A new shower house to replace one built more than a half century ago, along with a welcome center and office to greet campers are top priority projects for the Suttle Lake Methodist Camp northeast of Sisters.

Camp officials are updating the site’s master plan for the next decade with a list of improvements, upgrades and new buildings — and the U.S. Forest Service is asking for public comments on the proposals.

“They’re converting some current structures and adding some new ones,” said Jeff Sims, project leader with the Sisters Ranger District. “They’re not going to expand the program there, so there won’t be an increase in use. It’ll just be upgrading some facilities and adding some.”

The Methodist Camp, on about 10 acres of U.S. Forest Service land, has had a special use permit on the site since 1922, Sims said. And while the upgrades would add some buildings, they wouldn’t extend the size of the camp.

The camp hosts about 3,500 campers every year, said Lisa Jean Hoefner, with the United Methodist Church of Oregon and Idaho. They come from church programs as well as nonprofit organizations like hospice and cancer survivor groups.

“One of the things we absolutely need is to improve our shower house, which was built in the 1940s, 1950s,” she said.

The new 1,700-square-foot building would use water more efficiently, have better ventilation and private changing areas, she said.

And camp representatives also hope to build a 1,200-square-foot office and welcome center at the entrance — not only to greet campers but to help people trying to get to the Forest Service campgrounds and Suttle Lake Resort reach their proper destinations.

A capital campaign is ongoing to raise the $400,000 for those two improvements, and Hoefner said construction could start next year if the finances and Forest Service approval come through.

After those first two projects, the Methodist Church will focus on building a vehicle storage area — so vans and other vehicles don’t get covered by 9 feet of snow in the winter, Hoefner said.

Also on the possible to-do list for the coming decade are creating a meeting space in the old shower house, building another small cabin for fewer than 16 people and expanding an existing cabin.

The Forest Service will be taking comments on the proposal, and conduct an environmental study on any impacts from the project in the coming years.

“They’re looking at what improvements they need, and looking at their future needs for 10 years,” Sims said.

To comment

To comment on the Suttle Lake Methodist Camp development plan, write to Jeff Sims, Suttle Lake Methodist Camp Plan Update Project Leader, Sisters Ranger District, P.O. Box 249, Sisters, OR 97759, or e-mail jsims@fs.fed.us. For more information, call Sims at 541-549-7706.