Oregon parks, campgrounds and trails record second-busiest year on record in 2022
The number of people visiting Oregon’s outdoors plateaued just below record numbers in 2022 during another year of packed campgrounds and busy trailheads across the state.
Oregon’s state park system recorded 52.2 million day visits and 2.97 million camper nights last year, the second-highest in the agency’s 100-year history.
The numbers were down slightly from the record-setting 53.6 million day visits and 3 million camper nights in 2021.
Oregon’s vast federal lands, largely managed by the U.S. Forest Service, also saw significant crowds but peak summer numbers also appeared down slightly compared to the pandemic-fueled years of 2021 and 2020, according to observations from recreation rangers across the state.
Winter and off-season recreation continued to rise in popularity, especially at sno-parks around Mount Hood, in Central Oregon and Santiam Pass, officials said.
“What we've seen is year-round use increases in numbers as well as additional ‘new’ activities in all seasons," Jean Nelson-Dean, spokeswoman for Deschutes National Forest, said.
One outlier was Crater Lake National Park, which recorded its fewest visits in a decade last year.
Oregon's only national park recorded 527,259 visits in 2022, according to National Park Service data, down 19% from 2021 and 30% from 2016, when it recorded a record 756,344 people.
Oregonians angrier in the outdoors
While the numbers might not have reached record highs, Oregon’s 2022 summertime campers and hikers did seem angrier than in previous years. The Statesman Journal reported this summer on the growing number of fights between campers and hostility directed at rangers.
“We’re seeing an increase in situations where people not only disagree with our rangers, but disagree in ways that include verbally attacking them, threatening physical violence and sometimes following through on those threats,” Chris Havel, associate director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, said in September.
Fistfights, 'campsite pirates':Anger boils at crowded Oregon campsites
The issue got bad enough that the state Legislature has introduced House Bill 2011, which proposes to increase penalties for assaults committed against parks and recreation employees.
It includes a maximum of five years imprisonment, $125,000 fine, or both. The bill is sponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 10 senators and representatives.
Short-staffed but planning to expand
Staffing was another issue this past summer.
It has been difficult to hire new rangers, officials said. And finding campsite hosts has become increasingly difficult, leading to some campgrounds in central Oregon dropping campsite reservations and moving to first come, first served.
Because of the shortfall — and the extended busy season — OPRD said it plans, in its budget proposal for 2023-2025, to extend the amount of time seasonal staff can work.
"The system evolved around a two- to four-month peak season, and it’s much longer now, closer to four to six months," Havel said. "Most of our field staff are only with us for a few months, leaving the core staff to handle the rest of the year. When they run out of time and the season isn’t over, the core staff get run ragged and can’t get the usual 'off-season' maintenance done.
"We’re asking to spend more money out of our (budget) to bump existing ranger time up. Longer-term, we need a conversation about whether the current funding mix can keep up with the pace."
Fewer Oregon Coast visitors, but visits up in Willamette Valley
One of the more surprising and welcome developments was that visits to the Oregon Coast ticked down in 2022, following years when heat and wildfire smoke in the mountains and valley led to often overcrowded beaches. Day visits to the coast dropped by 5%, to 29.8 million visits in 2022, down from 31.4 million in 2021.
This year, high gas prices seemed to keep more Oregonians closer to the state’s larger cities. Camping was up 8% and day visits up 4% at Willamette Valley state parks compared to a year ago. Popular parks included Detroit Lake, Fall Creek, Champoeg, Willamette Mission and Milo McIver.
State parks in the “mountain region” — which includes parks in southern and eastern Oregon — saw an 11.9% decrease in overnight camping with the largest drops at Valley of the Rogue, Minam, Farewell Bend, Prineville and Cove Palisades.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. 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 Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon sees second-highest number of outdoor visits in 2022
