National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City set to reopen after three-year closure for renovations

BAKER CITY, Ore.  (KTVZ) — Pioneers of all ages and backgrounds are invited to celebrate Friday's reopening of the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City. After a three-year closure for renovations, the center will reopen to the public at 1 p.m. Friday and offer free admission through Sunday. 

Beginning Saturday, summer hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including holidays. Admission is $8 for ages 16 and up, $6 for seniors. The center also accepts America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes.

Since opening in 1992, the center has drawn an estimated 2.5 million visitors to the area. In order to maintain some services during the closure, the BLM partnered with Baker County to install and staff an Oregon Trail exhibit at the Baker Heritage Museum, and with the City of Baker City to launch a new event — Oregon Trail Days at Geiser-Pollman Park — which will take place June 7-8 this year.

“It was very important to us to continue offering Oregon Trail experiences to visitors during the renovations,” said BLM Vale District Manager Shane DeForest, whose office oversees the center. “Additionally, this partnership has strengthened our bond with the museum and the community, and we look forward to continuing to work together.” 

The renovation, which included $1 million from the Great American Outdoors Act, represents a best-in-class example of a net-zero emissions building: it is all-electric, it meets the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Building Performance Standard by eliminating the on-site use of fossil fuels, and it is highly efficient, having reduced the facility’s energy consumption by 73 percent thanks to new windows, doors, siding, insulation, roofing, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. 

The Biden-Harris Administration is leading by example to tackle the climate crisis through President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan, which establishes an ambitious path to achieve net-zero emissions from federal buildings by 2045.

“President Biden set bold goals for Federal sustainability, and this project helps us achieve those goals,” said Andrew Mayock, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Upgrading our federal buildings to be more efficient and sustainable also means healthier communities.” 

For more information about the center, visit www.oregontrail.blm.gov or call 541-523-1843.