TOLEDO — The popular Olalla Reservoir will be closed to the public for six months beginning Tuesday, April 1 for forest management activities.
The site, owned by Georgia-Pacific, is usually open year round to the public to swim, fish, kayak or hike along the 450 acres of lake and surrounding forest. But the purpose of the reservoir’s construction is for the company’s paper operations.
The paper mill is one of four in Oregon owned by Georgia-Pacific which produces various paper products from paper plates to toilet paper with household brand names like Dixie, Brawny and Angel Soft, according to the company’s website. The paper mill, based in Toledo, was the company’s first mill built from the ground up and has been in operation since 1958, producing linerboard and corrugated medium, according to public affairs manager Andrea Formo.
The timber used by the mill is sourced locally but has not been harvested from Olalla since the 1990s, Formo said. Starting Tuesday, some of the surrounding forest will be thinned because of damage to trees from the 2024 ice storm and scheduled maintenance to reduce insect outbreaks and fire hazards, Formo said.
“Over abundant Douglas fir trees will intentionally be targeted for this thinning operation while less abundant tree species such as Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, Red Alder, and Bigleaf Maple will be left when possible,” Formo said in an email. “This will change the overall proportions of tree species across the site, resulting in improved wildlife habitat and diversity.”
Last fall, the reservoir was closed because of declining water levels that made its slopes too steep for recreational visitors to safely navigate, Formo said.
The Reservoir will be locked and barricaded starting Tuesday and scheduled to reopen Sept. 30.
— Shayla Escudero/YachatsNews
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