Award-Winning Tillamook Forest Center is a Free Attraction on the Oregon Coast

Beginning Memorial Day Weekend, the Center will be open seven days a week, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The Tillamook Forest Center Photo courtesy: aldrichpears.com

(TILLAMOOK, Ore.) - The people at the Tillamook Forest Center say Oregon's newest forest recreation attraction located an hour west of Portland, continues to receive statewide praise as it enters the summer season brimming with programs, events and opportunities for visitors of all ages.

This spring the Center and its programs received two major statewide awards, given in the fields of Oregon heritage and tourism achievement, recognizing the high quality visitor experience and effectiveness at connecting visitors with the natural and cultural landscape.

In April, the Center received the Gene Leo Memorial Award—an Oregon Tourism Achievement Award—for the Center's outstanding ability to connect the public with Oregon's natural resources, scenic beauty and outdoor recreation. The award honors the enthusiastic former director of the Oregon Zoo and Portland Rose Festival who died in 1994.

In early May, the Center received an Oregon Heritage Excellence Award, recognizing the successful planning and development of the Tillamook Forest Center as a place for forest history and heritage.

Both awards are echoed by the sentiments of more than 65,000 visitors who enjoyed the Center in the last year. Free programs on Saturdays and Sundays have helped draw visitors from throughout Oregon to learn about topics ranging from Dutch oven cooking to cougars, bears and bats.

Memorial Day Weekend programs include an exciting edition of Jeopardy: Forest Recreation, hosted by Alex Treebark, about recreation opportunities in the Tillamook; an introduction to Dutch oven cooking; and "Lost and Found in the Forest," a session on using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and the popular game of Geocaching.

For a complete listing of programs and specific times and locations, visit the Tillamook Forest Center online at tillamookforestcenter.org The Tillamook Forest Center is located on the Wilson River Highway (Highway 6) an hour's drive west of Portland. Directions and a map to the Center are available online. Beginning Memorial Day Weekend, the Center will be open seven days a week, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Admission is free.