permit Archives - The Source

Permits Required: How’s that Going for Ya?

There’s been enough to go around during the early hiking season, but that could change

by Jack Harvel June 16, 2021May 14, 2025

As trail lovers likely already know, the U.S. Forest Service changed how to access the most popular trails in Central Oregon this year to limit the widening of paths and the destruction of wilderness. The new permitting system introduces a $1 fee for day use in 19 of Deschutes’ National Forest’s 79 trails, and a […]

Opinion

Wilderness Permits: A (tentatively) good compromise?

The new permit system goes into effect in May. Now we know what it really looks like.

The Source StaffFebruary 12, 2020February 28, 2024

For the past several years, officials from the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests have been engaged in a process aimed at managing overuse in the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Three Sisters wilderness areas. We’ve known since last year that a day-use permit system, with a cap in the number of users per day, was […]

Opinion

Don’t Shoot the Preservationist

Permit fees and limited access follow growth

The Source StaffOctober 16, 2019January 4, 2023

On Oct. 8, the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests shared their plans for implementing the new special recreation permit fees and a limited entry system at a number of trails in the two forests—which include areas around the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington and other locations in the Central Cascades Wilderness. This is the next step […]

Sign up for newsletters