An aerial photo shows how the Siletz River channel at Moonshine Park moved north, and filling a small opening downstream of the boat ramp and leading to a decision by the Lincoln County Parks Department to close it. (Lincoln County Parks Department photo)By QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle
The Lincoln County parks department has suddenly closed the boat ramp at Moonshine Park on the Siletz River, saying that years of channel changes made launching fishing boats there unsafe.
The ramp closure means if will be difficult – but not impossible – for fishermen in drift boats or smaller craft to access a popular 12-mile stretch of the Siletz River between Moonshine Park and Twin Bridges Park. The rest of the county’s most popular park remains open.
It is the second action affecting fishermen on the Siletz in the last three months.
The Oregon Marine Board voted in July to ban the use of motors on the river above Old Mill Park on the west edge of the city of Siletz effective March 31 and limit motors to 15 horsepower between Jack Morgan Park and Old Mill Park.
A guide to the middle section of the Siletz River shows boat ramps, parks, and areas that fishermen drift from boats or fish from the river’s bank.The county’s announcement last week caught both the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Siletz Anglers Association by surprise. It incensed the fishing group, which said it had offered to construct a small ramp just upstream until it can help figure out a longer-term plan how to maintain boat access.
“We’ve given Lincoln County every opportunity to keep that ramp open,” Scott Ammerman, an officer in the Siletz Anglers Association. “We are beyond frustrated the county has closed access to the river.”
The fishing group has active programs on the river, including helping ODFW with its acclimation ponds across from Moonshine Park and helping the county, the city of Siletz and the Marine Board improve ramps and other amenities.
The river channel moved to the north side of the Siletz over the years, creating a low island in the middle and no real way for drift boats to move directly downstream once they are launched. Ammerman said anglers pull – oftentimes with the help of association members — their boats upstream for 100 feet or so before going out into the main channel.
But the county was unequivocal in the Moonshine ramp closure. In announcing the closure on the county’s website, the parks department said the launch is simply unsafe and there are no plans or money to develop a new ramp.
Perry“The issue is not simply that the constructed boat ramp itself has deteriorated,” parks director Kelly Perry said in an email to the Lincoln Chronicle. “The river channel at the Moonshine Park ramp has changed, and the current river conditions at that location no longer provide a safe area for launching and retrieving trailered boats. Because the issue is with the river and channel rather than a repair to the concrete ramp itself, we do not have a practical repair that would make this location safe for continued boat launching.”
The county also said it has no current plans nor the money to develop a new boat ramp. Developing a new river access site would require significant planning, permitting, and funding, and the process could take up to five years, the announcement said.
Perry said the county has met at the park with representatives of ODFW, the Oregon Marine Board, and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to look at the ramp, the river “and discuss options.”
“The challenge is that providing a new boat launch would be a much larger project than rehabilitating the existing ramp,” Perry said in her email. “It would require identifying a suitable location, planning and engineering, permitting, funding, and ultimately construction. At this time, the county does not have the staff or financial resources to pursue development of a new boat launch.”
The parks department operates on a yearly budget of about $1.2 million from lodging taxes and has three full-time staff to manage 15 parks covering 333 acres.
Siletz Anglers Association officer Scott Amerman, right, says the group tried to work with Lincoln County on an alternative to closing the boat ramp at Moonshine Park.Ammerman said his group’s frustration with the decision – in addition to hearing of it not from the county but a reporter – was that it had offered to help with both a temporary and potential long-term solution – as it has done for significant work and money to other access points along the river.
The fishing group offered to build and install a temporary slide ramp 100 yards upstream, Ammerman said, and also raise $100,000 towards creating a more permanent solution.
“But the county said ‘No’,” he said. “They’re worried about someone getting hurt.”
Ammerman admitted the current ramp can be challenging but that his group and other fishermen have made it “work for years with zero injuries.” The ramp is most heavily used by winter steelhead fishermen from January to April.
