Construction Beginning Soon on New Campground and Beach Access Project at Fort Ord Dunes State Park
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Project location at Fort Ord Dunes State Park. Photo from Design Workshop.
MONTEREY – California State Parks is starting phase one on a new campground at Fort Ord Dunes State Park. The public may see orange construction fencing around project work sites and survey areas, and a portion of the recreation trail (Beach Range Road) will be detoured to the parallel trail outside of the park during construction. The remainder of the park’s trails and the beach will remain open to the public.
“We are so excited to be breaking ground on the first new State Parks campground in Northern California in decades,” said Dan Shaw, Deputy District Superintendent for Monterey District. “This was a true team effort by State Parks staff and partners working closely together to get us to this point”.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $33 million. A substantial amount of the funding comes from Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, is providing critical support for this campground project. The campground will feature 43 traditional tent campsites, 45 RV campsites, 10 walk-in or bike-in campsites, and improved coastal access. The project also includes a campfire center pavilion and a visitor center. This location has many stories to tell as ancestral and current lands of State Parks’ contemporary indigenous partners, to the years in use as Fort Ord and the rich African American history of the base, and into the future with habitat restoration, resource protection, community engagement, and public access.
Campground construction is expected to last two years. State Parks thanks the public for its patience and understanding during this construction. As the new facilities are built, the department will also be working to transform the landscape to a coastal dune habitat to support native plants and wildlife.
History of Fort Ord Dunes
At the end of World War I, the U.S. government purchased 15,000 acres of land just north of Monterey for field artillery training in 1917. The artillery field— known as Gigling Reservation—was named after the German family that originally settled in the area. The reservation was renamed Camp Ord in 1933 and then officially designated as Fort Ord in 1940.
Fort Ord played a vital role in processing and training more than 1.5 million soldiers during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Fort Ord was also uniquely diverse at the time. The 2nd Filipino Infantry was established in Fort Ord in 1942. African Americans were regularly stationed at Fort Ord because it was the first army post that implemented racial integration and accepted interracial marriage. The orderly conduct and ethnic diversity of the military in Fort Ord created a culture of racial tolerance in nearby communities. Fort Ord bears witness to the diverse group of soldiers who were willing to work together to serve our country, and it presented a foundation of cultural diversity for other U.S. military bases. Fort Ord Dunes State Park opened to the public in 2009.
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