Almost a month after an environmental activist group halted a new sand-camping reservation plan in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, federal park managers have reached a settlement with the group to let campers sign up for sites, preserving the plans of many vacationers in the Winchester Bay area.

In a Tuesday press release, the U.S. Forest Service announced its agreement with Umpqua Watersheds Inc. of Roseburg, which had said the campsite plan did too little to protect fragile forests in the Oregon Dunes area.

Camping reservations in the dunes, which had been suspended after the appeal, will resume March 30, the Forest Service said. The sites will become available on May 1, about a month ahead of the peak summer tourism season.

The settlement headed off a scheduled review by a federal panel at the Forest Service's Portland office, which would have had until April 14 to uphold or deny the Roseburg group's appeal.

Officials of the Siuslaw National Forest, which includes the Oregon Dunes, in January approved an environmental assessment that called for an end to the current policy of letting off-road riders make camp on any sand area within 200 feet of roads and parking areas. The new system of fixed sites is meant to reduce crowding during tourist season while allowing park staff to crack down on campers who litter and dump trash at the dunes.

But in an appeal letter dated Feb. 22, Umpqua Watersheds called for stronger safeguards against damage to the woodland habitats just outside the Oregon Dunes, including those near the Umpqua River Lighthouse. The area features unusual combinations of trees and plants that include shore pines, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, wax myrtles and Pacific rhododendrons, which the group contended were vulnerable to damage from straying all-terrain vehicles and hikers.

Group members met with Forest Service staff members March 11 at the federal agency's Roseburg office. During a 21/2-hour meeting, the sides agreed to post markers along the a boundary line separating Forest Service land from an area controlled by the state Parks and Recreation Department. The state-owned parcel is closed to off-road vehicles because it is home to unique tree habitats and is designated a Natural Heritage Conservation Area.

In an e-mail message Friday, Jennifer Wade, who directs the Oregon Dunes sand-camping program, said park officials will mark the border with 6-by-6-inch signs on 10-foot-tall posts, build a fence to block trespassing into the forest habitats and monitor the boundary zone.

Frank Davis, a Siuslaw Forest representative, said the Forest Service and the state parks department agreed on the new signs and fencing before the meeting with Umpqua Watersheds. The state will pay for the materials, with both state and federal workers to supply labor. Completion is scheduled for the end of May.

"When we went into the meeting, the biggest issue was resolved, essentially," Davis said. "The discussion was on the particulars: when and how it would be done and who is going to do it."

Francis Eatherington, one of the two Umpqua Watersheds leaders to meet with the Forest Service, said the settlement of the appeal took care of her group's only major concern about the new campsite plan in Winchester Bay.

"The Forest Service agreed (the area) should be marked as riding and no-riding areas to help people understand where they can have fun, where to stay within the riding areas," Eatherington said on Friday.

"That is the purpose of an appeal, to ask them to reconsider something they overlooked," she added, saying her complaint with the original plan was not a criticism of the plan's purpose. "... People want to know where the boundary is; there's no conflict there."

Attempts to telephone Wade on Friday were unsuccessful.

Reserve USA, the contractor booking sand campsites for the Forest Service, will resume taking reservations for the sites beginning March 30. Reservations at developed federal campgrounds were not disrupted by Umpqua Watersheds' appeal and continue to be accepted.

Those interested in reserving sites on any Forest Service camping facilities can call Reserve USA toll-free at (877) 444-6777. More information about the Siuslaw National Forest is available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/siuslaw.