Oregonians wanting to get out of the house while being mindful of COVID guidelines have a new resource.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Portland landscape architecture firm, Knot, received a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program. They decided to use the money for public service efforts and reached out to government agencies.
The Oregon Office of Outdoor Recreation responded with an idea for a website to combine information from land management organizations.
Its director Cailin O’Brien-Feeney says, the goal was to help people make good decisions.
“Especially with all the closures and other use restrictions that we’ve had to put in place this year, it’s hard to know where to go to get easy, accessible information,” said O'Brien-Feeney.
The website, Parkpulse.io, provides information for over 7,200 local, state and federally managed parks throughout Oregon. It also uses data to estimate crowding potential and Covid prevalence.