Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH)
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:47 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
C.J. Brown Reservoir is located in west-central Ohio, two miles northeast of Springfield; thirty-five miles northeast of Dayton, and forty-five miles west of Columbus. Keep reading
Recreation
There are many recreational opportunities to enjoy at the lake including fishing, hiking, biking, wildlife watching, and picnicking. At nearby Buck Creek State Park, visitors also enjoy swimming, boating, and camping.
Facilities
C.J. Brown Reservoir offers three reservable picnic shelters, with grills, picnic tables, electric service, and water fountains. The Visitor Center has exhibits on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and history of the Dam and lake, along with the natural resources and recreation in the area. Restrooms for the Meadow View shelter are located at the Visitor Center.
Natural Features
The Buck Creek valley was once a patchwork of wetland fens, prairie meadows, oak savannas, and open oak woodlands. Today, the 2,120 acre C.J. Brown Reservoir is surrounded by varied habitats, from brushy old fields, to restored prairie, to forest. C.J. Brown was designated an Ohio Important Bird Area in 2002.
Nearby Attractions
At adjacent Buck Creek State Park, there is a campground, rental cottages, a marina, swimming beach, and trails. Springfield, Ohio, is just a few miles away, and has several museums that are worth visiting, including the Heritage Center and the Frank Lloyd Wright Westcott House.
Charges & Cancellations
Payment in full will be charged to your credit card upon completion of your reservation. A $10.00 fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. For full Details see the Recreation One Stop cancellation Policy
What the agency tells you
No parking off-road or pulling vehicles into the grass.
All posted directional signs should be free standing and not attached to existing structures, signs, or trees.
For any special requests you should contact the Visitor Center at (937) 325-2411.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Ohio 'Open Container Laws' prohibit public alcohol consumption.
C.J. Brown Lake officially closes at 11 p.m..
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 3 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 3 of 3 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek, Beach, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Picnicking
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:47 UTC
The agency files 3 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 3 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:47 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“A $10.00 fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:47 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 records
| Lake View | Lake View Shelter | day use | 30 amp | yes | 632 ft | 203 ft | $35 |
| Meadow View | Meadow View Shelter | day use | 20 amp | yes | 632 ft | 580 ft | $35 |
| Prairie View | Prairie View Shelter | day use | 20 amp | yes | 2100 ft | 178 ftBuck Creek | $35 |
The agency files 3 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Caesar Creek Lake37 mi
Alum Creek Below Dam Area45 mi
Paint Creek Dam Site54 miWilliam H Harsha Lake Dam68 miQuakertown Campground71 miNorth Branch Kokosing River Lake - Campground72 miFrom I-70 westbound, Exit at US 40 and go west to Bird Rd. Turn right (north) on Bird Rd. then left on Old Columbus Rd. Following the signs for the CJ Brown Visitor Center, turn right onto Croft Rd., then right onto Overlook Drive into the park.
From I-70 Eastbound exit at SR 4, follow 4 north through Springfield to Croft Rd. Turn right on Croft and left onto Overlook Dr.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Springfield, OH
Typical weather
Typical October night 41°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) is in Ohio’s 15th congressional district. Its representative, Mike Carey (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyMike CareyU.S. Representative · Ohio’s 15th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBernie MorenoU.S. Senator · Ohio
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJon HustedU.S. Senator · Ohio
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio
Dear Mike Carey, I’m a constituent in Ohio’s 15th district. I tried to camp at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio, and couldn’t. Every site at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) (Ohio) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio
Dear Bernie Moreno, I’m a constituent in Ohio. I tried to camp at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio, and couldn’t. Every site at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) (Ohio) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio
Dear Jon Husted, I’m a constituent in Ohio. I tried to camp at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH), Ohio, and couldn’t. Every site at Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cj Brown Dam and Reservoir - Dam Site (OH) (Ohio) via campanac.com