High Lakes area reopens after 2020 wildfires, completing public access to Santiam State Forest recreation spots

SANTIAM STATE FOREST, Ore. (KTVZ) —The High Lakes recreation area of the Santiam State Forest reopened this month after being closed in the aftermath of the 2020 Labor Day wildfires.  All recreation areas in the Santiam are now open to the public.

“We focused our rebuilding efforts on highly visited recreation areas, like Shellburg Falls and Butte Creek Falls first, then later on less visited areas including High Lakes,” said Joe Offer, Oregon Department of Forestry’s Recreation, Education, and Interpretation Program Manager.

Shellburg Falls opened in 2023 and Butte Creeks Falls opened last year.

High Lakes includes well-known Rhody Lake and the pair of Butte Lakes.  There are also several trails in the area.  Main access to the area is through the Butte Creek 500 and 800 gates, which are now open. The main change, other than the burnt landscape, is that overnight camping is no longer allowed at the Rhody Lake recreation site.

“We made the change for two main reasons: lack of infrastructure and fire safety,” said Offer.  “There is a vault toilet at Rhody Lake, but no improved campsites or campfire rings.  The area still has many dead standing trees and piles of dead trees, so the fire risks are much higher than before the 2020 fires.”

Some of those piles of trees are from ODF’s nearly five-year effort to remove hazardous burnt and dead trees along miles of forest roads throughout the Santiam State Forest.

“We also had salvage logging, road repairs, and replanting operations going on in many areas of the Santiam,” said Chelsey Peters, acting district forester for ODF’s North Cascade District. 

However, safety of visitors still remains the top concern.

“Even though we removed hazard trees near roads there are many snags (dead trees) along the trail system so hikers should be aware of their surroundings especially during weather events like high winds or heavy rain that can bring trees and branches down on trails,” said Peters.  “We also considered delaying the opening until after the fire season but wanted folks to have access as soon as possible.”

The Santiam is currently in “High” fire danger and that brings a rather long list of restrictions.  There are four fire danger levels: Low, Moderate, High and Extreme. Two key “High” fire danger restrictions are:

• Any activity that creates a spark or has the potential to create a spark are only allowed before 1 p.m. or after 8 p.m., which includes use of chainsaws, off-road vehicles, mowing, and grinding.
• All vehicles travelling on ODF roads need to have a shovel and gallon of water or working 2.5-poud fire extinguisher or larger.

People are still allowed to have recreational fires during “High” but need to have the shovel and water/extinguisher on hand.

The restrictions for each level for the Santiam can be found here.  To see the current fire danger level for any ODF protected lands in the state, go here.

While the threat of fire is still a concern, ODF is also looking to the future and has planted more than 2 million seedlings in the Santiam. Some of those when into the High Lakes recreation area.

“We planted 658 acres with Noble and Douglas fir in the Rhody Lake area,” said Vince Ferguson, young stand manager for the North Cascade District. “Unlike most of the rest of the Santiam that was planted for future timber value this area, because of the high elevation and challenging soil conditions, was mainly done for aesthetics. We want to recapture the natural beauty of the area before those fires hit.

For more information on recreational areas in Oregon’s state forests, go here.