California State Parks to Rehabilitate
Morro Bay State Park Campground

Morro Bay, CA - Morro Bay State Park Campground will be closed to camping beginning Monday, April 5, 2004 to upgrade visitor facilities and enhance safety at the park, while maintaining the historic character of the facility, California State Park officials announced today.

The $3.2 million project is the first complete rehabilitation of the Morro Bay State Park Campground since opening in 1932. It comes at a time when long-overdue repairs and rehabilitation work for the aged visitor-serving facilities will enhance public access and safety. The project has been in the planning stages for four years, and after thorough environmental review and public comment, construction is ready to commence.

"Our intention with this project is to preserve and protect the historic and environmental character built into this facility by the Civilian Conservation Corps decades ago," said San Luis Obispo Coast District Superintendent Nick Franco.

"We will be merging much needed upgrades to visitor serving facilities with the existing character of the park, thereby preserving the best of what has attracted people to this park for many years."

The rehabilitation applies only to the campground. All day-use facilities, including the Morro Bay State Park Marina, the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History, the Bayside Café, the Morro Bay State Park Golf Course, area hiking trails and other day use facilities, will remain open during the rehabilitation project. The park's visitors will have continued access to this scenic jewel on the central coast of California.

The campground rehabilitation work to be done at the park includes the following:

• Construction of new restrooms to make facilities more accessible to those with disabilities. One historic restroom will be preserved and one historic restroom will be adapted for accessibility.

• Relocation of the park entrance station to eliminate the existing traffic safety hazards.

• Reconfiguration of the campsite locations and realignment of the access road through the campground to provide safer traffic access and circulation to the campsites.

• The undergrounding of utilities.

• Removal of a minimum number of non-native trees, many of which are in an unsafe condition.

• Planting close to 300 native trees and more than 600 native shrubs.

The work is expected to start in early April and will require that the campground be closed for one year. The contractor for the project is the R. Burke Corporation in San Luis Obispo.

Overnight visitors are being directed to nearby campgrounds and to the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce for other accommodation options

For more information please call Nick Franco, District Superintendent at (805) 927-2065.