New "campsites" at Winchester Bay, OR

[Crowdog]

March 16, 2005

 

Campsites bring order to the dunes

By Winston Ross

The Register-Guard

 

FLORENCE - Oregon off-roaders will be able to make reservations for 138 new campsites in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area by the month's end.

 

Just don't expect posh accommodations.

 

What will make them "campsites" is nothing more than a numbered stake in the ground. For that, all-terrain vehicle users will pay a $9 registration fee - not including the required U.S. Forest Service access pass - and they'll have to reserve the sites in advance.

 

The new rules are intended to bring some order and accountability to the camping area as well as to protect the environment. Until now, any number of ATV users were allowed to camp for free anywhere on the open sand, with nothing more than a forest pass.

 

"We were getting large crowds," said John Zapell, a Forest Service spokesman. "There was a safety issue with people able to pretty much camp wherever they wanted to."

 

Not anymore. This season, Forest Service officials announced the new rules. But a January appeal from an environmental group worried about ATV impacts on nearby habitat threatened to delay the change.

 

Umpqua Watersheds, a Roseburg nonprofit, said the government's plan actually amounted to an increase in sand camping. The designation of new sites, conservation director Francis Eatherington wrote, would threaten a rare and endangered kinnikinnik and shorepine plant community known in Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, which borders the Oregon Dunes.

 

But on Tuesday, the Forest Service announced that it had settled the appeal by agreeing to designate and enforce the boundary between the Oregon Dunes and the state park.

 

"I suspect nobody was maliciously trying to destroy an Oregon Natural Heritage site," Eatherington said. "But that area has never been well-marked or enforced. They recognized the problem as soon as we appealed and worked with us quickly to address it."

 

That means the new rules can go into effect this month, banning camping in all areas open to motorized use and outside of designated sites. Of the 138 sites, 133 will allow up to five "primary" vehicles (not counting ATVs) and 20 people; five group sites will accommodate 10 vehicles and 40 people.

 

Reservations are recommended between May 1 and Sept. 30 and are necessary for holiday weekends. To make one, call ReserveUSA at (877) 444-6777.

 

For more information, visit www.fs.fed.us/r6/siuslaw or call (541) 271-3611.

 

Winston Ross can be reached at (541) 902-9030 or [email protected].

[2strokerider]

NO more sand camping??? That F**kin sucks. I love camping on the sand at Winchestor. F**kin environmentalists.

[Lepew]

It costs $9 just to make the reservation for your spot not to mention the $10 a night and two day weekend min. plus each vehicle must have a offroad pass. You can get a hotel room one night for that and drink all you want.

[dnhyoung]

First off, It's not just the enviromentalists, and I'm not saying that it's because of you guys, but have you been out there after a busy weekend. I persoanally hate running over all of the empties that the drunk morons bury in the sand and the trash that they leave behind. I'm all for some accountability, and besides, I don't know of any motels that you can rent for $39.50 a weekend. ($9.00 reservation fee, 2 nights $20.00, plus an off road permit $10.50) Plus the fact that most of the motels don't even have lots big enough to handle a truck and trailer.

 

Anyways, if you are just out there to get drunk, I would prefer you stayed in a motel, it would make the dunes a safer place.

Edited March 28, 2005 by dnhyoung

[bbluebanshee]

Anyways, if you are just out there to get drunk, I would prefer you stayed in a motel, it would make the dunes a safer place.

 

boy DNH, you can say that again!! I dont have a problem with a few drinks, but for all those that go to the dunes to get plastered, then ride...makes everyone that rides the dunes on the big weekends look bad. I live here in Coos Bay, and have many times after big weekends picked up trash that was left behind. From beer bottles to torn tents to magnesium blocks they couldnt get to burn. The list goes on and on. I think the limits are good...though i wish there were more spots to camp. I think it will give the people that use the dunes in the "right" way the kudos they deserve, and the people that trash the dunes the lashing they deserve. i feel that if we would have taken care of the dunes in the first place, this would have never happened!!

