BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Check for coins in the sofa, think about a site-specific pay box – just keep the Department of Natural Resources campground at Chopaka Lake open.
That’s the desperate message from Pete Speer, president of the Methow Valley Fly Fishing Club, as DNR weighs final outcomes from the recently passed Washington budget that could see the dozen and a half camping sites, toilets and other amenities at the Okanogan County destination trout fishery closed for the season.
“We call upon Governor Bob Ferguson and DNR Commissioner David Upthegrove to keep this cherished campground open for the enjoyment of fly fishermen and -women from throughout the state of Washington,” said Speer in an email this week.
DNR earlier this year warned that the remote campground west of Oroville was on a list of 20 sites across the state slated for service reductions up to full closures due to the governor’s proposed $750,000 cut to its Recreation Program budget. According to agency spokesman Courtney James, the final cut amounted to $580,000.
“At this point we’re still internally working out the full impacts of the final budget within the agency,” said James on Wednesday. “The budget is still awaiting the Governor’s signature, and in the meantime DNR is working internally to coordinate which site closures will be implemented, when they will happen, and the level of impact to services.”
It has Speer furiously casting around for a lifeline to keep Chopaka’s campground open.
He said he polled 20 different Evergreen State fly clubs about the potential closure, and among the responses he forwarded to Northwest Sportsman, a common theme is how critical DNR’s tent, camper and RV sites are for traveling anglers as they enjoy annual group outings and extended stays at the lake tucked into the Loomis State Forest.
It’s quality over quantity here, and not just when it comes to the angling. The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle‘s FishWrapper says Chopaka has been “long considered one of the premier fly-fishing lakes in the state” and it “provides some of the best camping scenery in the county.”
The lake operates under a fourth-Saturday-in-April to Halloween season and is open for fly fishing only – one of just 14 lakes across Washington with that designation – with a daily trout limit of one 18 inches or greater.
WDFW stocks it annually with several hundred 1-plus-pound ‘bows as well as several thousand fry and fingerlings to grow big here naturally. The lake fishes best in late spring and early summer, then again in early fall, times of year this landscape is at its stunning best.
While angler effort data is somewhat dated, fishery biologists have estimated Chopaka generates at least 1,800 trips a season, and Speer said that the owner of a fly shop on the way to the lake couldn’t quantify the number of Westsiders who stop in but that they number in the hundreds annually.
WDFW also said the average on-the-water time here is six-plus hours, which is longer than at other lakes but underlines how important the DNR campground is in supporting flyrodders’ stays. The rougher road up encourages fewer back-and-forth trips.
Per Speer, the Methow Valley fly club held two work parties at the lake in 2025, itself also emblematic of the investment they have in keeping Chopaka shipshape.
True, further up the lake is a Bureau of Land Management camping area, and dispersed camping is allowed in the Loomis State Forest. But the DNR campground’s level sites, picnic tables, vault outhouses, shelters, water pumps, fire pits and boat launch make for a great all-in-one base camp.
The dust has yet to settle from the short session of Washington’s legislature on what the millions of dollars worth of cuts ultimately will mean for the state’s three natural resource agencies – one source said there will be “some noticeable hurts” – and so the question over whether this particular campground will stay open or close officially still hangs in the air.
Just as WDFW has seen big hits to its lands maintenance budget this year and last, DNR’s James points out that her agency saw a 20 percent cut to its recreation budget coming out of 2025’s long session, “so it’s indeed still likely that reductions will move forward.”
DNR’s not just picking on fly guys. They also warned that campgrounds at Hoh Oxbow near Forks, Lyre River west of Port Angeles, Skookum Creek near Newport and Winston Creek near Mossyrock could also be closed, and that various off-road areas, trails and sites could see late openers, winter, seasonal or partial closures, service reductions, or combinations thereof.
In other words, DNR spread the potential pain far and wide among user groups to try and fire up folks to get legislators to fund its recreation program.
That may have mitigated some of the proposed cuts, but if anything, flyrodders are a persistent bunch. You have to be, whether you’re trying to move a fish to bite a bit of fluff and feather or a government agency to at the very least unlock the sit-down poopers.
“We’ve absolutely been hearing a lot of feedback about the initial proposed list, including from the fly fishing and angler community surrounding Chopaka Lake,” James acknowledged. “We hope to provide an update as soon as we’re able to work all the details out internally.”
Meanwhile, it has Speer pleading to Governor Ferguson and Commissioner of Public Lands Upthegrove to find some way to keep the lake’s campground open as the season nears.
“Find ways to fund maintenance and operations – check for quarters in the couch cushions – or install pay boxes like those at the Rainy Lake trailhead in the North Cascades ($5 per day per vehicle),” he urged.
Here’s hoping he and fellow fishermen have a lakeside place to camp this season.
