Oregon State Parks will reopen some campgrounds June 9 with limited services
Published 11:30 am Thursday, May 21, 2020
- A tent at a small campsite at Milo McIver State Park, nestled onto more than 950 acres of land near Estacada.
SALEM — Camping will be back open at some Oregon state park sites, just in time for summer.
Some state park campgrounds will reopen June 9, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department announced Thursday, though there will be limited services available for the tent and RV campers who stay the night.
A list of campgrounds that will reopen June 9 is still being finalized, and will be released by the end of May, the parks department said.
All existing reservations at the reopened campgrounds will be honored, and new reservations can be made from one day to two weeks in advance, instead of the typical nine-month reservation window. Campers without reservations will be able to claim campsites upon arrival as space allows.
Yurts and cabins will only be open at select campgrounds, state parks spokesman Chris Havel said, most of which are already fully reserved.
“We’ll be able to serve a few of the people with existing yurt and cabin reservations, but cancellations are still likely for most of then for the time being,” Havel said.
Additional campgrounds may begin to reopen after June 9, the parks department said, with some reopening on a first-come, first-served basis as staff and funding are available.
Funding has become a big issue for Oregon’s state park system. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is not funded by taxes, but by revenue from park visitors, a share of Oregon Lottery money, and a portion of state recreational vehicle registrations. That revenue has fallen drastically since March, park officials said, leaving the system to operate with a “skeleton crew” of about half its typical staff.
At campgrounds, that means fewer staffers will be available to help visitors with issues like noise and pets. Trash, landscaping and cleaning services will all be reduced, the parks department said. Restrooms are expected to be available at each reopened park, but some shower facilities may be closed.
“Oregon needs what its parks can provide,” Lisa Sumption, director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, said in a news release. “This is less service than Oregonians are used to, and we’re doing our best to stretch the budget, but it will take continued cooperation and support from visitors to make this work.”
In May, Oregon state parks gradually began to reopen day-use areas, with new social distancing restrictions and public health rules in place. So far, major reopenings include Silver Falls, Smith Rock, Tryon Creek, The Cove Palisades and several state park sites on the central and southern Oregon coast. All state parks on the northern Oregon coast and Columbia River Gorge remain closed.
A full list of reopened day-use sites is posted at oregonstateparks.org.
This article was originally published by the The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.