With over 1.5 million acres, the Willamette National Forest is home to eight wilderness areas, including the popular Three Sisters Wilderness and Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, a variety of backpacking and day hiking opportunities, waterfalls, wildflowers, mountain biking trails, boating, swimming and much more! The varied landscape of high mountains, narrow canyons, cascading streams, and wooded slopes offers excellent opportunities for visitors and make the forest valuable for many purposes. Learn More About The Forest.
Between 2011 and 2016 the Forest Service noted substantial increases in visitation to the five Central Cascades Wilderness Areas coinciding with notable increases in vegetation trampling, loss of meadow and riparian vegetation, tree damage, human and dog waste, widening and braiding of trails, overcrowding and unsafe parking conditions, and compaction of sites in these areas. Despite wilderness rangers taking enforcement measures and doing daily outreach, education and patrolling of these wilderness areas the impacts continued to increase as annual visitation grew.
In the winter of 2016 Forest Supervisors reached the conclusion that a change in management strategies for the wilderness areas was needed. In January 2017 they created a team of resource specialists to gather data and devel-op a range of management strategies to meet the mandates of the Wilderness Act, as established by Congress.…learn more
We are pleased to announce the Willamette National Forest’s Sweet Home Ranger District will be providing the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree and 75 smaller companion trees to adorn the Capitol buildings in Washington, DC for the 2018 holiday season. A gift from the Willamette National Forest and the State of Oregon to the people of the United States, the tree will be displayed on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., with a public tree-lighting ceremony in early December 2018...details
We strive to offer areas in the forest where everyone can experience the many natural wonders the area has to offer. Watch our Accessible Adventure Videos
