Fort Ord Dunes State Park is located along Monterey Bay, adjacent to the cities of Monterey, Seaside, Marina and Sand City. The park is also within close proximity to large urban areas such as the Salinas Valley, Santa Cruz, the South San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose, and the Silicon Valley. Formally part of the Fort Ord Army Base, the property includes approximately 990 acres of State parkland, including 4 miles of ocean beach. The park provides an expansive seascape and a landform of dune habitat and undeveloped seashore and is rich in both natural and cultural resources. As part of the former Fort Ord Army Base, the park's distinctive history provides a unique opportunity for the interpretation of local and Ft Ord history.

Fort Ord Dunes State Park is one of the newest units of the State Park System and was added in January of 1995. The land was transferred to the State by the National Park Service through the Federal Lands to Parks Program, and the park was opened to the public in 2009.

Fort Ord Dunes State Park's 2004 General Plan provides for the development of the new campground and beach access facilities and identifies the area immediately adjacent to the bunkers as the location for the campground. The project site lies largely outside the Highway 1 viewshed and consists of approximately 130 acres of which 16.79 acres will be developed with visitor improvements.

The campground project is funded by Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006.

Coastal Development Permit Status

California State Parks has submitted an application for a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) for this project. California State Parks will post updates here on our CDP application, as the application goes through the permitting process. Please check back to this website for updates and information on how to comment.

New Campground Features

The new and fully compliant campground will add 95 new campsites to the California State Park System and will fill a geographical void for high demand public camping opportunities along the coast of Monterey Bay. California State Parks has designed the project in full compliance with Federal and State accessibility codes. Once complete, the campground will have 4 accessible RV campsites, 4 accessible traditional campsites, 2 accessible traditional double family sites, an accessible dump station, accessible restrooms and showers, etc. In addition, the project will include compliant parking, routes, and beach access.

The campground consists of 3 distinct camping areas:

• RV Campground Area.  This area contains 45 RV campsites with electrical and water hookups and is capable of accommodating large RVs 
• Traditional Camping Area:  This areas is comprised of 40 traditional tent campsites 
• A Hike/Bike/Walk-In Camping Area:  This area has 10 walk-in or bike-in style campsites, each accessible from the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail and a designated parking area within the campground

The campground will also feature:

• Consistent architectural design themes for all buildings and landscape structures 
• Paved parking spurs, picnic tables, fire rings and tent pads 
• 3 mini-group campsites.  These are single campsites where 2 campsites can be combined and shared by multiple visitor groups or extended families.  These will be available for reservation for park visitors under the California State Park's reservation system 
• 4 restrooms buildings with showers (2 in the tent camping area and 2 in the RV camping area) 
• A modern campfire center/amphitheater with a traditional fire ring and full audio visual facilities 
• Repairs and improvements to the existing paved roadway 
• A sewage dump station for RVs 
• Two camp host sites 
• Firewood storage and sales 
• Exterior rinse stations at each restroom shower building 
• The campground will be Wi-Fi ready 
• Overflow parking area for extra vehicles

For photos and more information on the project, read the full article here.