After taking in hundreds of comments from the public, Oregon Parks and Recreation says it’s closing the campground at Oswald West State Park. But the park will remain open as a day-use area.
Oswald West State Park. Courtesy Oregon Parks and Recreation.
The reason? It’s the trees. The park is located in an old growth forest, and some of the trees near the campground are so old, they’re in danger of falling over and killing campers. The seriousness of the situation was made clear last June when an old spruce, about 11-feet in diameter, fell over and landed across several campsites. Luckily no one was hurt.
Parks and Rec officials followed up with a study of other trees near the campground and realized that dozens more are also in danger of toppling. So they gave the public a choice. We can cut down the trees and keep the campground open, or keep the trees and close the campground.
With about 640 responses submitted, the Parks Department says the almost all of them supported keeping the trees. “A naturally-aging old forest, this is one of the reasons people come to this park,” says John Potter, Assistant Director for Operations. “We want to preserve not just the look and feel of the park, but its biological complexity. Letting the forest age naturally in this case is the best way to do that.”
The result is not a surprise. Oswald West State Park is hugely popular, getting about a million visitors a year. But only 15,000 of them used the 30-site campground.
Meanwhile Parks and Rec says it will look for a new camping site at Oswald West. But until then, the nearest camping is five miles south at Nehalem Bay State Park.
