South Fork Forest Camp turns 75

Jesse Lieble spent 2021 to 2024 in custody at South Fork Forest Camp, a minimum-security prison in the Tillamook State Forest. There, he learned to maintain trails, plant trees and fight fire. Now he's a wildland firefighter for the Oregon Department of Forestry in Forest Grove, he told the crowd at the camp's 75th anniversary ceremony Oct. 29. Lieble and two other men who served time at the camp and went on to careers with ODF were honored guests at the ceremony. The Oregon Department of Corrections and ODF, which run the camp jointly, held the invitation-only event in white tents off the Wilson River Highway. "Being at South Fork made me excited to get out and go to work every day to do something meaningful," Lieble said. He hadn't fought fire before his time at South Fork, he said, "but I found out that I love it." "I learned many skills related to reforestation and firefighting that I needed to kickstart my career with ODF," Lieble said.

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