Parks have become a point of contention as the numbers of homeless people continue to climb. Cities, faced with the need to provide sleeping spaces where no shelter beds are available, have allowed more camping in local parks. Some have also updated their exclusion rules, identifying which rule violations can get campers banned from parks.
Oregon State Parks are in the midst of their own exclusion rule update. Helena Kesch, a policy analyst, heads up the process at the Parks department. She visits with an update on the process and the reasons for it.
Public comments are open again through January 4th; follow the State Parks link up above and scroll down to reach the details.