TRAVEL

Plan outlines future for new Oregon state park

Zach Urness
Statesman Journal
This map outlines the plan for Sitka Sedge Natural Area, the newest state park in Oregon.

TIERRA DEL MAR — Oregon’s next state park is moving closer to reality.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department released its initial plan for Sitka Sedge State Natural Area, a 357-acre landscape of forest, estuary, dunes and beach south of Tillamook.

The plan calls for a low-impact design featuring 4.5 miles of trail and a parking area that can hold 20 to 25 cars. If everything goes smoothly, the park could open as early as next year.

The public can view the plan online and make comments about the design until March 1. Email comments to Ben.Hedstrom@oregon.gov or post them at maps.prd.state.or.us/ips/Planning_Comments_Final_BELTZ.html.

“What we heard from the public was that they didn’t want lots of pavement, buildings or development,” OPRD spokesman Chris Havel said. “They wanted us to keep the area as natural as possible, and that’s what this plan reflects.”

OPRD purchased the property for $1.8 million in June 2014 and has been gathering input on how best to manage the site ever since.

Located on the southwest edge of Sand Lake Estuary, the property has a long history in the nearby Tierra Del Mar community. The property was almost turned into a golf course multiple times during the 1990s and early 2000s but faced stiff opposition from local residents who wanted to keep the landscape intact.

Oregon's newest state park was almost a golf course

The plan doesn’t change much about the property, which is sandwiched between Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. Much of the proposed trail system builds on community pathways already on the property.

The biggest construction project would be the parking area and trailhead, located alongside Sand Lake Road, which would include a restroom and host site. Havel said it would be a similar setup to nearby Clay Meyers State Natural Area at Whalen Island.

The most contentious issue at the park, Havel said, likely won’t be the layout but whether to improve fish passage on the site.

A manmade dike — the only human feature on the property — blocks passage for salmon and steelhead from the estuary into Beltz and Reneke creeks upstream.

“Part of our mission is protecting and improving the ecosystem, and fish passage is the big question here,” Havel said.

Options include fixing a small tidegate to allow a small area for passage, or opening up a large space in the dike, connected by a bridge.

Once OPRD takes feedback to the plan and makes tweaks, the next step is getting approval from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission — the agency’s governing body.

Beyond that, OPRD would take the plan to the Tillamook County commissioners for approval.

Depending on how smoothly the process runs, construction on the parking area and maintenance on the trails could begin by 2017 or 2018.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for eight years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Zach Urness or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.

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