CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Siuslaw National Forest · OR

Tillicum

Reservable, and full this SaturdayEvery one of the 36 sites on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 16:28 UTC

We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →

Watch for a cancellation Book on recreation.gov ↗

Right now: Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:28 UTC
A night: $39–$51Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 5958 on recreation.gov

Photos · Unknown

66 ftLongest rig

60 ftElevation

1,034 ftWater · Big CreekOcean · 525 ft · to the Pacific Ocean

1.9 miSW of Waldport, OR

59%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices

In the agency’s own words

Tillicum Beach Campground is popular for many reasons, but the number one and most obvious is its location right on the beach. Campers are lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean waves, then wake to sweeping views of the Pacific. The campground offers an ideal location for whale watching. Most campsites have beachfront views, and sunsets are not to be missed. Fishing, swimming and playing in the sand are the campground's most popular activities. Keep reading

Recreation

Campers enjoy Tillicum for its expansive sandy beach. Surfers and swimmers play in the waves just off-shore. Children love building sandcastles on the beach. Walking along the beach is a great way to explore the area. Cape Perpetua is 6 miles south, where visitors can wander through old-growth Sitka spruce, experience the crashing surf, investigate tide pools, whale watch or take a guided hike. Waldport, just 4 miles north, provides access to fishing, crabbing, clamming and shrimping in the Alsea Bay and River.

Facilities

The campground offers several single-family campsites, a few of which have both electric and water hookups. Sites with hookups are not on the waterfront. Due to the campground's popularity, it's a good idea to make reservations in advance. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided but there are no showers.

Natural Features

The coastal campground lies a couple miles south of where the Alsea River meets the Pacific Ocean. Tillicum is perfectly perched on the sandy beach yet it still offers some shade. The campground offers views of both the ocean and the Coastal Range.

Nearby Attractions

Heceta Beach is located nearby, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy the Pacific Ocean. Mary's Peak is the highest point in Oregon's Coast Range and has been designed a Scenic Botanical Area because of its rich, unique scenery and plants. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Be sure to reserve a site that will accommodate your equipment. The site you reserve is your site. You may not move to another site.

Rule

This campground has first-come, first-served sites

Rule

Some loops are open year-round

Everything else this campground posts · 5

Rule

A $12 fee will be charged per extra vehicle per day. Cash or check only.

Rule

Click here for more information on the Siuslaw National Forest

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.

Rule

Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.

Rule

Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.Siuslaw.CentralCoast@AmericanLL.com

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 59
Hookups: 19 electric, 20 water
Longest rig: 66 ft
Paved pads: All
Accessible sites: None listed
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Flush Toilets; “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided but there are no…”
Showers: None at this campground; “Flush toilets and drinking water are provided but there are no showers.”
Drinking water: Yes; “…and campfire ring. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided but there are no showers. Natural…”
Camp host: On site; recreation.gov lists “Host”
Stay limit: 14 nights; recreation.gov facility rule maxStay

Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: River, Beach, Coast; Fishing; Hiking; Swimming
Night sky · 593rd darkest of 770 in OR: Bortle 3

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:28 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:26 UTC. See them

OpenBooked

Every one of the 36 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 16 are free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:28 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking window6 months outBookable now through April 16, 2027. Today at 10 AM ET, availability opens through April 17, 2027.recreation.gov

Max stay14 nights2-night minimum on weekendsthe facility record

A night$39–$51plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$86–$110DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itAmerican Land & LeisureA private concessionaire under permit from U.S. Forest Servicethe operator link

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Where there’s room this weekend Book on recreation.gov ↗

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 14

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, per site$39–$51

Standard Nonelectric$39

Standard Electric$51

Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jan 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What this campground addsits own record

Extra vehicle$12

“A $12 fee will be charged per extra vehicle per day.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$47–$59

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$86–$110

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $39–$51 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

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

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

What this campground adds: The U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record and notices for this campground, quoted verbatim. An extra-vehicle charge is set locally and appears on no national schedule, so it’s never assumed. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1

Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:26 UTC

South Jetty Sand CampingOregon Dunes National Recreation Area · 29 mi · 22 of 28 site-nights open

Open this weekend: recreation.gov availability · derived by CAMPANAC: site-nights the agency offered this weekend that nobody has taken, within the radius, closures removed by the closure rule · Oct 16, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 16:28 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

61 records · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 58 mapped sites

63 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

21%of tent sites sit clear of electric or RV sites

Most roomLoop 3 45 82 ftLoop 3 57 81 ftLoop 1 16 80 ftLoop 1 19 79 ftLoop 1 12 79 ft

Least roomLoop 2 23 47 ftLoop 2 25 47 ftLoop 1 15 48 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 61 records

61 of 61 records located

Standard39RV / electric19Type not stated1Host pad2

01 - HOST 02 03 - HOST 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 44A 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 61 of the 61 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 59 of the 61 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.


