Connect with us

Oregon

Oregon State Parks seeks approval for new, improved campsite reservation system

Published

on

Oregon State Parks seeks approval for new, improved campsite reservation system


The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department wants to create a new website where visitors reserve state park campsites. The cost? $13.35 million for five years.

If approved, the website could go live as early as late 2024 or early 2025, officials said.

“Visitors (would) notice a new website specific to Oregon State Parks with a new look, improved search functions, more visuals, greater accessibility and improved mobile compatibility,” OPRD spokeswoman Stefanie Knowlton said.

The state agency’s contract with website vendor ReserveAmerica.com expires in 2025 and could not be renewed. That opened up a competitive bidding process in 2023.

Advertisement

For the next website, parks officials decided on a platform called Recreation Hub, designed to “modernize and simplify campground management,” according to the department.

The platform is owned and run by Conduent and Booz Allen Hamilton, a multinational corporation that also runs Recreation.gov, the federal government’s website for booking campsites and permits across the nation’s public lands.

OPRD will ask the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission for approval of the contract at a meeting April 23-24 in Cannon Beach. Public comments are open for the decision.

Knowlton said parks officials and visitors tested different platforms over a 10 month period and decided Recreation Hub “was the most intuitive and accessible option.”

Advertisement

“Beyond improving tools available for visitors to make state park reservations, it will also offer agency staff reservation management, volunteer management, website content management, retail operations and visitor support features,” Knowlton said in an email.

Knowlton said the fee for booking a campsite — which currently sits at $8 per transaction — would not change in the short term.

However, she laid out that could be a possibility in the future.

“The $8 reservation fee has not changed in 15 years,” she said. “There is not a specific plan to change the fee, but leadership is discussing what amount makes sense for the future.”

The new website would cost $2.67 million per year. OPRD will ask to sign a five-year contract for $13.35 million.

Advertisement

The previous website, ReserveAmerica, cost $2.1 million per year, Knowlton said, “but it did not include all the functions that the new site will.”

Knowlton said the cost of the website would be paid by reservation fees. If the reservation fees don’t cover the full cost of the website, additional funds would come from the agency’s budget.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.



Source link

Advertisement

Oregon

Oregon is getting a new campground close to the coast. Where is it?

Published

on

Oregon is getting a new campground close to the coast. Where is it?


play

The Oregon Department of Forestry is transforming an off-highway vehicle staging area into a new campground in the Tillamook State Forest.

Advertisement

The Diamond Mill OHV staging area is currently undergoing reconstruction into a full campground that is scheduled to open in the Tillamook State Forest on April 1.

“Diamond Mill is in the heart of some of the most active OHV usage areas in the Tillamook State Forest,” said Ben Burns, the recreation facilities manager for ODF. “Historically, Diamond Mill has been a staging and parking area for mostly single track (motorcycle) trail users.”

The campground is being prepared with boulders, soil, gravel and vegetation, along with site contouring to give campers more privacy and a more comfortable overnight experience, according to the agency.

Here’s what to know about the campground at Diamond Mill.

Advertisement

How many campsites will be at Diamond Mill?

The new campground at Diamond Mill will have 16 sites, multiple posts and signage, new picnic tables, fire grates and a double-vault pit toilet.

What is the Diamond Mill fee?

The fee for the sites at Diamond Mill will be $20 a night.

Can people reserve camping sites at Diamond Mill?

Camping sites at Diamond Mill are not available for reservation in 2026.

“For this first year the campground ground will remain a first come first served area,” Burns said. “Then, we will consider user feedback and might go to a reservation system in 2027.”

Advertisement

When does Diamond Mill open?

Diamond Mill and other seasonal State Forests campgrounds open on Wednesday, April 1.

People can learn more about camping at state forest campgrounds on the ODF website at oregon.gov/odf/recreation/pages/camp.aspx.

Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval is a lifelong Oregonian who covers trending news, entertainment, food and outdoors. She can be reached at GSandoval@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Oregon

Gresham grocery store identified as measles exposure site

Published

on

Gresham grocery store identified as measles exposure site


GRESHAM, Ore. (KPTV) – The Oregon Health Authority identified a grocery store in Gresham as a measles exposure site on Thursday evening.

Shoppers who visited the WinCo Foods at 2511 SE 1st St between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on March 7 may have been exposed to measles, according to OHA.

Community members who visited the store during that timeframe are advised to contact their healthcare provider immediately.

Data from OHA’s website shows the measles case count in Oregon for 2026 sits at six total cases as of March 12. Of those six cases, five patients were unvaccinated and one had an unknown vaccination status.

Advertisement

More information about measles in Oregon can be found here.



Source link

Continue Reading

Oregon

An iconic Oregon waterfall was put up for sale on Redfin. Lawmakers approved the money to buy it

Published

on

An iconic Oregon waterfall was put up for sale on Redfin. Lawmakers approved the money to buy it


The state of Oregon may soon have some new public property: A spectacular waterfall, beloved by generations, that was recently put up for sale on Redfin.

Abiqua Falls — known for its 92-foot (28-meter) vertical drop over a columnar basalt cliff — has been privately owned for over a century but open to the public. Its owner, a nonprofit that supports a community of Benedictine monks, put it on the market earlier this year.

The listing worried fans of the natural wonder. But at the tail end of the legislative session this month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers stepped in and approved $2.1 million to buy the falls and its surrounding land.

“It’s not every day where you see a waterfall come up for sale on Redfin or Realtor.com with no price,” said Travis Williams, president of the Willamette River Preservation Trust, a conservation nonprofit. “The public was really confused and fearful that the site would be closed off.”

Advertisement

The waterfall is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the state capital, Salem, and roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Portland. It’s reached by a rough, unpaved road and short, steep hike — so steep that previous visitors have left ropes in some spots for assistance.

In a statement, Republican state Sen. Fred Girod, whose district includes the waterfall, said “Oregon is pledging that Abiqua Falls will continue to be protected and accessible for generations to come.”

The waterfall was acquired by Mount Angel Abbey in 1908 and transferred to The Abbey Foundation of Oregon, a nonprofit that supports the abbey, in 2002, according to Amanda Staggenborg, the foundation’s communications director.

“We just realized that it was time,” she said. “There were a lot of people that were hiking on the property, and while we welcome that, we wanted to ensure that the proper stewardship was overseeing it.”

The foundation put the property up for open auction in early February, meaning there was no minimum or maximum bid, she said. It accepted the offer the state made under the bill that passed.

Advertisement

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department must complete due diligence, including reviewing environmental and archaeological information, before the purchase can move forward, spokesperson Katie Gauthier said in an email.

The property won’t necessarily become a state park, which would require additional money, she added. It could be managed by a local or tribal government or another state agency.

“Abiqua Falls is a beautiful but very remote and difficult-to-access site, and we are concerned about the impact managing a property like this could have on an already stretched state park system and our current budget shortfall,” Gauthier said

Many people who commented on the Willamette River Preservation Trust’s social media posts on the issue welcomed the idea of the falls becoming public land, although some worried that state acquisition might lead to fees and crowds.

The trust, which submitted a bid soon after the waterfall was listed for sale, has supported the state’s move to acquire it, said Williams, the trust’s president.

Advertisement

“It has a sense of spirituality about it,” he said. “It’s just gorgeous.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending