The ground and who manages it
The Congressional Research Service splits Oregon’s 32.2 million federal acres among five agencies: the BLM with 15,727,901 acres, the Forest Service with 15,700,419, the Fish and Wildlife Service with 583,280, the National Park Service with 196,271 and the Department of Defense with 18,338. BLM Oregon/Washington describes its own holding as 16.1 million acres across the two states, so the Oregon figure used here is the one from the CRS table.
Most of the BLM ground a traveler wants is in four eastern districts. Vale manages 5.1 million acres, with about 4.6 million in the Malheur Field Office and roughly half a million in the Baker Field Office. Burns manages over 3.36 million acres in two resource areas of about 1.68 million each. Lakeview covers approximately 3.5 million acres in Lake, Klamath and part of Harney counties, including the 51,000-acre Warner Wetlands. Prineville holds 1.65 million acres scattered across a 13-million-acre boundary. The four western districts are Coos Bay, Medford, Northwest Oregon and Roseburg, which run the timber country.
On the Forest Service side, the Umatilla notes that the Pacific Northwest Region covers 19 national forests in Washington and Oregon. The Willamette alone is 1,675,407 acres with over 6,000 miles of road, the Wallowa-Whitman 2.4 million, the Fremont-Winema 2.3 million, the Malheur 1.7 million, the Deschutes nearly 1.6 million, the Umatilla 1.4 million, Mount Hood about 1.1 million, the Ochoco 845,498 and the Siuslaw over 630,000. The Crooked River National Grassland, 111,379 Forest Service acres inside a 173,629-acre boundary, is the only national grassland in the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region.
Two other landholders matter. The Fish and Wildlife Service runs the 278,000-acre Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge and the 187,000-acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, both of which are closed except where posted open. The Oregon Department of State Lands manages approximately 624,000 acres of rangeland in Lake, Harney and Malheur counties, leased for grazing and left open for hunting and recreation. The blocks worth knowing by name:
- 01Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (BLM): 428,156 acres of public land, inside a boundary the BLM elsewhere describes as roughly 500,000 acres of public and private ground
- 02Steens Mountain Wilderness (BLM): over 170,200 acres, designated in 2000, closed to motor vehicles
- 03Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (Forest Service): 652,488 acres, designated in 1975, taking in a 71-mile stretch of the Snake River
- 04Eagle Cap Wilderness (Forest Service): 387,915 acres in the Wallowa Mountains
- 05Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge (FWS): 278,000 acres, established in 1936
- 06Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (FWS): over 187,000 acres, established in 1908, with a 42-mile auto tour route
- 07Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (Forest Service): 31,500 acres over 40 miles of coast
- 08Leslie Gulch Area of Critical Environmental Concern (BLM): 11,000 acres in the Owyhee country
- 09Crooked River National Grassland (Forest Service): 111,379 acres administered inside a 173,629-acre boundary
Source 1
Seasons: when the gates open and when the playa is dry
Steens Mountain sets the calendar in the southeast. The BLM keeps four seasonal gates on the loop road and publishes a general timeline for each section: Page Springs to Fish Lake and Jackman Park from mid-June to early November, Fish Lake to the East Rim junction from late June to mid-October, the East Rim to Big Indian Gorge Overlook from early July to mid-October, Big Indian Gorge to South Steens from early June to mid-October, and South Steens to the Black Canyon gate from mid-May to early November. The full loop, the BLM says, is open early July to mid-October. ODOT gives the same road as a 59-mile tour route and says July through October, closed in winter.
The Cascade passes run on their own clock. ODOT closes the McKenzie Pass Highway, Oregon 242, from November to mid-June every year, and the earliest it can open is the third Monday in June. The Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway is a June to October drive because the road closes beyond Mount Bachelor in winter. At Crater Lake the Park Service closes Rim Drive and the North Entrance Road with the first big snowstorm or on November 1, whichever comes first, starts plowing West Rim Drive in mid-April and expects all roads open by mid-July. The park averages 41 feet of snow a year at headquarters.
In the northeast, ODOT says Forest Road 39, which carries the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, is closed by snow from October 15 through May 15, which is why it calls the loop a June to October drive. On Elkhorn Drive the stretch between Granite and Anthony Lake is often closed until July.
