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Dispersed camping · Oregon

Fremont-Winema National Forest dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days on this forest, anywhere that isn't posted closed. The card below is the whole rule set — every line links the order or page it came from, and all of it was checked on .

14 days stay limit

Order 06-02-25-01 (14 Day Stay Limit, effective June 27, 2025 through June 27, 2027) prohibits "Camping or otherwise occupying any location (including leaving camping equipment and/or related supplies) for a period longer than 14 calendar days," AND camping or leaving equipment "at any locations on the Fremont-Winema National Forest for more than 28 days total during a calendar year." Counted per location (14 calendar days) plus an annual aggregate cap (28 days per calendar year) forest-wide; no move distance stated. Klamath Tribal members camping within former reservation boundaries and traditional areas are exempt (tribal ID serves as the permit).

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

The forest's camping page: "Some general rules of use and restrictions apply to visitor using developed recreation sites and general forest dispersed areas." Its Safety and Outdoor Ethics page adds the Leave No Trace instruction: "Camp away from springs and riparian areas like streams, which are especially valuable and sensitive." No forest-wide order restricts dispersed camping to designated sites; many trailhead and campground pages note adjacent dispersed sites. source

Keep your distance

  • Recommended: Directional guidance, no number: "Camp away from springs and riparian areas like streams, which are especially valuable and sensitive" (forest Safety and Outdoor Ethics page, Leave No Trace section). Worded as a recommendation, not an order — rendered as guidance. source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

The forest posts eleven Motor Vehicle Use Map sheets on its Visitor Maps and Guides page, but no official page read today states a dispersed-camping vehicle-access corridor or ties camping access to MVUM routes in the forest's own words.

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Rules checked against the pages linked above — the full list is below the card.

Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the Forest Supervisor's Office, Lakeview, OR at (541) 947-6200 before you go.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.

Where these rules come from

Every rule above was read on the forest's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region (R6).

Before you go