A10
OREGON
East Oregonian
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
More than 3 million campers visited state parks in 2021
By JAIME HALE
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon state
park campgrounds were
packed in 2021, as locals and
tourists alike left the comforts
of their homes to sleep under
the stars, among evergreen
forests and beside the gentle
roar of the ocean. The Oregon
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment reported a total 3,026,756
camper nights last year, far
outpacing the pandemic-im-
paired numbers from 2020,
and eclipsing the 3 million
mark for the first time, the
department said.
In state park parlance a
“camper night” is one camper
spending one night at a camp-
site. A family of four spending
two nights in a tent, for exam-
ple, would equal eight camper
nights. And since virtually
every campground saw a dip
in numbers during statewide
park closures in 2020, it’s
more useful to compare the
recent numbers to those in
2019, when state park camp-
grounds were in the midst of a
huge surge in popularity.
Most of the growth in 2021
came on the Oregon Coast,
which saw a 9% increase in
camper nights over 2019 —
the only region in the state
to see an overall increase last
year. More than a third of
that increase came from the
massive campground at Fort
Stevens State Park outside
Astoria, which alone saw
343,485 camper nights last
year, far more than any other.
Parks department spokes-
man Chris Havel said the
data show a continued trend
of midweek camping in the
summer, as well as week-
end and holiday camping in
the fall, winter and spring.
The numbers also continue a
signifi cant uptick in state park
camping that began in 2012,
a trend that park offi cials see
as a win.
“Hooray for people
continuing to realize enjoy-
ing the outdoors is good for
body and mind, and good for
both the individual and the
community.” Havel said in an
email Wednesday. “As people
continue to look for places to
experience in our centennial
year, we hope they branch out
to look for places new to you,
and take the time to prepare
well.”
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department will
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
A camper cooks dinner as the sun begins to set at Harris
Beach State Park on the southern Oregon Coast. The Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department reported state parks in
2021 had more than 3 million campers, a fi rst.
be celebrating its 100th anni-
versary in 2022, marking the
occasion with special events
that might draw even more
people to parks across the
state.
The centennial celebration
of the National Park Service in
2016 led to record numbers of
national park visitors that year.
At state park campgrounds
on the Oregon Coast, securing
campsites might be compet-
itive for the centennial this
summer — at least if last
year’s numbers are any indica-
tion. Almost every state park
campground on the coast saw
more camper nights in 2021
than in 2019, and while the
most popular campgrounds
got a little more popular, the
biggest increases by percent-
age were at two of the smallest
places: Umpqua Lighthouse
and Humbug Mountain state
parks.
Least-visited parks
have big jumps
Smaller campgrounds in
Eastern, Central and South-
ern Oregon also saw big
increases last year, continu-
ing a trend from 2020 that
saw more people looking for
more remote getaways amid
the pandemic. Some of the
least-visited state park sites in
recent years saw huge jumps in
camper nights in 2021, includ-
ing Red Bridge State Wayside
and Hilgard Junction State
Park outside La Grande, as
well as the tiny, remote Minam
State Recreation Area along
the Wallowa River, which
saw an eye-popping 254%
increase last year, going from
5,498 camper nights in 2020 to
19,460 in 2021.
Willamette Valley camp-
grounds, meanwhile, saw
their camper nights down
compared to 2019, almost
across the board. Increases at
the popular L.L. Stub Stew-
art State Park, as well as the
state park campgrounds of the
Columbia River Gorge, were
outweighed by decreases
at places like Milo McIver,
Willamette Mission and
Detroit Lake state parks.
Some decreases were due
not necessarily to unpopu-
larity, but to campground
closures that followed wild-
fi res, windstorms and fl ooding
— events that have become a
more frequent threat to camp-
ers in recent years.
Money that has been
earmarked for Oregon state
park improvements will go
to both adding new campsites
and moving existing ones out
of harm’s way, as campsites
in some parks are currently
threatened by eroding cliff s,
rising rivers and wildfires.
