Participants in a 2019 “Let’s Go Camping” summer program canoe at Willamette Mission State Park (Courtesy/Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation)
Willamette Mission is among eight Oregon state parks that will re-open to day use Wednesday, May 6.
The park’s opening is first step in a plan to ease some restrictions on outdoor recreation. The Mongold boat ramp at Detroit Lake and State Capitol State Park will also re-open, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department said in a news release Tuesday.
All state parks have been closed to the public since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
State officials selected eight parks for a limited re-opening and said some others will open the week of May 11. Oregon has 195 parks and recreation sites.
Officials cautioned visitors to expect a different experience than usual, and to leave a park and come back later if it’s too crowded for separate households to maintain a safe distance.
“We know these last six weeks has seemed longer, but your health is important to us,” says Lisa Sumption, the department’s director, in the news release. “It is true outdoor recreation boosts our mental and physical health, but parks concentrate people in a community, and we have to do this carefully if it’s going to work.”
The re-opened parks will not have all restrooms open, and parking will be limited. Visitors should not travel more than 50 miles from home to visit parks, and should engage in low-risk activities to lower the odds emergency services need to be called to the park, the release said.
Visitors should also weak masks or face coverings while visiting parks and bring all needed food, water and sanitizing supplies with them.
Overnight camping will remain prohibited, with no date yet set for accepting reservations again.
Popular parks where people tend to congregate in large groups will be the last to re-open, the release said, including parks along the north Oregon coast and boat access sites to the John Day and Deschutes rivers.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