Loop 1	01 - HOST	host pad	34 ft	30 amp		1,368 ft	178 ft	$39
Loop 1	02	standard nonelectric	66 ft		57 ft	1,301 ft	179 ft	$39
Loop 1	03 - HOST	host pad	45 ft			1,358 ft	87 ft	$39
Loop 1	04	standard nonelectric	48 ft		57 ft	1,257 ft	168 ft	$39
Loop 1	05	standard nonelectric	60 ft		75 ft	1,186 ft	188 ft	$39
Loop 1	06	standard nonelectric	32 ft		54 ft	1,136 ft	231 ft	$39
Loop 1	07	standard electric	36 ft	30 amp	66 ft	1,196 ft	174 ft	$51
Loop 1	08	standard nonelectric	33 ft		54 ft	1,126 ft	247 ft	$39
Loop 1	09	standard nonelectric	50 ft		55 ft	1,143 ft	253 ft	$39
Loop 1	10	standard nonelectric	44 ft		63 ft	1,252 ft	208 ft	$39
Loop 1	11	standard electric	47 ft	30 amp	63 ft	1,238 ft	168 ft	$51
Loop 1	12	standard nonelectric	45 ft		79 ft	1,327 ft	158 ft	$39
Loop 1	13	standard nonelectric	30 ft		50 ft	1,428 ft	157 ft	$39
Loop 1	14	type not stated	58 ft	30 amp		1,344 ft	93 ft	$39
Loop 1	15	standard nonelectric	30 ft		48 ft	1,466 ft	150 ft	$39
Loop 1	16	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp	80 ft	1,399 ft	77 ft	$51
Loop 1	17	standard nonelectric	40 ft		48 ft	1,495 ft	147 ft	$39
Loop 1	18	standard nonelectric	40 ft		73 ft	1,537 ft	165 ft	$39
Loop 1	19	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp	79 ft	1,461 ft	87 ft	$51
Loop 1	20	standard electric	33 ft	30 amp	68 ft	1,429 ft	174 ft	$51
Loop 2	21	standard nonelectric	55 ft		69 ft	1,484 ft	155 ft	$39
Loop 2	22	standard nonelectric	50 ft		66 ft	1,495 ft	127 ft	$39
Loop 2	23	standard nonelectric	50 ft		47 ft	1,566 ft	160 ft	$39
Loop 2	24	standard electric	35 ft	30 amp	66 ft	1,530 ft	117 ft	$51
Loop 2	25	standard nonelectric	26 ft		47 ft	1,607 ft	130 ft	$39
Loop 2	26	standard nonelectric	28 ft		65 ft	1,667 ft	114 ft	$39
Loop 2	27	standard electric	36 ft	30 amp	68 ft	1,628 ft	49 ft	$51
Loop 2	28	standard electric	24 ft	30 amp	67 ft	1,655 ftBig Creek Log Pond	89 ft	$51
Loop 2	29	standard nonelectric	35 ft		60 ft	1,721 ftBig Creek Log Pond	139 ft	$39
Loop 2	30	standard nonelectric	35 ft		58 ft	1,703 ftBig Creek Log Pond	169 ft	$39
Loop 2	31	standard nonelectric	30 ft		58 ft	1,693 ftBig Creek Log Pond	167 ft	$39
Loop 2	32	standard electric	33 ft	30 amp	73 ft	1,620 ftBig Creek Log Pond	120 ft	$51
Loop 2	33	standard electric	26 ft	30 amp	72 ft	1,532 ftBig Creek Log Pond	44 ft	$51
Loop 2	34	standard electric	25 ft	30 amp	62 ft	1,498 ftBig Creek Log Pond	116 ft	$51
Loop 2	35	standard electric	30 ft	30 amp	62 ft	1,444 ftBig Creek Log Pond	170 ft	$51
Loop 2	36	standard nonelectric	27 ft		73 ft	1,372 ftBig Creek Log Pond	251 ft	$39
Loop 2	37	standard nonelectric	31 ft		53 ft	1,412 ftBig Creek Log Pond	204 ft	$39
Loop 2	38	standard electric	32 ft	30 amp	53 ft	1,452 ftBig Creek Log Pond	166 ft	$51
Loop 2	39	standard nonelectric	34 ft		54 ft	1,503 ftBig Creek Log Pond	127 ft	$39
Loop 2	40	standard nonelectric	44 ft		54 ft	1,459 ftBig Creek Log Pond	181 ft	$39
Loop 3	41	standard nonelectric	35 ft		63 ft	1,682 ftBig Creek Log Pond	130 ft	$39
Loop 3	42	standard electric	38 ft	30 amp	78 ft	1,591 ftBig Creek Log Pond	44 ft	$51
Loop 3	43	standard nonelectric	35 ft		58 ft	1,664 ftBig Creek Log Pond	122 ft	$39
Loop 3	44	standard nonelectric	38 ft		58 ft	1,655 ftBig Creek Log Pond	146 ft	$39
Loop 3	44A	standard nonelectric	36 ft		58 ft	1,630 ftBig Creek Log Pond	188 ft	$39
Loop 3	45	standard electric	39 ft	15 amp	82 ft	1,549 ftBig Creek Log Pond	158 ft	$51
Loop 3	46	standard nonelectric	31 ft		58 ft	1,611 ftBig Creek Log Pond	232 ft	$39
Loop 3	47	standard electric	32 ft	30 amp	56 ft	1,490 ftBig Creek Log Pond	284 ft	$51
Loop 3	48	standard nonelectric	48 ft		66 ft	1,582 ftBig Creek Log Pond	286 ft	$39
Loop 3	49	standard nonelectric	33 ft		63 ft	1,531 ftBig Creek Log Pond	326 ft	$39
Loop 3	50	standard nonelectric	40 ft		56 ft	1,457 ftBig Creek Log Pond	336 ft	$39
Loop 3	51	standard nonelectric	28 ft		71 ft	1,430 ftBig Creek Log Pond	267 ft	$39
Loop 3	52	standard nonelectric	46 ft		74 ft	1,363 ftBig Creek Log Pond	328 ft	$39
Loop 3	53	standard nonelectric	36 ft		61 ft	1,324 ftBig Creek Log Pond	304 ft	$39
Loop 3	54	standard nonelectric	45 ft		61 ft	1,315 ftBig Creek Log Pond	275 ft	$39
Loop 3	55	standard electric	33 ft	30 amp	76 ft	1,391 ftBig Creek Log Pond	211 ft	$51
Loop 3	56	standard nonelectric	33 ft		76 ft	1,315 ftBig Creek Log Pond	244 ft	$39
Loop 3	57	standard electric	26 ft	30 amp	81 ft	1,413 ftBig Creek Log Pond	142 ft	$51
Loop 3	58	standard nonelectric	38 ft		73 ft	1,334 ftBig Creek Log Pond	220 ft	$39
Loop 3	59	standard electric	27 ft	30 amp	77 ft	1,411 ftBig Creek Log Pond	152 ft	$51
Loop 3	60	standard nonelectric	33 ft		73 ft	1,350 ftBig Creek Log Pond	227 ft	$39

