Over eight years ago Oregon State Park employee John Cowan suggested the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) partner with the Rooster Rock State Park employees.  John felt it would be a perfect partnership and the American Association for Nude Recreation – Northwest could not have agreed more.

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Visitor Services Team Leader Lisa Midlam deserves a huge AANR thank you.  Lisa created a forum type meeting November 17-2008 that brought together over thirty-five interested people to address public indecency concerns at Rooster Rock State Park clothing optional beach.

The forum panel included facilitator Visitor Services Team Lead Lisa Midlam, Assistant Area Manager of the Columbia Gorge Management Unit at Rooster Rock State Park Kevin Price, Oregon State Senior Troopers B.I. Zeckman, Senior Trooper Ken Poggi, Multnomah County Sheriff Joseph Graziano, and AANR-NW Public Lands Liason Shirley Gauthier.  Participants included Columbia Gorge Management Unit employees, Oregon State Park Volunteer Hosts, and Volunteers in the Gorge.

AANR-NW President Mike Parker, Linda Johnson, Linda Stockett, Mel Kanner, Richard Stockett, Phil Owensby, Rick Hammond, Eric Shetterly, Robert Kelsey and Jim Braddock represented AANR.  Mark Buchweitz who has a long history of working with the park employees attended representing the new AANR affiliated Rooster Sauvie Volunteer beach club.

It was made clear at the beginning of the meeting that there was absolutely no problem with nudity but that the discussion would be about public indecency and how can we work together to address the challenges.

Trooper Poggi shared information about recent arrests at the clothing optional nude beach that involved public indecency.  Topics of discussion included the definition of public indecency, how to report suspicious or unlawful activity to law enforcement, what does it mean to be a witness, when would a person need to be a witness,

Kevin Price discussed new tools that park employees have that decrease the response time to incident reports.  Kevin said, “we think of the clothing optional beach as an asset and another recreational opportunity.”

Senior Troopers Zeckman and Poggi committed to a higher level of visibility at the park and solicited AANR members to partner with them to address the problems.  Multnomah County Sheriff Joseph Graziano addressed his area of patrols and pledged to support the coalition efforts as his time allows.

A work in progress is new signs that will be posted in visible areas providing phone numbers to report incidents.  Visitors will be educated and encouraged to use the numbers to report incidents.

AANR clubs, resorts and members have over the years provided thousands of hours of volunteer time to promote nude recreation at Rooster Rock State Park.  Your continued support is not only valued but essential for continued success.  Contact Shirley Gauthier at sherbog {at} msn.com to see how you can contribute.