Success! Western Rivers Conservancy just added 117 acres to Cottonwood Canyon State Park in Oregon! On March 22nd, we transferred the former Kirkpatrick Homestead to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, significantly improving the park’s ability to manage a remote boating access site, roughly 10 miles downstream of the park’s main entrance.
Located at the northern end of the John Day Wild and Scenic River corridor, Cottonwood Canyon is Oregon’s second largest state park. It lies adjacent to vast, public BLM wilderness study areas, making it one of Oregon’s wildest state parks, set in sagebrush country with a dramatic river canyon and impressively diverse wildlife. The heart of the park is the John Day River, which hikers, anglers, hunters, boaters and birders visit year-round.
WRC created the park in partnership with OPRD in 2013, and has long sought to add this second property to enhance management. Now that we have, the stage is set for OPRD to make improvements to a crucial boating access site that anglers, hunters and paddlers rely on for trips down the John Day. The project also provides OPRD an important presence in this remote area of the state park.
Thank you for all your support and for helping WRC bring another great project to the finish line!
