While increasingly more Guthrie County residents may be enjoying Springbrook State Park as COVID-19 has caused the closure of many outlets for entertainment and leisure, the park is bracing for a smaller cash flow with the forced closure of the campground.

Governor Kim Reynolds announced this week the shutdown of campgrounds until April 30th, excluding long-term and permanent campers. Springbrook State Park Ranger Rod Nelson says he had to evict two campers by Tuesday morning, and at this time no new reservations are being accepted for the camp sites, though if campgrounds are allowed to reopen in May, Nelson says previously made reservations will be honored.

He adds that the DNR is waiving the cancellation fee for any facility reservations in the month of May, “Well, it definitely is going to have an impact on our revenue, no doubt about it and that’s going to be that way for quite a while. Right now is our time that we start to see campers dewinterizing their campers and they come out and “test drive” them, if you will, to get all the bugs worked out. And that usually happens in the month of April and then May usually is one of our biggest months of the year and I just don’t see that there’s going to be a lot of folks able to come out and camp like they normally would.”

Nelson says there is still plenty of maintenance and other work going on for the park staff, and with the expected revenue decrease the park plans to hire only three summer employees this year instead of the usual five. While the park is open for day hours, visitors are advised that bathrooms including pit latrines and port-a-potties are also closed, as well as playgrounds, cabins, lodges and shelters, and visitor centers and museums.