In 2021, the state Legisla-
ture approved a $50 million
bond to upgrade Oregon’s
state parks over the next two
years, a plan that will include
new campsites at some of the
state’s busiest parks, in addi-
tion to infrastructure and other
projects.
That may help alleviate
crowds in the state’s busi-
est campgrounds, but not
if crowds continue to grow
apace, an issue the parks
department said it is keeping
an eye on.
“It’s a concern,” Havel said
of the overcrowding at camp-
grounds. “Planning, design-
ing, and building new sites
takes a couple of years, in
some cases more time than the
three year limit on the bonds,
so we’re still in pursuit of a
long-term solution.”
Oregon wine leads U.S. in growing direct-to-consumer sales
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Bolstered
by high demand and rising
prices, Oregon’s wine indus-
try led the U.S. in acceler-
ating its rate of growth for
direct-to-consumer sales in
2021, according to an analysis
of shipment data from more
than 1,300 wineries nation-
wide.
The annual report, issued
by Sovos ShipCompliant
and Wines Vines Analyt-
ics, shows Oregon wineries
shipped 560,702 cases of wine
valued at $285.5 million.
T hat represents an
increase of 12.9% in volume
and 18.7% in sales value over
2020, outperforming all other
wine regions across the coun-
try.
Pinot noir dominated the
share of Oregon direct-to-
consumer sales, account-
ing for more than half of the
state’s wine shipments and
two-thirds of the total sales
value. Even with a 5.1%
increase in the average price
per bottle — up to $51.29 —
shipments of pinot noir still
jumped 8.2%.
“This translates into
an undeniable increase in
demand for Oregon wines,
and Oregon pinot noir in
particular,” the report states.
Sarah Murdoch, commu-
nications director for the
Oregon Wine Board, said
Oregon only produces 2%
of the nation’s wine, but has
garnered a reputation for high
quality, driving up demand
among wholesalers and retail-
ers.
“We’re still little, but
we’re just getting more and
more well known,” Murdoch
said. “That demand is really
hard to create in a crowded
marketplace.”
Last year also saw a “great
return to wine country”
following pandemic closures
in 2020, Murdoch said. More
people were comfortable
visiting tasting rooms, and
wineries themselves became
more savvy with online
marketing.
“These things really
helped people buy and have
more Oregon wine shipped to
them,” Murdoch said.
While Oregon wines
account for only 6.8% of the
value of direct-to-consumer
shipments nationwide, that
is more than double its share
from a decade ago, the report
states.
It isn’t just Willamette
Valley pinot noir. In 2021,
chardonnay shipments from
Oregon increased 28.7% in
volume and 36.4% in value
over 2020. That includes a 6%
increase in the average price
per bottle.
Sparkling wine also is
gaining steam in Oregon,
increasing 60.7% in value and
55.6% in volume over 2020.
Murdoch said pinot noir
has long been the bellwether
wine grape variety in Oregon,
though she described char-
donnay as a “sleeping giant.”
Between 2016 and 2021, char-
donnay plantings increased
43% in Oregon, to 2,600
acres.
“As plantings go up, our
optimism in that grape goes
up, and so does the attention,”
Murdoch said.
Industry-wide, direct-to-
consumer wine shipments
in 2021 returned to normal
following pandemic-fueled
turmoil of 2020, the report
states.
Total sales value eclipsed
$4 billion for the fi rst time.
That was due to the largest
ever year-over-year increase
in the average price per bottle,
up 11.8% to $41.16.
However, the large
increase in average price per
bottle comes on the heels of a
9.5% decrease in 2020, when
more fi rst-time buyers stuck
at home were purchasing less
expensive wines, and winer-
ies were off ering unusually
large discounts.
“The winery (direct-to-
consumer) shipping channel
experienced a recovery in
2021 and a transition back to
relative normalcy,” the report
states. “In fact, 2021 looks a
good deal like what we would
have expected it to look like
had the pandemic never
happened.”
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