It's okay to have and express personal opinions, but let's tease out a few facts when in comes to Tillamook.

Perhaps the biggest issue with POTB was that the storms that landed the fatal blows hit right at the height of the economic crisis in 2008. The FEMA money awarded to the Port to help repair the storm damage required something like a 20% local match, and no state or local government at that point in time had that kind of money, much less the willingness to spend it on a railroad that had already been rebuilt many times over in the previous decade or two after previous storms. The Port decided to use the money to effect repairs and improvements to its other properties instead of the railroad. It's also worth noting that at that time Hampton Lumber, POTB's biggest shipper, operated a sawmill in the Willamette Valley that had direct rail service, and that sawmill closed after the POTB quit while the Tillamook mill remains operating.

A sweep of the coast range in Google Earth seems to suggest there is absolutely no shortage of logging still happening. Hopefully this link will take one to a Google sattelite view of northwest Oregon that should show the entire region to be a patchwork of small clearcuts.

[goo.gl]

It would appear to my eyes that there's no shortage of trees being cut in the area.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV