CENTRAL OREGON – Annual campfire restrictions take effect June 1, 2021 on portions of the Deschutes, John Day, White and Crooked rivers, as well as on BLM administered lands along Billy Chinook Lake.

Reducing the risk of forest fires helps BLM be a good neighbor in river canyons, while facilitating commercial recreation and multiple use possibilities. BLM’s number one goal is to promote employee and public safety, and river canyons feature a combination of limited access, grassy fuels that dry quickly, and steep slopes that allow fires to spread quickly.

Under these restrictions, commercially manufactured lanterns and metal stoves used for cooking are permitted, when fueled with bottled propane or liquid fuel and used responsibly. River fire closures prohibit building, lighting, maintaining, assisting, using, healing, or being within 20 feet of a campfire, charcoal fire, wood or any other type of open flame.

This closure also prohibits the use of portable propane campfires and wood pellet appliances and restricts areas where visitors can smoke in non-public buildings, inside vehicles, in boats on the water or while standing in water.

The specific campfire closure locations apply to lands administered by the BLM in the following areas:

Less than half a mile from the edge of the Crooked River from the Highway 97 bridge to Billy Chinook Lake.

Less than half a mile from the edge of the Deschutes River, from the Highway 20 bridge to Billy Chinook Lake.

Less than half a mile from Lake Simtustus (located between Round Butte Dam and Pelton Dam).

In the Wild and Scenic National Lower Deschutes River Corridor, which stretches from Pelton Dam to the Columbia River.

Less than half a mile from Billy Chinook Lake, including the dispersed BLM Beach recreation site located ½ mile east of Trois-Rivières Recreation Area on the south shore of the lake’s Metolius Arm.

Less than half a mile from the edge of the White River, from its confluence with the Deschutes River upstream to the eastern limit of Mt. Hood National Forest.

The main stretch of the John Day River from Tumwater Falls (River Mile 10) upstream to Kimberly (RM 185).

The North Fork John Day River, from the confluence with the Mainstem at Kimberly (RM 0) upstream to the edge of the Umatilla National Forest (RM 62).

The South Fork John Day River from Smokey Creek (RM 6) upstream to Malheur Forest (RM 47).

The closures of the Lower Deschutes, White and Crooked rivers and Billy Chinook Lake are in effect until October 15, 2021; while closures on the John Day River remain in effect until September 30, 2021. Except in an emergency or with the permission of an authorized agency officer, there are no exceptions to this closure. Violation of this closure is punishable by a fine of up to $ 1,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.