The Alvord Desert works differently. The BLM says the playa is reachable year round but that ideal conditions run June through November, when it is usually dry enough to drive on, and tells you not to drive anywhere that is wet or even looks slightly wet. Wet playa clay turns to thick mud that will hold a vehicle with little warning. The same caution applies to the Owyhee roads: the BLM says the Soldier Creek Loop Road to Three Forks can be impassable when wet or muddy, and that flash floods, wet roads or winter conditions can close the road into Leslie Gulch.
Source 6
What Oregon asks of a vehicle
Start with the permit, because Oregon classes vehicles in a way that surprises visitors. Oregon Parks and Recreation defines a Class II all-terrain vehicle as a pickup truck, SUV, Jeep, rock crawler or sand rail, street legal or not. A plated truck can drive most gravel roads open to passenger cars without a permit, but it needs a $10 ATV Operating Permit, valid two years, the moment it leaves the road for a trail or the dunes. Out-of-state visitors buy the same permit at the same price.
Then tires. ODOT posts snow zone signs that say one of four things: carry chains or traction tires, chains required on heavy or towing vehicles, chains required on anything over 10,000 GVW, or chains required with traction tires allowed under 10,000 GVW. Traction tires are studded tires or tires marked with the three-peaked mountain and snowflake. Studs are legal only from November 1 through March 31, and ODOT says driving on them outside those dates carries a fine of nearly $200.
Last, distance. ODOT warns that many of its byways and tour routes run through country where gas stations are few, and gives the example of more than 80 miles without fuel between Joseph and Halfway on the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. On Elkhorn Drive it says to fill up in Granite because nothing else is open until Baker City. The BLM tells Steens visitors to start with a full tank and call ahead about fuel in Fields, Frenchglen, Crane or the Narrows, and says there is no cell reception over much of that country. The Park Service adds a local detail at John Day Fossil Beds: self-serve fuel is legal in rural Oregon now, but many rural pumps cannot take a card after hours.
Source 46
Passes and routes
-
Cascade Lakes Scenic BywayPaved
66 miles
The high road out of Bend past Mount Bachelor and the string of lakes behind it, and the easiest introduction to the Cascade crest in the state. The state gives it 66 miles and names June to October as the season, which in practice is set by how long the plough takes to reach the far end. 44
- Season
- June to October; the road closes beyond Mount Bachelor in winter
-
Steens Loop Tour Route
59 miles by the state’s measure, 52 by the BLM’s
The same road as the Steens Mountain Back Country Byway measured by a different agency, which is why this guide gives both figures. From the east rim overlook the mountain drops over a vertical mile to the floor of the Alvord Desert, which is the single most dramatic thing a vehicle can reach in Oregon. 42
- Season
- July through October; closed in the winter months
-
McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass Scenic BywayPaved
82 miles
The Forest Service’s length for the loop that takes OR 242 over McKenzie Pass and returns on US 20 over Santiam. The 242 leg is the one that closes for winter, so for much of the year the byway is driven as an out-and-back on the Santiam side. 34
-
Snake River-Mormon Basin Back Country Byway
150 miles
A long BLM back country byway through the dry country between the Snake River and the Mormon Basin in eastern Oregon. It is the sort of route the Vale District is made of: ranch roads, no services and a long way between the towns at either end. 15
-
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge auto tour
42 miles
The refuge encompasses over 187,000 acres of the Harney Basin at 4,100 feet, and its auto tour route runs 42 miles on gravel. The service is blunt about the terms: vehicle pullouts are sparingly available, turnarounds are limited for larger and recreational vehicles, poor conditions may occur throughout the year, and there is no lodging, fuel or other accommodation. Arrive with a full tank and good tires. 56
- Vehicle
- Gravel with good clearance; turnarounds are limited for larger vehicles
-
Steens Mountain Back Country Byway
9,500 ft 52 miles, or 59 by ODOT’s count
A loop from Highway 205 at Frenchglen, over the mountain and back at the Black Canyon gate
The BLM calls it a 52-mile byway running from 4,200 to 9,500 feet, with four seasonal gates and a general opening timeline for each section. ODOT lists the same road as a 59-mile tour route open July through October. The BLM says good tires matter on every vehicle, even on the maintained parts, and that much of southeast Oregon is open range. 6
- Vehicle
- Passenger cars at low speeds on most of it; high clearance or four-wheel drive for the primitive roads and the rocky stretch near South Steens