The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

25 of 61 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate44.36722, -124.09111

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone541-547-3679

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near hereTillicum Beach CampgroundSiuslaw National Forest · 0.1 mi

Cape PerpetuaSiuslaw National Forest · 6.0 mi Canal Creek Group CampgroundSiuslaw National Forest · 8.3 mi

Canal Creek8.4 mi

West Winds Campground - Sand Lake Recreation Area10 mi Rock Creek CampgroundSiuslaw National Forest · 13 mi

Getting there

The campground is on Highway 101, 3 miles north of Yachats and 4 miles south of Waldport, Oregon. Look for campground and beach signs on 101.

Physical Address:

8199 Hwy 101 N

Yachats, OR 97498

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight52°Chance Light Rain33% rain

Saturday58°Patchy Fog then Partly Sunny8% rain

Saturday Night44°Partly Cloudy

Sunday56°Partly Sunny

NWS forecast for San Marine, OR

Source: National Weather Service, PQR forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 48°F, day 61°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 41°F. Bring the bag rated for it.

70°30°

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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: YACHATS, OR (USC00359588), 3 miles away and at about the same elevation

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it · a letter you can send

Who answers for this land

Tillicum is in Oregon’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Val Hoyle (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Write to somebody who can change it

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 moneyVal T. HoyleU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 4th district
Open their contact form ↗Their record →
Your senator, on the same appropriationJeff MerkleyU.S. Senator · Oregon
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationRon WydenU.S. Senator · Oregon
Open their contact form ↗

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.

To Val T. Hoyle

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 Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon

Dear Val T. Hoyle,

I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 4th district. I tried to camp at Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Tillicum, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tillicum keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Tillicum. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Tillicum (Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com

To Jeff Merkley

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 Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon

Dear Jeff Merkley,

I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Tillicum, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tillicum keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Tillicum. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Tillicum (Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com

To Ron Wyden

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 Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon

Dear Ron Wyden,

I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Tillicum, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files at Tillicum, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tillicum keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Tillicum. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service 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 Tillicum (Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 30 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 58 of the 59 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 61 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Coast: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest ocean, bay, sound, estuary or tidal flat to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.13 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 770 rated federal campgrounds in Oregon · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest place of any size: inside San Marine, OR (a census designated place). Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026