The Cape Perpetua Visitor Center is open — one of the few U.S. Forest Service facilities on the Oregon coast not affected by the shutdown of large swaths of the federal government.
The center two miles south of Yachats is open its regular hours — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week. It is staffed by two Forest Service employees and its regular complement of 18 volunteers.
“We were told to come and work,” said Reba Ortiz, lead field ranger at the center.
Ortiz said one of the reasons the center remained open was because it generates a little income through its $5 daily parking fee. And the result, Ortiz said, especially the past two holiday weeks has been lots of sightseers.
“We’ve all been a little surprised,” she said. “We’re very happy to be open and we’ve been getting lots and lots of visitors.”
Most Forest Service operations and offices in Oregon, including the Waldport office of the Siuslaw National Forest, are closed during the impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress. The agency’s websites and other information for the public are not being maintained or updated.