3C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2016
Triage: 550,000 visitors come to Ecola State Park annually
Continued from Page 1C
another large landslide
brought down several
more trees and cut more
than 50 feet out of the Til-
lamook Head trail, leav-
ing hikers to make their
own route around the
destruction.
Ensign said keeping
the park operating is a lit-
tle like triage, making the
short-term fi xes to keep
it open and also under-
standing that parts of the
park will always be slid-
ing. Once staff had access
to Indian Beach, he said,
they could start to take
stock of the wreckage on
Tillamook Head.
The park used gravel
fi ll to keep Ecola Park
Road passable. Just
before the entrance to
Indian Beach, the state
installed a large culvert
topped with gravel and
rock, to open the road
and ensure fi sh passage
on Canyon Creek below.
Ensign said the state will
decide in the next year or
two whether to keep a cul-
vert or put in a bridge.
P ark staff are getting
everything up and run-
ning before the weather
gets sunny and the crowds
start showing up. Ecola
State Park alone averages
more than 550,000 annual
visitors.
Ecola falls under the
Nehalem Management
Unit, which also includes
Oswald West, Nehalem
Bay, Hug Point, Arca-
dia, Tolovana and Sad-
dle Mountain state parks.
Combined, they average
more than 3 million day
use and overnight visits.
“There’s as much vis-
itation to the North Coast
... (as) there is for other
entire state park systems,”
Ensign said.
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
TOP: A 10-man crew from the South Fork Forest Camp
chainsawed, mowed and raked their way over Tillamook
Head, clearing the trail for the state Parks and Recreation
Department.
LEFT: The state Department of Parks and Recreation in-
stalled a culvert topped by rock and gravel to open a
storm-damaged portion of Ecola Park Road. The road was
closed until last month because of multiple slides.
BELOW: A large landslide over the winter forced a detour
along the Tillamook Head trail near Seaside.
‘There’s as much visitation to the North Coast ...
(as) there is for other entire state park systems.’
Bo Ensign
park ranger
Landslides forced the state
Parks and Recreation De-
partment to remove a pop-
ular viewing deck at Ecola
Point overlooking Haystack
Rock and Cannon Beach.
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