[3] It drains a remote unpopulated area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the Tillamook State Forest about 65 miles (105 km) west-northwest of Portland.

The river runs through part of the region devastated between 1933 and 1951 by a series of wildfires known as the Tillamook Burn.

[7] An excursion railway and dinner train, the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR), travels up the Nehalem River canyon from Wheeler to the mouth of the Salmonberry.

[9] The railway track continues up the Salmonberry for 14 miles (23 km), but flooding and erosion damaged it so severely that it was closed in 2007.

[3] Of particular concern are landslides and herbicide spraying along the railway tracks in the river's riparian zones.