Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area: Connecting Place and People project

This important historic preservation project will restore and reconstruct one of Oregon’s most significant cultural and historic sites—Fort Yamhill—providing present and future generations with opportunities to experience and learn about this notable place and time in Oregon and United States history.

Oregon State Parks Trust is seeking funds for the first of three planned phases of the Fort Yamhill SHA: Connection Place and People project. This initial phase will include:

• Restoration of Fort Yamhill’s Officer’s Quarters (one-time home for then-Lieutenant (later General) Philip Sheridan.
• Rebuilding its imposing blockhouse.
• Planning and engineering future “ghost structures” for most of the other building sites at the fort.
• Designing and installing signs to help interpret the restored and new structures.

Subsequent phases of the project will include: fabricating and installing the 18 ghost structures, rebuilding and erecting the fort’s 200’ flagpole, constructing a small visitor center at the site of the original sutler store, developing and putting structures into place that protect and display archaeological remains, continuing to conduct archaeological excavations, and creating public archaeology opportunities.

Once completed, we envision Fort Yamhill as Oregon’s first “archaeological state park.”

Let's Go Camping campaign

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department's (OPRD) Let's Go Camping program offers families their first camping experiences. Children and their parents spend a weekend in a local park learning the basics of campaing, from setting up tents and cooking to outdoor safety and stewardship. OPRD's experienced staff and volunteers and the free use of equipment make the outdoors inviting and easy. Through Let's Go Camping families develop a relationship with camping, the outdoors, and Oregon's state parks. The benefits of this experience are immeasurable and could last a lifetime.

Let's Go Camping is shaping Oregon's future generations of outdoor enthusiasts, recreation advocates, and Oregon state park supporters. The program has served more than 400 Portland-area participants to date. The demand for Let's Go Camping keeps growing; each season available space fills quickly and interested families have to be turned away. The program has expanded from one event in the Portland area to eight events scheduled across the state in 2009.

Let's Go Camping has outgropwn its funding. Oregon State Parks Trust will raise funds to sustain the program beyond 2009, fudns that will supply dedicated resources of equipment, staffing and administration. With these resources, OPRD will expand the program to include more events in more locations across the state, serving an even broader population of first-time campers.

Oregon Lighthouse Campaign

Oregon lighthouses are among our State’s most recognizable and cherished landmarks. Modern technology has eliminated the need for resident lighthouse keepers, but some of the unique, classic lighthouse structures remain [more]

Oregon State Parks Trust's Board

Oregon State Parks Trust is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Trustees.

• For a list of current and past Trustees, click here.
• For a list of current Trustees and their affiliations, click here.

To make a donation to support Oregon State Parks Trust's projects and activities, click here.