• Coho (threatened)
• Spring and Fall Chinook (threatened)
• Chum Salmon (threatened)
• Winter Steelhead (threatened)
• Cabezon
• Greenling
• Cutthroat Trout
• Dungeness Crab
• Redtail Surfperch
• Pile Perch
• Starry Flounder

Overview

The Tillamook Basin in northwest Oregon is a lush and legendary coastal watershed, encompassing Tillamook Bay and its five major rivers—the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask, Miami, and Tillamook—draining 650 square miles of rain-soaked Coast Range forests to pour into a broad, tide-swept estuary near the town of Tillamook. Hailed as Oregon's premier coastal salmon and steelhead factory, the basin pulses with robust runs of wild and hatchery spring and fall chinook, acrobatic coho, and powerful winter steelhead, drawing drift-boat fleets and bank-bound anglers to emerald riffles, log-strewn pools, and tidal sloughs from the bay's gravel bars to upstream hatchery deadlines. Winter steelhead—often 10–20 pounds—storm the Wilson and Nestucca from December through April, while spring chinook stack the Trask and Kilchis in May–June, and fall brings frenzied coho and kings to the lower reaches amid cheese-factory crowds. Chum salmon offer a rare catch-and-release thrill on the Kilchis and Miami in September, and year-round bay fishing yields perch, rockfish, and Dungeness crab from launches at Garibaldi. With reduced wild chinook limits and selective harvest rules safeguarding ESA-listed runs, the Tillamook Basin blends frontier angling grit with vital salmon recovery, its foggy tides and fern-draped canyons fueling a timeless Northwest fishing ethos. No chapter currently serves it.

Our Accomplishments

• 1995: North Coast chapter (now defunct) proposed and helped pass bill regarding cormorant predation of salmon and steelhead, allowing a limited take to improve outmigration survival in the Tillamook Bay and lower rivers.
• 2012: Helped limit Impacts of marine reserves on sport fishing by proposing tiered protections and sunset clauses, ensuring continued sport fishing access in the Tillamook Bay and most nearshore waters while allowing conservation in designated zones.

Goals

Our Tillamook Basin Ambassador will establish our goals for the future of the Tillamook Basin, to be posted here.

Threats and Challenges

Our Tillamook Basin Ambassador will track threats and challenges to the Tillamook Basin, to be posted here.