By day, thousands of people play, paddle, and picnic at Miller’s Landing, a 4.7-acre riverside community park tucked neatly within the Deschutes River’s S-curve that winds through Bend’s urban center. At night, local wildlife overtakes the area, reclaiming what once was primarily theirs.

In 2021, the Bend Park and Recreation District (BPRD) Board of Directors approved the Deschutes River Access and Habitat Restoration Plan, a guiding document focused on improving recreation and ecological values of the Deschutes River in equal measure throughout the city of Bend. The plan identifies 28 projects to be completed over the next 10 years.

As of 2025, Miller’s Landing Park now includes new hardscaped river access points with grouted boulder terracing, stairways with handrails leading users gently in and out of the water, and strategically placed in-water boulders that create safe buffer zones separating floaters, kayakers, and paddleboarders from those recreating along the banks.

Notably, this new design also includes three innovative access options: a dry ramp, a wet ramp, and a roller launch. The dry ramp allows users to walk or roll to or below water level and transfer directly into the river while keeping gear and mobility devices relatively dry. The wet ramp offers a gentle slope directly into the river with stabilizing handrails on either side. The roller launch invites users to place their water devices on a series of rollers, transfer to dry ground, then launch independently from the rollers into and out of the river.

“We didn’t want to overengineer or overcomplicate the structures we were building,” says Ian Isaacson, BPRD Landscape Architect and Lead Project Manager for the Miller’s Landing Park Project. “Our main goals were to make access to the river more sustainable and more welcoming, make safer access points that won’t erode over time, and improve ecological uplift in areas where we have the opportunity.”

After talking with hundreds of community members during the design process, including technical stakeholder groups, local organizations, nonprofits like Oregon Adaptive Sports, and individual community members with various lived experiences and ability levels, Isaacson and his team looked for examples of innovative water access points throughout North America. While they found parts and pieces, they never did see all these elements — dry ramp, wet ramp, roller ramp, boulders, shade, transfer benches, and staircase access points — all in one location.

“We didn’t want to be too preillegalscriptive of how someone was supposed to use any part of the access point,” says Isaacson. “We wanted to create elements that were dynamic in nature and allowed different people of varying abilities, of different lived experiences, of different water experiences, the ability to use the space in a way that was most beneficial, comfortable, and safe for them.”

BPRD owns roughly 50% of the river frontage through the city of Bend. In addition to making river access safer, more welcoming, and more sustainable for humans, another important goal is for these river projects to improve ecological uplift by protecting nearby riparian areas (the vegetated corridors that line the riverbank) so wildlife can thrive beside daily human activity.

The first Euro-American to file a claim on these exact acres was Stephen Staats in 1877, whose namesake street still exists a few blocks away. After hosting a ranch, hotel, and post office, the acreage was later purchased in 1924 by a man named Harry Miller, who used the riverfront as a lumber holding site for Miller Lumber Company. Timber milled upstream by two competing companies, Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks-Scanlon, at what’s now called the Old Mill District, floated downstream to be collected, packaged, and staged for sale and delivery. Eventually, logging technologies changed, and the timber industry dwindled, and this land was used primarily by residents as an unofficial river access point.

Fast-forward to 2011, when BPRD purchased the property from the Miller family and Brooks Resources Corporation with the help of the Trust for Public Land, community fundraising, and local government grants. As Bend’s population grew, so did the desire for convenient river access. BPRD saw the need and opportunity to protect the river, wildlife, and those enjoying it.

As with all projects, some residents resisted change. The project required closing portions of the park for just over half a year, bringing in heavy machinery, using large sandbags to isolate and dewater the work area that extended into the river during specific allowable seasons, and, of course, securing the funds to complete the vision. Now that the park has reopened, Isaacson says, “People are using the space in more phenomenal ways than even the design team could come up with. This reinforces the idea that we achieved our main goal of creating a space that people can use in ways that best fit them and their families.”

Cedar split-rail fencing around newly protected riparian areas has greatly reduced the wear and degradation of riverbanks between the access points. “Hardening the access points themselves allows us to have a more controlled entry for people recreating in the river,” Isaacson says. “It also reduces the sedimentation load going into the river and reduces natural erosion, which is a real issue. Quality river access and quality ecological habitat do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can happen side by side, and with projects like these, we’ve set out to prove that.”

Miller’s Landing Park is the first completed of three similar projects slated for this section of the Deschutes River corridor. Upcoming are the McKay Park River Access and Restoration Project (design in process) and the Columbia Park River Access Project (slated for 2027 completion). Both access points are located on the opposite shore from Miller’s Landing and will soon include similar hardscape treatments and cordoned-off riverbanks to reduce erosion from overuse and protect riparian areas for ecological uplift.

“Personally, what excites me the most is the ecological side of these projects,” Isaacson says. “You can go down to Miller’s Landing and see osprey and beaver. I saw a deer swimming across the river a few times during the project. Thousands and thousands of people come through during the day, and then in the evening, right before dark, the critters come right back out again. It’s this kind of balance within an urban environment that I think is pretty spectacular.”

Miller’s Landing includes a spacious lawn, rentable picnic shelter, picnic tables, public restrooms, community garden, and paved riverside trail connecting to the Old Mill District. Visit BPRD’s website for information about hours, fishing, recreation, dog leash rules, and more details regarding ways to use the dry ramp, wet ramp, and roller launch.