Popular Butte Creek Falls to stay closed for another four to six weeks

Zach Urness, Salem Statesman Journal
·1 min read
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Hikers waiting patiently for a popular waterfall hike to reopen near Scotts Mills will have to wait another month at least.

Butte Creek Falls Recreation Area, home to a waterfall hike and campground, will remain closed for the next four to six weeks, and possibly longer, Oregon Department of Forestry officials said.

The recreation site wasn’t burned in the September 2020 Labor Day wildfires, but it has been closed ever since because the roads around it were burned and state officials say travel there is unsafe.

“There are still hazard trees that need to be removed near the roads around the recreation area,” ODF spokesman Tim Hoffman said. “Safety has and remains our top priority.

“There have been several unforeseen delays with the salvage operations in the past so we will notify the public when we have a solid opening date.”

Related: Shellburg Falls reopens Friday. Here's a sneak peek at what it looks like now.

Butte Creek Falls’ reopening has been delayed multiple times but was suppose to reopen last fall.

Hampton Lumber signed a contract with ODF on Sept. 15, 2021, for a salvage timber sale that included removing hazard trees along roughly 20 miles of road that leads to Butte Creek Falls.

The company missed its deadline to complete work at the end of last October due to “a lack of contractor availability combined with bad weather and challenging conditions on the ground,” a Hampton spokeswoman said previously.

An extension had been granted to complete the work, ODF said.

Meantime, the roads leading to the falls remain closed and so do the trails and campground.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Popular Butte Creek Falls near Salem to stay closed another 4-6 weeks