Cabins added at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park (California)

Summary

Recreation Resource Management (RRM) funded and installed 24 cabins in a camping loop and provides cleaning, maintenance, and customer service functions for the cabins in exchange for a 17-year revenue share agreement on cabin revenue. Installation avoided major ground disturbances and increased total revenues (net of concessionaire share) for California State Parks (CSP).

Initial Situation and Agency Goals: McArthur-Burney Falls State Park is located about an hour east of Redding, California. It has a large day use area, campground, store, and marina. In 2004, RRM was awarded a contract to construct and operate a new store and existing marina under a 19-year concession contract.

Later that year, our President Warren Meyer was approached by the Director of California State Parks and asked to submit ideas for the refurbishment of one 24-site camping loop within the park. The park had been fortunate in obtaining outside sources of funding to revamp most of the campground, but that funding dried up before this last, and least popular, primitive camping loop was addressed. In looking for proposals, CSP had several goals and restrictions:

  • The revamped camping loop had to clearly generate more revenue for the park than the existing primitive camping loop.
  • Ground disturbance had to be limited to the existing camp sites, essentially precluding any effort to bring power / water / sewer lines to this camping loop
  • CSP could contribute no funding beyond a planned modernization of the bathroom building in that loop. CSP expected to obtain ownership of all improvements by the end of any contract
  • CSP engineers would have approval of all designs, finishes, and colors.
  • CSP hope any program that was selected would support its state-wide initiatives to bring new urban recreators into the park system and to increase off-season winter visitation at this park.

RRM Proposal

The RRM proposal that eventually was accepted by CSP was to place a primitive cabin on each of the 24 sites of this camping loop. The cabins were a mix of one and two-room cabins and included several that were ADA accessible. Each cabin was factory-built to high standards, with extras including a metal underfloor to prevent rodent damage and insulated walls with catalytic heaters to extend the useful season into the winter. The cabins were essentially primitive, with bunks and tables but no bathrooms or kitchens. The cabins are currently unpowered (though they were wired for power and lighting in case we ever get approval to add utilities). Each cabin was carefully placed in a current campsite such that the spur could be used for visitor parking and such that only a handful of small trees had to be removed. On each site we installed a fire ring and a tent pad to help attract families who wanted the security of a cabin but might want to experiment with tent camping. The total capital investment by RRM was more than $475,000.

Contractual Terms

  • RRM oversees and pays for all installation and construction, with plans approved by CSP
  • RRM collects all revenue from cabins and pays CSP $20 per occupied night plus 14% of revenues net of lodging taxes ($20 was the then-current one-night camping rate and structuring our payments in this way assured CSP management that they would be making more per visitor stay than before the contract)
  • RRM pays for utilities (just propane in this case) and insurance
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