This campground isn't a safe place to stay or to volunteer…read more
I left my job in Yosemite and moved to Oregon to come stay at this campground for two seasons as a volunteer campground host.
My stay here was horrible and traumatizing, and the Columbia River Gorge staff were even worse.
I stayed anyway because I needed the volunteer credit on my resume, and didn't want to let one/two bad ranger/s ruin it for me. Also, I'd invested a lot in coming, and wanted to make it work.
The shower that was supposed to be available for my use was broken. I was given a code to an old ranger station down the road, where I could use a decaying shower shared by the whole fire crew.
The last time I opened the door to that bathroom, a bat flew out at me.
The person who hired me quit before I arrived, and directed me to contact her boss, the recreation coordinator/manager (Ranger Joshua Daker), with zero supportive staff.
I complained numerous times that I had been misled. He apologized numerous times, saying he was "new to this" and "short staffed."
I asked him at least eighteen separate times in writing for an opportunity to tour the USDA Forest Service Office in Hood River. Per my contract and my interview, I was supposed to have a chance to interact first hand with Forest Service staff.
I was repeatedly denied this opportunity. The recreation manager said "it's just a bunch of cubicles, there's nothing to see." I told him I was hoping to meet other staff or peruse their books about the area.
He responded to this by leaving three paperback books in the bathroom maintenance closet for me.
I literally never met any of his coworkers or supervisors. My only interactions were with this man who I was passed off to, who seemed mostly irritated by my existence.
After six weeks of volunteering, I was attacked twice within one week.
First, a man charged me with his vehicle while I was attempting to wave him down to ask where he was going.
A few days later, a different man chased me into the woods in the middle of the night.
It was terrifying. I called 911 twice, and it took them over 15 minutes to get there. While I was being actively chased.
I tried multiple times to contact rangers or law enforcement from the forest service, and was unable to reach anyone for weeks.
When I finally did reach a FS LEO, the first thing she did was ask me to cover for her and say yes if anyone asked me if I'd seen a creepy man with brown hair camping illegally.
When I told the recreation manager, who was ostensibly responsible for overseeing my position, he left me a long and rambling (stoned) voicemail about how law enforcement is short staffed due to ICE recruitment and how there just aren't enough police in the gorge.
I told him I was upset and thinking about leaving. He asked me to stay. He continually said he was new to the job and appreciated my help.
The next week, I was evacuated from the campground due to a wildfire.
This greatly exacerbated my disability. I reached out to the recreation manager numerous times asking for help.
He literally ghosted me.
There was a ton of crime at the campground, as well as lots of vagrant trespassers scaring teenage girl campers, and I was virtually never able to get a response from a ranger or law enforcement.
I emailed the recreation manager's boss asking how to file a formal complaint. I told him I was in poor health due to being attacked at work and needed help.
I went to Portland to get checked out by a doctor, and came home to a letter telling me I had 48 hours to evacuate the campground.
The Forest Service literally fired me from a volunteer position that I was doing under my right to work ticket as a disabled person in direct retaliation for asking how to file a complaint.
I went down to the court house, and they said this was illegal. But the forest service, who had ghosted me all season every time I asked for help, suddenly had the resources to send law enforcement to my site with guns.
That was scary. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was being treated as if I had.
I ended up moving into a homeless shelter in The Dalles until I was able to find a different position.
After I left, campground reviews went down. The toilets stopped working (according to reviews on recreation.gov ), which I presume was due to a lack of maintenance.
I was a paid volunteer with a contract, but the forest service has still not paid me (over 10 weeks later) for my last month of work or given me the volunteer pass I'm entitled to per my contract.
I literally have to file a discrimination complaint with the USDA just to get those things.
If you're thinking about volunteering for the Forest Service or the Columbia River Gorge, I strongly recommend against it.
It isn't safe, and they literally rip off disabled people.
Maybe some Forest Service offices DESERVE to be shut down, and this is definitely one of them.
Truly disgusting and corrupt.
