By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – In elementary school, Reba Ortiz went on field trips to Cape Perpetua. During her senior year at Waldport High School, Ortiz volunteered at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and did her graduation project on the job of a park ranger.
On Wednesday, as the visitor center’s new supervisor, she helped reopen the popular attraction after it’s closure for 2½ years.
“It’s great to be here,” Ortiz said as vehicles crowded the parking lot and a steady stream of visitors wandered in to seek directions, information or wander among the new exhibits. “It’s great to be open.”
The U.S. Forest Service closed the center and other of its public facilities across the Northwest in early 2020 as Covid-19 swept the country. Even as some local or state governments began opening their buildings or operations in late 2021, officials in Region 6 covering Oregon and Washington kept their facilities closed under U.S. Department of Agriculture directives to protect employees and volunteers.
There was no opportunity for local discretion to reopen, said Michele Holman, head ranger of the agency’s Central Coast district.
“We just excited to provide that service again,” Holman said.
But it will be a slow go.
The Cape Perpetua Visitor Center reopened Wednesday with no fanfare and two permanent employees and one seasonal worker.
The center and information building at nearby Devils Churn rely heavily on volunteers – needing 30-35 to be fully operational, including for tours and educational programs. Ortiz said she is working with Discover Your Northwest, a Forest Service nonprofit partner, to operate the gift shop and reach out to former volunteers and recruit new ones with the goal of being open seven days a week. She is also seeking host campers.
“Some are already coming back and some are seeing how it goes,” Ortiz said of the volunteers.
For now, visitor center hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The Devils Churn building will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Ortiz hopes to open the visitor center theater in July and begin offering guided hikes around the cape’s many popular trails.
One thing that regular visitors to the center will notice is a complete remodel of displays. The former displays were old, faded and outdated, Ortiz said, so staff used much of the last two years to consult with historians, archeologists and other experts to re-do them.
The tall display showing a cutaway of a Native American shell midden has been redone. Displays feature Native Americans on the coast, forest use, evolution and rehabilitation, the relationship of land, rivers and the sea, and forest animals.
Ortiz and others also created a Fiberglas model of an ocean tide pool that can be shown to visitors – especially children – when the weather or tides hamper outside exploration.
Ortiz was a seasonal Forest Service employee for two years, spent two seasons as a wildland firefighter and then returned in 2016 as the center’s education and volunteer coordinator. She worked as a park ranger the past two years when the center was closed, and was selected as visitor center supervisor to replace Vicki Penwell, who retired.
“We’re very fortunate to have Reba and her enthusiasm,” Holman said.
Combined with the Devils Churn information station, the two facilities can see upward of 1,000 people a day on busy weekends, Ortiz says.
That was evident Wednesday as the weather brightened and visitors walked trails, stopped in the center and just wandered around.
“It’s just so good to be open again,” Ortiz said.