- Season
- The full loop is usually open early July to mid-October, section by section behind four gates
-
East Steens Tour Route and the Alvord playa
143 miles
Burns to Fields by Highway 78 and the East Steens Road
ODOT’s 143-mile tour route runs down the east side of the Steens escarpment past the Alvord Desert. The BLM calls the playa one of the largest in Oregon, six miles wide and 11 miles long, and says not to drive anywhere wet or even slightly wet: the clay turns to mud that will trap a vehicle with little warning. There is no potable water, no cell service and one vault toilet. 9
- Vehicle
- Two-wheel drive on the road. Nothing at all on wet playa
- Season
- ODOT says spring through fall. The BLM says the playa is usually dry enough to drive on June through November
-
Lakeview to Steens Back Country Byway
About 90 miles, 40 paved and 50 gravel
Highway 140 north of Lakeview to Highway 205 south of Frenchglen, by Plush and Hart Mountain
The byway crosses the Warner Mountains, the Warner Valley and Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, 278,000 acres the Fish and Wildlife Service calls one of the most expansive wildlife habitats in the arid West free of domestic livestock. A winding dirt road runs about 18 miles south from refuge headquarters; the BLM says most refuge roads are primitive. The stay limit is 14 days. 13
- Vehicle
- Suitable for passenger cars, per the BLM
- Season
- All-weather roads, though the BLM says winter storms bring brief closures and poor driving
-
Christmas Valley Back Country Byway
93 miles
Highway 31 near Silver Lake, east through Christmas Valley and back
The BLM’s 93-mile byway through the Oregon Outback reaches sand dunes built from ash and pumice thrown out when Mount Mazama erupted about 7,000 years ago, and the remains of an eroded volcano. Its own advice for the drive is short: check weather and road conditions first, carry maps, water and enough fuel, and bring a spare tire, jack, tools and a shovel. The stay limit is 14 days. 12
- Vehicle
- Mixed. The BLM says the Black Hills Interpretive Site is reachable on foot or by four-wheel drive
-
Soldier Creek Loop Road to Three Forks
36 miles of dirt from US 95 to the canyon rim
US 95 near Danner, about 16 miles west of Jordan Valley, down to the Owyhee confluence
The BLM calls Three Forks one of the most remote places in Oregon. The dirt road runs 36 miles to the rim, passing the Owyhee Canyon Overlook 22 miles in, and then drops the last two miles into the canyon on a track the agency describes as rocky, steep and not regularly maintained. Its own advice is to stop at the rim and judge the descent before committing, and to walk down if the road looks bad. Five campsites, a boat launch and vault toilets at the bottom. 11
- Vehicle
- High-clearance four-wheel drive, highly recommended by the BLM
- Season
- Impassable when wet or muddy, per the BLM
-
Succor Creek Road or McBride Creek Road, east of Owyhee Reservoir
The road drops through 11,000 acres of honeycombed tuff cliffs to Slocum Creek Campground on the reservoir. The BLM limits camping and fires to that campground, holds vehicles to existing roads and parking areas, bans collecting vegetation, rock and firewood, and provides no drinking water. Maximum stay is 14 days. More than 200 California bighorn sheep live in the gulch. 10
- Vehicle
- High clearance recommended. Large recreational vehicles are not
- Season
- Flash floods, wet roads or winter conditions can make it impassable
-
South Fork John Day River Back Country Byway
50 miles
Dayville south to the Malheur National Forest boundary
The BLM byway follows the Wild and Scenic South Fork through its canyon, past the Aldrich Mountain Wilderness Study Area and the Black Canyon Wilderness. There are no developed facilities along it and no cell service at all, but the agency says dispersed camping opportunities are plentiful. The stay limit is 14 days. Izee Falls drops 56 feet beside the road. 14
- Vehicle
- High-standard gravel, suitable for most passenger vehicles. Some stretches are one vehicle wide
-
Hells Canyon Scenic BywayPaved
218 miles
A loop off I-84 at La Grande and Baker City, by Joseph, Imnaha and Halfway
ODOT’s 218-mile loop circles the Wallowa Mountains and touches the rim of Hells Canyon. The Forest Service puts 652,488 acres in the national recreation area, designated in 1975, taking in 71 miles of the Snake River and the deepest river gorge in North America. Hells Canyon Overlook, a short spur off Forest Road 39, sits at 5,400 feet. ODOT warns of stretches over 80 miles without fuel, particularly between Joseph and Halfway. 39
- Vehicle
- Any car, but parts are very narrow and winding
- Season
- June to October. Forest Road 39 is closed by snow from October 15 through May 15
-
Hat Point Road
About 21 miles from Imnaha
Imnaha to the rim above the Snake River