[rptorman]

NO more sand camping??? That F**kin sucks.  I love camping on the sand at Winchestor.  F**kin environmentalists.

345709[/snapback]

Yes, there is still sand camping. Those posts that are sticking out of the ground will be in the sand. So, if you are hauling ass across the dunes watch out for those fucking posts.

 

Dnhyoung, I'm with ya. I'm going to guess it's fair to say if some drunk asshole hits your kid while your out on a family ride you'd be willing to kick some ass for it.

[dnhyoung]

Yes, there is still sand camping. Those posts that are sticking out of the ground will be in the sand. So, if you are hauling ass across the dunes watch out for those fucking posts.

 

Dnhyoung, I'm with ya. I'm going to guess it's fair to say if some drunk asshole hits your kid while your out on a family ride you'd be willing to kick some ass for it.

346136[/snapback]

 

All I'm going to say is that he might have a few bumps and bruises that weren't caused by the accident

[Ducman]

As long as they don't close O'l Baldy it sounds ok to me. Some people park there shit right in the middle of the trails that run parallel to the main road and you come zipping along and all the sudden you realize you are in the middle of a camp site. "Oh So sorry, hope you don't mind a little sand in your hamburger." The camp fires and bottles left behind make the whole area where they sand camp look messy. If they had fires in the same spot every time it would keep it a lot cleaner as well as the fees could pay for garbage cans near the sites so people hopefully wont leave the sites like a pig pen when they go. It sucks but this wold is getting so damb full of people we have to put in a little more effort now just to keep the enviro impact the same as it has been in the past.

[NugShee]

Problem is that those fees that we are paying arent going to be turned back around to make it a better place to ride. They are making a but load of money off of us dune riders but do you see a simple air pump at the parking lots? Not even any picnic tables. The parking lots are so crowded in florence that you have to show up at dawn to guarantee a spot. How about adding another parking lot or making the ones we have larger. It just makes me sick that they say the fees are there so they can maintain the dunes. Give me a break. As far as the drunks, I dont think thats why they added the fees.

[Lepew]

First off, It's not just the enviromentalists, and I'm not saying that it's because of you guys, but have you been out there after a busy weekend. I persoanally hate running over all of the empties that the drunk morons bury in the sand and the trash that they leave behind. I'm all for some accountability, and besides, I don't know of any motels that you can rent for $39.50 a weekend. ($9.00 reservation fee, 2 nights  $20.00, plus an off road permit $10.50) Plus the fact that most of the motels don't even have lots big enough to handle a truck and trailer.

 

Anyways, if you are just out there to get drunk, I would prefer you stayed in a motel, it would make the dunes a safer place.

346132[/snapback]

 

Boy!! vent on someone else. I like a few brews around a campfire. I forget about all the people that drink and ride. You can get a motel for $40 a night. I just rented one by the Coos bay bridge that over looks boxcar for that. You shound know the trailer parking, it is visible from the highway as you drive by.

[dnhyoung]

I have no problem having a few brews by the fire after a guy is done riding. what I am against is #1 the idiots that kick back a few beers, ie; a six pack or two then go out for a little afternoon ride, and #2 those people that find it necessary to bury their empty's/trash in the sand, or just be lazy and throw them wherever.

 

This sport has it's own risks, and is inherintly dangerous, without adding peoples poor judgemnet due to the effects alcohol.

 

As someone asked, Yes if my kid was hurt by a drunk, first I would make sure my kid was ok, then I would make sure the drunk wasn't!!!!

 

 

I just rented one by the Coos bay bridge that over looks boxcar for that. You shound know the trailer parking, it is visible from the highway as you drive by.

 

If you would have of read the entire post you would of realized that I was talking about $40.00 for 2 nights, not just 1 night..........

Edited March 30, 2005 by dnhyoung