BEND, OR -- Central Cascade Wilderness Permits used in some parts of the Deschutes and Willamette National Forest is about to start its fourth season, and the U.S. Forest Service considers it a success. 

"We are coming up on the time period, June 15th through October 15th, that any overnight use requires a permit within Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and Three Sisters Wilderness Areas," says Kaitlyn Webb, with the Deschutes National Forest, "Back in April, 40% of the overnight permits were released, for advanced reservation. And the other 60% will be released once the permit season opens in June; and that will be a seven-day rolling window." She tells KBND News, "There are also several trails, 19 out of 79, within those wilderness areas that also require a day use permit. So, we’re getting close to that permit time period." Day use permits won't become available until June.

When it launched in 2021, the Central Cascade Wilderness Permit system was supposed to curb resource damage in some of the area’s most popular camping and hiking spots. Webb says it's working, "Our staff are starting to see improvements to really highly impacted sites. We’ve seen reduced crowding and we’ve also seen better dispersion of users. That’s made a real visible difference for folks when they’re actually out experiencing that wilderness area."

In 2022, the USFS rolled out a similar permit for parking at Lava River Cave, south of Bend, "This permit system is making it much safer, as far as parking goes. That was one of the reasons it was implemented. We were seeing over 70,000 visitors per year, and there isn’t a ton of parking in that area." Lava River Cave opened May third and those reservations can be made now, "In the past, we had a 30-day booking window, and we decided to move that to a seven-day booking window. It provides a more accurate trip-planning opportunity for visitors and a more efficient use of the reservation system."

Central Cascade Wilderness and Lava River Cave permits are all available at Recreation.gov.