ASHLAND, Ore. – The new marina at Howard Prairie Lake is a decade in the making.
“About ten years ago we had a meeting with the rogue yacht club and with the county on it was kind of a… Almost a napkin sketch,” said Janine Belleque with the Oregon State Marine Board. “A high leveled sketch talking about what could we do to make the marina more accessible.”
County and other local officials celebrated the changes at the southeast Jackson County lake with a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday.
The new marina adds ADA accessibility and allows boaters to use it for longer during low water seasons.
Steve Lambert, roads and parks director for the county, said the journey to get here wasn’t always smooth sailing.
“Well when you start talking about a really complicated project that involves a lot of people a lot of partners, environmental conditions, permitting, etc,” Lambert said. “There’s times where you feel like giving up.”
But they didn’t give up, and the marina is now open to all boaters.
“Folks can come out and feel free to use it.”
As for the future of the old marina:
“The old marina will be dismantled later this year and removed off site and then we’re exploring options for what we can do with that area once that’s removed in the long term,” Lambert told NBC5.
Lambert says they hope to turn the old marina area into a spot where paddle boarders and other recreation users can enjoy the water away from the wind.
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