The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

CAMP WOOTEN - The snow is gone, and eastern Washington's closest desig­nated Environmental Learn­ing Center in the state parks system is open for business for the 2013 season.

Camp Wooten, located about 31 road miles from Dayton, deep in the up­per Tucannon River valley, kicked off its season in mid- March and will remain open through October.

The 200-person occupan­cy camp has already hosted three groups from across the region this year, and park ranger Jennifer Bristol says many local groups have reserved their spots for the summer and fall.

" We have Bi- county 4-H camp (in the summer), the Dayton soccer team and the Pomeroy, Waits­burg, Prescott, and Ritzville School Districts coming up in the fall," Bristol said. "We have a lot of local church groups, some weddings and reunions that come up here too."

Bristol says weddings at the camp are becoming more and more common. "People want outdoor weddings. They usually take the facility for the weekend."

This year marks the Washington State Parks systems 100th anniversary. Camp Wooten managing ranger Tim Fuller and fel­low ranger Bristol will be celebrating the centennial at the park as well.

"There's no set date yet, but in July or August we are going to have a Camp Wooten Appreciation Day for anybody to come up and have a hot dog and ham­burger feed and learn about the park."

The camp, like so many other parks in the state parks system, has been hit by state budget cuts. Thankfully, vol­unteers from across eastern Washington have donated their time and money to keep Wooten the top notch camp that it is.

"Here we don't feel [cuts] as deeply as in most parks. We have a large volunteer staff, but the last couple of years our budgets have been cut down," said Bristol. "There's less money to do maintenance projects and to hire people to do construc­tion and maintenance. In June we are supposed to get a park aid; last year we didn't get a park aid. It takes a long time to do some proj­ects when you're doing them by yourself."

Volunteers have been instrumental in updating the 20 cabins on the grounds. The cabins' old, metal army- bunk beds are being phased out and replaced with built- in wooden bunks. The floors of the cabins are also being "redone" and stained, ac­cording to Bristol.

"Cabins one through four and 11 through 15 have been refurbished so far, and in an­other two seasons we hope to have all of them done," Bristol said. "All of the administration cabins have been refurbished as well, except for the nurse's cabin.

"All the money that goes to making the bunks comes from groups who donate to the park. That's not park money," said Bristol. "Groups donate the money to rebuild the bunks in a particular cabin and they get a plaque in return. There are several church groups who have done that. These include a Tri-cities group in memory of a girl who died, and some church groups out of Pullman, Moscow, and Spokane."

The park isn't all booked up for the season. Bristol reports several openings ex­ist still in the middle of this month as well as in August and September. To book the park, contact the Washing­ton State Parks department in Olympia (360) 902-8600. The cost is $11.73 per per­son plus tax with a minimum requirement of 100 people per party.

"We've got a great park up here, and the ponds along the Tucannon are stocked with fish," Bristol conclud­ed. "It's great to have your kids come out and enjoy the wilderness. We need to have them to help save our wilder­ness and for outdoor educa­tion. We have kids who come here who've never ever been out of the city. They walk in here just scared to death and they walk out bringing their parents to show them where they had so much fun."

To make donations to the camp or inquire about vol­unteer work projects, contact Bristol or Fuller at the camp at (509) 843-1080.