Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Michael J. Kirwan Dam Site Recreation Area provides an attractive setting where visitors can spend the day picnicking, fishing, hiking or enjoying nature's beauty. The Michael J. Kirwan Dam Site Recreation Area is located adjacent to the Visitor Center on Wayland Road. The area provides easy access to the causeway of the dam --a popular hiking, biking, and fishing destination-- and includes exercise equipment, a swing set, and gardens on site. The shelter is reservable from May to September and is first-come-first-serve the remainder of the year. Keep reading
The shelter is located within walking distance of the dam and electric, tables, and grills are included. Reservations can be made at Recreation.gov or by calling 877-444-6777 Recreation Visitors to the park will find numerous, well maintained facilities available for fishing, hiking, picnicking, camping, boating, and other year-round outdoor activities. Visitors of all ages are invited to explore the rich history and fascinating features of the Visitor Center located on Wayland Road. A series of programs are offered highlighting the natural, cultural and historical significance of the reservoir and its surrounding area. You may also experience our unique wildlife platform, where you can see the flora and fauna of the area and maybe even catch a glimpse of wild turkeys. The reservoir and the majority of its surrounding lands are leased by the Corps of Engineers to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as West Branch State Park.
Natural Features
Surrounded by the lush, green farmland of Northern Ohio, Michael J. Kirwan Dam & Reservoir provides miles of clean waters and scenic countryside for your enjoyment. The reservoir is located on the West Branch of the Mahoning River and covers over 3,000 acres. The shores of the reservoir boast shady hardwood forests where deer, turkey, and other wildlife are plentiful and the lake provides excellent opporunities for fishing. The numerous deep feeder channels and shallow shoreline provide habitat for a variety of fish species including walleye, muskie, striped bass, large and smallmouth bass, crappie, and bluegills. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (330) 358-2622.
Nearby Attractions
There are 1.3 miles of hiking trails on Corps managed lands, including the Discovery Recreation Area Trail System located off Kestrel Way, and the Tailwaters Trail located on Wayland Road. The wildlife platform is located on the Discovery Trail. The Buckeye Trail loop now crosses the dam and encompasses the entire lake for more information on the Buckeye Trail, visit www.buckeyetrail.org. The ODNR maintains several other hiking, mountain bike and bridle trails as well as a horse camp area.
What the agency tells you
Shelter reservations are set up for half-days (AM: 9am-3pm; PM: 3pm-9pm). To reserve a full day, you will need a reservation for Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Shelter AM and Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Shelter PM.
This is a day use area only; no overnight camping is allowed.
The picnic shelter is approximately 115 feet from the parking lot.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
DRIVING OFF ROADWAYS TO LOAD AND UNLOAD AT THE SHELTER IS NOT PERMITTED.
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE PROHIBITED.
Shelter should be vacated by 9:00 p.m.
If not reserved, the shelter is available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations governs the public use of water resource developmental projects administered by the Corps of Engineers. Visitors are bound by these Title 36 regulations. They are posted on bulletin boards throughout the park.
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Picnicking
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 2 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.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 18
What you actually pay
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records
All 2 records
| Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Shelter AM | day use | $28 |
| Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Shelter PM | day use | $28 |
The agency files 2 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 agency’s directions · the phone number
The weather
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
The land, and who answers for it
a letter you can send
Who can change it · 2
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- 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
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bernie Moreno, I’m a constituent in Ohio. Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area, Ohio carries 2 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area (Ohio) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jon Husted, I’m a constituent in Ohio. Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area, Ohio carries 2 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Michael J. Kirwan Damsite Recreation Area (Ohio) via campanac.com