Forest Road 2640 climbs from Imnaha to the ridgeline above Hells Canyon, where the Hat Point Overlook and its lookout tower look down on the Wild and Scenic Snake River. The Forest Service calls the road very steep and narrow. There is no potable water at the site. The Forest Service publishes no elevation and no season for the road itself, so neither is given here. 22
- Vehicle
- The forest advises caution for low-clearance vehicles, RVs and anything towing on the lower sections
- Season
- The Forest Service says it can be slippery when wet or frozen and does not recommend it for trailers in late fall and winter
-
Elkhorn Drive Scenic BywayPaved
7,392 ft 106 miles
A loop from Baker City by Sumpter, Granite and Anthony Lakes
ODOT’s 106-mile loop climbs from Baker City past the Sumpter dredge tailings to Blue Springs Summit at 5,864 feet, over Elkhorn Mountain Summit at 7,392 and down past Anthony Lakes. Its advice at Granite is direct: fill the tank there, because nothing else is open until Baker City. The route meets the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway at North Fork John Day Campground. 40
- Vehicle
- Any car
- Season
- Summer and fall. ODOT says the stretch between Granite and Anthony Lake is often closed until July
-
McKenzie Pass Highway, Oregon 242Paved
5,325 ft 82 miles for the full McKenzie Pass to Santiam Pass byway
Oregon 126 near McKenzie Bridge to US 20 at Sisters
ODOT closes the pass every winter because the narrow, twisting roadway at 5,325 feet is impractical to keep clear, locks the gates and stops maintaining the road. When it is open, about 300 cars a day cross it in summer, there are no services and no cell coverage, and vehicles over 35 feet are barred because of tight curves and missing shoulders. The Forest Service gives the whole McKenzie Pass to Santiam Pass byway as 82 miles. 35
- Vehicle
- Any car under 35 feet. Longer vehicles are not allowed
- Season
- Closed November to mid-June. The earliest it can open is the third Monday in June
-
Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
40 miles of coast
Florence south to Coos Bay along US 101
Congress set aside 31,500 acres of the Siuslaw National Forest here in 1972, one of the largest stretches of temperate coastal dunes in the world. About half of it is open to motorized vehicles, with campgrounds and staging areas built for that. The Forest Service holds vehicles to a 93-decibel limit in the dunes and 97 at Sand Lake, requires spark arresters, and lists a missing permit sticker on a truck, car or motorhome among the most common citations. 33
- Vehicle
- An Oregon ATV Operating Permit is required once you leave the road for the sand
- Season
- Open year round. Snowy plover rules apply on the beach March 15 to September 15
Rules worth knowing
- The BLM here is bigger than most states’ public land
- The Bureau of Land Management holds 16.1 million acres across Oregon and Washington, and in Oregon it is organised into districts worth knowing by name: Vale manages 5.1 million acres, Lakeview approximately 3.5 million, Burns over 3.36 million, and Prineville 1.65 million. Almost everything this guide calls the high desert sits in one of those four, and the district office is the authority on its roads. 5
- Steens is a cooperative management area, not an ordinary district
- Steens Mountain covers approximately 500,000 acres under a cooperative management and protection area designation of its own, which is why its rules and its road seasons are published separately from the Burns District around it. Read the Steens pages for the Steens, and do not assume the general BLM position applies on the mountain. 7
- Studded tires are legal for five months only
- You may use studded tires in Oregon from 1 November through 31 March, and driving on them before or after that window carries a fine of nearly two hundred dollars. The Department of Transportation asks drivers to choose chains or non-studded traction tires instead, because studs damage pavement. This is a date rule rather than a conditions rule: the snow in the Cascades does not extend the window. 37
- On the Hells Canyon byway, eighty miles can pass without fuel
- The state describes the byway as a 218-mile loop encircling the Wallowa Mountains, meeting Interstate 84 at La Grande and Baker City, best from June to October, with Forest Road 39 closed by snow from 15 October to 15 May. It also gives the warning that matters most: there are stretches of more than eighty miles without petrol and with few services, particularly between Joseph and Halfway. The Hells Canyon Overlook sits at 5,400 feet, and the national recreation area covers 652,488 acres along a 71-mile stretch of the Snake. 38
- The East Steens route is the year-round side
- The East Steens Tour Route runs 143 miles and the state calls it best from spring through fall but enjoyable year round, which makes it the counterpart to the loop road over the top: the mountain road closes for winter and the desert road below it does not. It is the way to see the east face when the rim is under snow. 43
