South Triangle News

Some Jordan Lake State Recreation Area facilities won’t be open until July 1, as the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation struggles to find enough protective equipment for staff needed for reopening.

In a letter South District Superintendent Jay Greenwood sent to Leslie Stewart and that was re-published in the Chatham Journal Newspaper on May 17, Greenwood writes about the importance of keeping staff safe who are tasked with things such as cleaning bathroom facilities.

“Park visitors have asked could the parks be open, but close the bathrooms,” Greenwood wrote in the letter. “We have tried that approach and some visitors started urinating and defecating next to and around our bathroom facilities creating another health hazard.”

Greenwood said that Jordan Lake has 45 public restrooms, as well as 1,100 individual campsites, 11 group campsites and 26 hike-in primitive campsites, according to the letter in the Chatam Journal. The normal annual visitor count reaches 1.5 million.

“As you can see our park staff has a lot of responsibility managing this vast operation,” Greenwood wrote in the letter. “We would love to be fully open with park visitors enjoying the resources, but that is not possible with the threat of COVID-19.”