Smith Rock State Park has brought national acclaim to the Redmond area — being featured in the opening credits of the Smithsonian Channel’s “Aerial America.”

In 2016, 767,596 people visited the 652-acre park north of Terrebonne.

But now it’s time for the park to develop a plan for the next 20 years, and potential parts of it are controversial.

The state has been taking surveys, with 1,200 returned, and holding meetings related to the first update of the park’s master plan since 1991.

Officials said much has changed since then, most notably a 150 percent increase in visitors. That impacts the natural features at the park, which is popular with hikers, horseback riders and rock climbers, as well as complicating things for neighbors.

People are asking for better management of parking, more restrooms and a stop to overcrowding at the walk-in camping area.

Officials also tried to get ideas by seeing how crowds are managed at other parks, including Red Rock Canyon in Nevada, Garden of the Gods in Colorado and Hueco Tanks in Texas.

State parks officials and consultants showed off three potential concepts for the park master plan at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Deschutes County fairgrounds. All of them would keep roughly the existing number of parking spaces, 1,186, though they had different ideas for where in the park to place the parking.

“The goal is to take pieces of these and meld them into a single plan,” Julia Cogger, senior planner and designer for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, told the audience of about 60 people.

All three plans call for adding a reservation system for the camping area. They would also use smart gates to monitor how much traffic is in the park.

A public comment period on the proposals continues through Nov. 25.

Concept A

“Concept A,” the only plan to call for keeping the existing Bivouac camping area in place, calls for adding a group camping area and small kitchen shelters at the campsite.

The plan would remove roadside parking, while expanding the campground parking lot and adding a new overflow lot.

It would place a new visitor center and more formal trailhead near the existing yurt welcome center. A vault toilet would be added at the turnaround at the north end of the park road and two worm composting toilets would be added in climbing areas.

Concept B

“Concept B” would also add restrooms at North Point and in the climbing areas, as well as a new pedestrian bridge over the Crooked River near the Southern Tip of the rock.

The camping area would be moved to the southwestern part of the park and be accessible from NE Wilcox Avenue. It would have a restroom and shower facility with a trailhead to access the canyon.

The existing camping area would be converted to a day use picnic area in Concept B. The area would include more parking to offset the loss of roadside parking.

It would also include a new visitor center at the site of the current overflow parking area.

Concept C

Perhaps the most controversial idea was in “Concept C.” That plan calls for building a new park access road from the current Bivouac site (which would be converted to a day use and parking area) to the southwestern part of the park.

“This would, hopefully, regulate how many people are in the park at a particular time,” Cogger said.

Instead of a camping area in the southwestern part of the park, Concept C would include a trailhead parking area, which would be accessed by the new road. It would feature a vault toilet and allow hikers to access trails connecting to the new southern pedestrian bridge.

Several residents spoke in opposition to the changes to the south end of the park, saying “bad judgment” could harm wildlife in the area.

Park officials reminded them that only one of the proposals calls for the new road.

Another large change in Concept C calls for the Bivouac to be moved to the northern point of the existing park road. Another bridge would be added in the northern part of the park.

The concept would also have a visitor center at the current overflow lot, and would be connected to Terrebonne by a multi-use trail.

For more information on the plans, visit smithrockparkplan.com.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com