Our organization was formed as the Oregon State Parks Trust in May of 1995 by the first Chairman of the Oregon State Parks Commission, Brian Booth.  He saw an opportunity to engage private philanthropy to help deal with the long term problem of under-funding of our state parks. Brian gathered a group of notable Oregonians as the first group of Trustees, including Lu Beck, Cynthia Ford, Bob Meinen, Bill Naito, Lynn Newbry, Nancy Russell, Stub Stewart, Bill Sweet and Dave Talbot.  The Trust was renamed to Oregon State Parks Foundation in 2012 and then to Oregon Parks Forever in 2020.

Some of our most notable capital projects have been building a new Experience Center at Cottonwood Canyon, the renovation of the Vista House in the Columbia Gorge, the establishment of the Kam Wah Chung Museum, the renovation of seven lighthouses along the coast, and the addition of the first 50 yurts in state park campgrounds- a first anywhere in the country.

More recently, we raised funds to replant more than 800,000 trees after the Labor Day fires of 2020, we raised funds to place 10 electric all-terrain TRACK Chairs along the Oregon Coast, and we are in the process of placing at least 50 TRACK Trails in parks across the state.

Browse by region and learn about the major projects we’ve accomplished since our founding in 1995. Archiving our 29 years of history is an ongoing project, so please contact us if you have a story to tell about your experiences with our work.