13A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2016
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Visitors are silhouetted against the sunset as they search for clams along the beach at Fort Stevens State Park in February.
Fort Stevens: Deluxe cabins are ideal for storm watching
Continued from Page 1A
“It gives people an oppor-
tunity to visit year-round that
they couldn’t do before,”
Wing said.
Before the cabins, Wing
remembers the park having
42 tent sites. Those tent sites
sat empty until June each
year because most people
do not camp in tents on the
coast in the winter. The park
now has just six tent sites, as
more visitors are opting for
the cabins.
Wing said the deluxe cab-
ins give people a whole new
perspective of the park in the
wintertime. They are ideal
for storm watching, she said.
“It’s kind of a neat way to
view the storms and still be
cozy and warm,” Wing said.
Paddle away
Along with inviting peo-
ple to storm watch from a
cabin, the park has focused
on offering more recre-
ational opportunities in the
offseason.
The park is forming a
partnership with Clatsop
Paddle Co. to offer adventure
packages that bundle a stay at
the park with paddleboarding
on Coffenbury Lake. Details
are being worked out to
launch the pilot program this
summer.
In addition, rangers are
starting to lead kayak tours
on Trestle Bay.
“We are just trying to
offer some different opportu-
nities to people,” Wing said.
“It’s all about getting peo-
ple out and interested in the
outdoors.”
Given the opportunity,
Wing said, visitors around
the state are willing to recre-
ate in rain or shine.
“If you are an Oregonian,
you recreate in the rain,” she
said.
Since the park added
11 deluxe cabins five
years ago, the park
has seen more visitors
in the winter.
Ranger Supervisor Michael Simonsen walks along a ren-
ovated walkway leading to a wildlife viewing point in Fort
Stevens State Park.
near Social Security Beach.
The boardwalk was built
nearly two decades ago.
“It had been a few years,
and everything had rotted
out,” Simonsen said. “We
just came in and redid it.”
It took more than four
months to ¿nish the board-
walk, working on and off for
a year. The boardwalk was
left half done all last summer.
Park staff recently went
through all of the bike trails
to remove any roots protrud-
ing out of the ground. Since
the bike trails are popular,
staff had to work in sections
to clear the trails. The bike
trail project took about three
months.
The park has nine full-
time rangers, 26 seasonal
workers and up to 60 volun-
teers. The park operates on
a biennial budget, and has
$150,000 budgeted for proj-
ects in 2015-2017.
“All of our projects are
decided then (in the budget),”
Wing said. “It’s just getting
them completed that can take
a little bit of time.”
Wing, who has worked
with parks for 27 years,
became the park manager in
2004. Her father worked at
Fort Stevens while she was
growing up. Wing said it was
inevitable she would pursue a
career at the park.
She enjoys getting to
share her love of the park
with more visitors each year.
Most people who visit are on
vacation and in a good mood.
Seeing visitors appreciate the
park makes the work year-
round worthwhile, she said.
“You feel pretty lucky to
work in place people pay to
recreate in,” Wing said.
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Ranger
Supervisor
Michael Simonsen said the
park’s staff has to ¿nd the
time to ¿nish maintenance
projects while also catering
to visitors.
The window to ¿nish proj-
ects such as improvements to
cabins and trails is shrinking.
Already this year, the park
is gearing up for thousands
of visitors for spring break,
then the Astoria Warrenton
Crab, Seafood and Wine Fes-
tival, before summer is in full
swing.
“We get a little lull through
May, then school is out and
we are wide open until Octo-
ber,” Simonsen said.
This winter, park staff was
able to ¿nish a Àurry of main-
tenance projects. The most
noticeable may be the resto-
ration of the boardwalk that
leads to the wildlife view-
ing bunker off Parking Lot D
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