Two decades in the making, State Parks breaks ground on a campground at Fort Ord Dunes.

David Schmalz here, with a bit of good news to share: Construction has finally started on the first new State Parks campground in Northern California for decades, and it’s going in at Fort Ord Dunes State Park.

The approximately $33 million project has been more than 20 years in the making, as a campground at the park—which was established in 1995 following the closure of Fort Ord—was included in its master plan that was adopted in 2004. And like every proposed project in the former Fort Ord, it has presented unique challenges, in this case gaining clearance from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to show that the project site—a former rifle training range—was free of contamination from spent lead bullets.

It’s still two years out until the campground is expected to open, and here’s what you need to know: Like all State Parks campgrounds, it will be staffed 24/7, and feature 43 traditional tent campsites, 45 RV campsites, 10 walk-in or bike-in campsites and improved coastal access that includes a cool walkway over the dunes to a viewing platform. There will also be a campfire center pavilion and a visitor center. 

Dan Shaw, acting superintendent of the Monterey District, credits the "tremendous effort” of State Parks staff past and present, as well as State Parks’ partners, in getting the project to this point, and says of the campground’s significance, “We’ve had millions of new people added in California [in recent decades], and the camping opportunities just haven’t kept up.” 

Aside from part of the Rec Trail that will be detoured, all the trails at the park will remain open during construction. The campground will also have a bus stop on Monterey-Salinas Transit’s SURF! busway project—an off-highway busway over the rail tracks from Marina to Sand City—so campers can hop on a bus and get into town on public transit. 

I love camping and have slept in a tent countless times over the years all across California, and I love to see more opportunities to do it locally, even if I’m not likely to be a regular camper there myself—too close to home. But for visitors on a budget, or those traveling with RVs, I imagine it will be an enticing option. 

When completed, the campground will also serve to remind people—in a time when the federal government is slashing and burning the services it provides to its residents—that the government can provide us with nice things, amenities that the profit-driven private sector will not. 

Enjoying nature should be affordable to everybody—I believe it’s paramount for a healthy soul—and in my experience, it inspires kindness, something our country needs more of right now.