Two Color Campground, along Eagle Creek in the southern Wallowa Mountains, is among many campgrounds on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Travel Oregon awarded $913,000 to 34 tourism projects, including $20,000 to the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association to prepare the Wallowa-Whitman and other sites for the coming season.

The Oregon Tourism Commission has awarded $913,000 to 34 projects across the state, with more than $175,000 going to seven projects in Central and Eastern Oregon.

The grants will help fund the development or enhancement of COVID-19-appropriate visitor experiences through the Destination Ready program, according to a news release from the commission, which does business as Travel Oregon.

In Central and Eastern Oregon, grant amounts and the organizations receiving the awards are:

• $40,000 to the Central Oregon Visitors Association to launch the Navigate Oregon transportation pilot project in partnership with Oregon-based transportation company, Northwest Navigator.

• 12,500 to Discover Your Forest to help install trailhead signs in the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests to promote stewardship.

• $21,711 to the Greater Hells Canyon Council to help with mapping and trail maintenance operations for The Blue Mountains Trail, a 556-mile thru-hiking experience through Northeast Oregon.

• $20,000 to the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association for land stewardship and maintenance efforts to prepare Eastern Oregon’s most visited public lands for the coming season, including the Wallowa Whitman National Forest, The Owyhee Region, The Steens Mountain Wilderness and the Alvord Desert.

• $24,500 to the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association for updates to six Eastern Oregon Farm Trail brochures with distribution, and creation of a new on-the-ground kiosk.

• $25,000 to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to make infrastructure and accessibility improvements to establish Marr Pond as the only ADA accessible fishing facility in Wallowa County.

• $35,000 to the city of John Day to create a community “pit stop” with food truck stalls, improved parking and new public restrooms.