With a shoreline surrounded by wilderness, hiking trails, and wildlife, Applegate Lake is the cherished summertime idyll of southern Oregon residents. The most centrally located of the region’s three reservoirs (Applegate, Emigrant, and Lost Creek lakes), it draws visitors from all nearby towns—Grants Pass, Medford, Jacksonville, and Ashland—and beyond.
A Greater Applegate (AGA) recently applied for a Recreation Ready grant from Travel Oregon to support repairs and improvements along the lake’s difficult-to-access, 18-mile shoreline. The two-phase program was designed to bring in experts for a feasibility study the first year and then provide $100,000 toward implementing the project in phase two. Although AGA did not receive the Recreation Ready grant, the application garnered a high score in the very competitive grant program and highlighted both the need for and community enthusiasm about a more accessible shoreline.
In recent years, the Forest Service has not had the extra resources to improve the lake’s infrastructure. As a result, the few existing paths to the shoreline are eroding, and facilities are out of date. Much of the lake’s edge is steep, rocky, and difficult for even the most able-bodied
person to navigate. Often, the boat ramps double dangerously as beaches. Forest Service employee John McKelligott, who has been involved with the lake for decades, pointed out that Hart-Tish Park and other lake access sites were constructed around 1980. “At that time ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] knowledge and focus were not too well understood or wisely funded and implemented,” he said.
This grant effort isn’t the first time the community has voiced concerns about the lake. In 2019, a group called Friends of Applegate advocated for infrastructure improvements. The group included residents, two Forest Service employees, Bert Etling (former editor of the Applegater), and the commissary who managed the lake’s campground and store at Hart-Tish Park.
The pandemic interrupted that effort. When no funding manifested and the group’s leader moved across the country, the effort lost momentum. The desire “to expand, and to expand and improve access to, the Applegate Valley’s outdoor recreational opportunities” was expressed at the 2020/2021 resident listening sessions held throughout the Applegate. This desire is described in the “Steward & Sustain” section of the Applegate Valley Vision, available online at agreaterapplegate.org.
This latest effort was sparked after AGA sponsored In a Landscape: Classical Music in the Wild last May at the day-use beach area near Hart-Tish. This popular touring series showcases musician Hunter Noack performing on his Steinway in outdoor settings. Days before
the sold-out concert, the organization received an email from a ticketholder seeking assurance that her disabled companions would be able to reach the concert site—one used a cane and the other a walker.
A scouting trip revealed only two handicap parking spots and a crumbling ADA path full of potholes that didn’t reach the lake’s steep edge. This woman gave her tickets to able-bodied friends and made a fair point: “It may be too late for this event, but I would suggest that ADA accessibility, or the lack thereof, be addressed in any future (especially ticketed) outdoor events.”
The Recreation Ready grant process required A Greater Applegate to show support from the community and to assemble a steering committee. Enthusiasm was easy to come by. Letters of support and willingness to join the project’s steering committee came in from Travel Southern Oregon, Travel Medford, Hart-Tish Park, In a Landscape, the Jacksonville Chamber, Applegate Partnership, the Outdoor Working Group, Provolt Recreation Area, and several Forest Service employees.
Although A Greater Applegate did not receive the Recreation Ready grant, we were encouraged that the proposal reached the final stages of the review process. Travel Oregon recommended that we continue the effort and suggested alternative routes for funding the project. For more information about A Greater Applegate, visit www.agreaterapplegate.org.
Christina Ammon
christina@footlooseintheapplegate.com
