High fire danger restricts park use

Due to the high risk of fire in the area, Fire Chief Terry Ney of Lane Fire Authority has issued an emergency order that affects all Fern Ridge parks (Richardson Park, Orchard Point Park, Perkins Peninsula Park and Zumwalt Park), Camp Lane, Howard Buford Recreation Area (Mt. Pisgah), Hendricks Bridge Park and Armitage Park. In compliance with the emergency order, Lane County Parks will be enforcing these restrictions at the parks listed above: · No open flames are allowed out-of-doors, including campfires, warming fires, cooking fires or ceremonial fires. · Fires of any kind, including in developed fire pits, are strictly prohibited at Armitage Park Campground and Richardson Park Campground. · Fires are prohibited at the day use areas of Richardson Park, Orchard Point Park, Perkins Peninsula Park, Zumwalt Park, Hendricks Bridge Park and Armitage Park. · No smoking outside of buildings or vehicles in any area with dry grass, brush or trees at all parks affected by the order. In addition, Lane County is enacting a partial closure of Howard Buford Recreation Area (Mt. Pisgah) during the duration of the emergency order. Only the trails directly adjacent to the river (trails 3 and 5) will be open to the public. All other areas of the park will be closed to public access. While these restrictions may cause some inconvenience to residents, Lane County appreciates the understanding of the community as we work together to protect our highly valued public parks and the safety of park users. The high risk of fire is also affecting County roadside vegetation management until conditions improve. Until further notice, there will be no: · grass or brush mowing by Lane County. · use of weed eaters with metal blades by Lane County (water will be onsite for non-metal weed eater projects). · chainsaw work outside of the Eugene-Springfield urban growth boundary (UGB) by Lane County. Road work will continue with water tanks and fire tools onsite.