Scan and Pay now required at two La Grande Ranger District campgrounds

Two La Grande Ranger District campgrounds switched to Scan and Pay only after fee tubes were stolen, leaving Bird Track Springs and Spring Creek campers to pay by phone instead of at a self-service station. The change affects the Blue Mountains North/Grande Ronde River Basin recreation area west of La Grande, where a simple payment stop has now become part of trip planning.

Bird Track Springs Campground sits about eight miles north of La Grande off Interstate 84 and Highway 244 in the Grande Ronde River valley, directly across from Bird Track Interpretive Site. The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest lists 22 campsites there, along with a self-service fee station and a $10 per night charge for single-unit sites. Instructions for using Scan and Pay are posted at both Bird Track Springs and Spring Creek so visitors can figure out the new process on arrival, but the fee tubes are being removed from service because cell coverage is available at both campgrounds.

For campers who already use a smartphone for travel payments, the change is straightforward. For local families heading out for a weekend in the Grande Ronde valley, for anglers, hikers and out-of-town visitors who arrive without a charged phone, or for anyone who does not use digital payment apps, the shift creates a real access hurdle. Recreation.gov says Scan and Pay works through a QR code on a mobile device, and the Umpqua National Forest has told visitors in places with limited or no cell service to download the Recreation.gov app and add a valid payment method before leaving.

The Forest Service has said self-service fee tubes at some recreation sites can be vulnerable to theft and vandalism, and it has been moving more sites toward cashless collections. A 2026 Wallowa-Whitman National Forest release said the forest would begin offering cashless fee payment May 1, and Umpqua National Forest moved all forest-operated developed recreation sites to cashless fee collections starting April 1. Recreation.gov says its trip-planning and reservation service serves 14 participating federal agencies.

The La Grande Ranger District office is at 3502 Highway 30 in La Grande, and the district phone number listed by the Forest Service is (541) 962-8500. The Forest Service is not closing the campgrounds; it is changing how fees are collected so Bird Track Springs, Spring Creek and other public lands around Union County can stay open after the theft.