- Crater Lake closes its rim road on the first big storm
- The park calls itself one of the snowiest inhabited places in the United States, and states that deep snow forces it to close Rim Drive and the North Entrance Road to cars each winter, on the first big snowstorm or on 1 November, whichever comes first. Ploughing typically begins on West Rim Drive in mid-April and all roads are usually ready by mid-July. That is an eight-month closure in an average year. 51
- Forty-one feet of snow a year at park headquarters
- Storms off the Pacific drop an annual average of 41 feet of snow at Crater Lake’s headquarters. The record season was 879 inches in 1932 to 1933 and the greatest depth on the ground 258 inches in 1983. Those numbers are the reason the road seasons read the way they do, and the reason a June plan for the rim is optimistic. 52
- At John Day, the units are an hour and a half apart
- The fossil beds are three separate units and the Park Service publishes the drives between them: Sheep Rock to Painted Hills 45 miles and an hour, Painted Hills to Clarno 75 miles and an hour and a half, Clarno to Sheep Rock 81 miles and an hour thirty-five. It adds a practical warning for the whole region: it is now legal to pump your own petrol in rural Oregon, but many stations there cannot take self-pay, so fuel after hours can still be very hard to find. 53
- Hart Mountain is 278,000 acres with no livestock
- The refuge covers 278,000 acres and the Fish and Wildlife Service calls it one of the most expansive wildlife habitats in the arid west free of domestic livestock, established on 20 December 1936. It is high, dry, unfenced country reached on gravel, and the absence of cattle is the reason it looks different from the BLM ground around it. 54
- Malheur refuge is 187,000 acres of water in a desert
- The refuge encompasses over 187,000 acres of the Harney Basin, a wetland complex at 4,100 feet surrounded by sagebrush. It is one of the great bird places in the west and it is also a long way from anything: no lodging, no fuel and no services on the refuge itself, with Burns the nearest town of any size. 55
- State rangeland is a lease, not a park
- The Department of State Lands holds approximately 624,000 acres of rangeland in southeast Oregon, and its pages describe grazing leases rather than recreation. Treat it the way you would treat any leased ground: the lease holder is working it, and public use is not the purpose it exists for. 50
- The forests, by size and by elevation
- Oregon’s national forests are large enough that their own figures are the useful summary. Willamette is 1,675,407 acres; Deschutes nearly 1.6 million; Mount Hood about 1.1 million ranging from 800 feet to the 11,239-foot summit; Ochoco 845,498 acres with the Crooked River National Grassland beside it; Siuslaw over 630,000 acres on the coast; the Fremont and Winema are administered together in the south east; and the Wallowa-Whitman reaches as high as 9,843 feet in the north east. 26
- Wallowa-Whitman holds the highest ground in eastern Oregon
- The forest reaches as high as 9,843 feet and contains the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and the Eagle Cap Wilderness, 387,915 acres of it. Between the wilderness boundary and the canyon rim, this is the part of the state where a road ends most abruptly, and where the distance back to a town is longest. 21
- The Ochoco is the small dry forest in the middle
- The Ochoco National Forest consists of 845,498 acres in central Oregon and is administered with the Crooked River National Grassland. It is drier and lower than the Cascade forests and its roads open earlier, which makes it the sensible May destination when the crest is still closed. 23
- Deschutes and Mount Hood carry the crowds
- The Deschutes National Forest encompasses nearly 1.6 million acres on the east side of the Cascades and Mount Hood about 1.1 million on the north, ranging from 800 feet to the mountain itself. They are the two forests within reach of Oregon’s biggest towns, which shows in how early the dispersed sites fill on a summer Friday. 27
- Mount Hood’s forest runs from 800 feet to the summit
- The forest states its own range as 800 feet to the top of the mountain, which is 11,239 feet by the USGS table. That span is the reason its roads open at wildly different dates within one forest, and the reason a forecast for Government Camp says nothing useful about the Hood River valley. 28
- Fremont and Winema are run as one forest
- The Fremont and Winema National Forests are administered together across south central Oregon, which is useful to know because their pages, alerts and motor vehicle use maps come from a single office. It is the least visited big forest in the state and the one with the most open dispersed camping. 29
- Siuslaw is one of only two coastal forests