Dylan O’Keefe, ODFW’s central coast regional biologist, said last week he was still trying to gather information on the closure but ultimately the agency doesn’t have a say or opinion on such access issues. But he did say there would be an effect of the ramp closure on winter steelhead fishing and access to the Palmer Creek steelhead acclimation ponds across from the park that it operates with help from the Siletz fishing group.
Both Ammerman and O’Keefe said there are a few private launches between Moonshine and Twin Bridges and neither would be surprised if some landowners took advantage of the closure to allow – and likely charge — for access.
“It’s the highest and last public boat ramp on the river,” O’Keefe said. “There’s going to be an adjustment for folks who want to access that fishery.”
- Quinton Smith is the editor of Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
It’s unfortunate the county hasn’t been willing to work with the people most affected by their decisions, in this case the local fishing community. Starting in 2024 the local lodging tax was increased 2% specifically to help fund these types of park projects and repairs, which voters were told was going to be between $600,000 and $800,000 of new money every year. The program also still gets general fund dollars to fund personnel costs, so I don’t understand why there isn’t money for a new ramp. Where did the money go? Yes it would take time to get built but so does everything. I appreciate the county doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but as long as it doesn’t charge a fee to use the ramp it is protected under recreational immunity so why don’t they just make it “use at your own risk” and let people access the river?
“We don’t have the manpower or the finances” has turned into a cliché for all Oregon government responses. My question is, why? Lincoln County has some of the highest taxes in the state, and Oregon has some of the highest taxes in the U.S. We spend millions on projects that benefit those who don’t pay taxes, and for anything related to entertainment. It’s not like this is a new issue, as it has been developing for years. Why was there no planning when it first came to light? Oregon was built by those who were hunters, fishermen and loggers. It’s now controlled by politicians who don’t know a skidder from a yarder. They spent billions fighting loggers to protect the spotted owl, only to watch it go extent by natural selection. Hunters and fishermen have been bombarded by so many new rules, regulations and increased fees that it’s more beneficial to go out of state where politicians still serve the will of the people. I hope this is remembered when it’s time to vote.
Recreational immunity, mentioned by Mikel D., does not protect landowners against gross negligence, intentional injury or reckless/deliberate misconduct, all of which are on the rise. Consider the extreme vandalism of the restrooms at several public park restrooms recently. People are being heads-in-sand about the 2026 realities of rising insurance costs due to the bad behavior of too many careless and ignorant citizens, and the alarming rise in construction costs due to the tariffs on materials. I believe Perry, who says there is not enough money or manpower available at this time for repairing or replacing the Moonshine boat ramp~ besides, no amount of money can change the course of Mother Nature. The River flows where she wills.
to @Mikel D. Recreational immunity seems somewhat beside the point. If a landowner knows a facility has become unsafe, why would immunity be the reason to keep it open?
The channel and current at this ramp are not what they were when the ramp was built. Closing it seems like the responsible thing to do until there is a safe solution.
Imagine the alternative: the County knows about the hazard, leaves the ramp open, and someone is killed. The first question would be, “If you knew it was unsafe, why was it open?”
Public access and public safety are two different questions. Wanting river access doesn’t make the existing ramp safe.
If you have a light enough or small enough drift boat you can put it in at the Skinny Dipping Hole.
I think Scott Ammerman’s statement about the $100,000 offer is missing a key point. Offering money isn’t the same as having a project you can legally build.
Work along a river can involve engineering, floodplain requirements, environmental review, and permits. Even something that sounds simple—like putting in a temporary launch requires permits before anyone can just show up and do the work.
$100,000 might help start a project, but it doesn’t make those requirements disappear. Before criticizing the County for “turning down” money, I’d want to know what the proposed project was, what permits it required, what it was expected to cost from design through construction, and who would be responsible for getting it permitted and maintaining it afterward.
Sometimes the obstacle isn’t finding someone willing to write a check. It’s whether the proposed solution is actually feasible.