- The Siuslaw encompasses over 630,000 acres on the Oregon coast and is one of only two national forests in the country that reach the sea. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area sits inside it, which is where the state’s sand driving and its noise limits are, and why a coastal trip and a mountain trip need different preparation. 31
- The ATV permit covers pickups and SUVs
- Oregon defines a Class II all-terrain vehicle as a pickup truck, SUV, Jeep, rock crawler or sand rail, street legal or not. A plated vehicle may drive most gravel roads open to passenger cars without a permit, but Oregon Parks and Recreation says it needs an ATV Operating Permit as soon as it leaves the road, on a trail or on the dunes. The permit is $10 and valid for two years, and out-of-state visitors pay the same. Oregon accepts California and Nevada permits but not those from Washington, Idaho, Utah or Arizona. 45
- Roads are closed unless the map says they are open
- On Forest Service land in Oregon every road is closed to motor vehicles unless the forest’s Motor Vehicle Use Map shows it open, and you may not turn off an open road onto a closed one at a junction. The BLM applies the same idea on Steens Mountain, where it asks drivers to stay on designated open routes as shown on current BLM maps, and at Leslie Gulch, where vehicles are held to existing roads and parking areas. Designated wilderness, including the 170,200-acre Steens Mountain Wilderness, is closed to motor vehicles entirely. 47
- Driving the beach is allowed only where the state posts it
- Under Oregon Administrative Rule 736-021-0060 you may not take a motor vehicle onto any part of the ocean shore unless the state has posted that section open, and on an open section you may drive only a vehicle registered for public highways. Speed is capped at 25 mph on open sections and 10 mph on closed ones, the driver must carry a licence, and no vehicle may enter a western snowy plover management area. ATVs and OHVs are allowed only on the shore fronting the Oregon Dunes and Sand Lake recreation areas. Division 24 of the same chapter sets the restrictions county by county, with dates and hours for each stretch of beach. 48
- Chains, traction tires and the snow zone signs
- ODOT posts snow zone signs that carry one of four requirements: carry chains or traction tires; chains required on vehicles towing or with a single drive axle over 10,000 GVW; chains required on vehicles towing or weighing over 10,000 GVW; or chains required, with traction tires allowed under 10,000 GVW. Traction tires are studded tires or tires marked with the three-peaked mountain and snowflake symbol. Studded tires are legal only from November 1 through March 31, and ODOT says using them outside those dates brings a fine of nearly $200. 36
- Stay limits run 14 days almost everywhere
- Every BLM site in eastern Oregon checked for this guide gives the same limit: 14 days at Steens Mountain, Christmas Valley, the Lakeview to Steens byway, the South Fork John Day byway, Leslie Gulch and Three Forks. The Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland go further under Forest Order 06-07-25-02, which bans occupying one location for more than 14 consecutive days and caps total stays at 28 days in any 365-day period. The Umatilla holds campground stays to 14 days. The office that manages the ground is the one whose limit applies. 24
- Fire restrictions are set district by district
- The Oregon Department of Forestry and its partners impose public and industrial fire restrictions when fire season starts, published per protection district and on two interactive maps, and it points travelers to the Forest Service and other agencies for ground outside its protection. Forests post their own stage of public use restrictions and an Industrial Fire Precaution Level. Oregon also builds equipment into its vehicle rules: a Class II vehicle needs a two-pound fire extinguisher, and the state’s advice for the forest in fire season is a shovel and an extinguisher in every vehicle. 49
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
US Forest Service (USFS)
National Park Service (NPS)
US Fish and Wildlife (USFW)
Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)
Department Of Defense (DOD)
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
Other Federal
State
Local
Alaska Native Lands (Patented or Interim Conveyed)
Alaska Native Allotment
Road
Primitive Road
Road
Primitive Road
Trail
Roads open to all Vehicles, Yearlong
Roads open to all Vehicles, Seasonal
Roads open to highway legal vehicles only, Yearlong
Roads open to highway legal vehicles only, Seasonal
Special Designation, Yearlong
Special Designation, Seasonal
Trails open to all vehicles, Yearlong
Trails open to all vehicles, Seasonal
Trails open to vehicles 50" or less in width, Yearlong
Trails open to vehicles 50" or less in width, Seasonal
Trails open to motorcycles, Yearlong
Trails open to motorcycles, Seasonal
Special Designation, Seasonal
Trails Open to Wheeled Vehicles Only < 50" in Width, Yearlong
Trails Open to Wheeled Vehicles Only < 50" or Less in Width, Seasonal
Wilderness Area
Wilderness Study Area
