Alayna Shulman

Record Searchlight

A year after they made national headlines for leaving trash, human waste and almost 100 tents at Lake Shasta, University of Oregon fraternities are getting a second chance from the businesses and agencies that had to deal with the aftermath of their 2016 bacchanal.

“Everybody’s welcome,” said Matt Doyle, general manager of Lake Shasta Caverns and president of the Shasta Lake Business Owners Association.

Of course, Doyle’s welcome isn’t unconditional.

“I don’t mind the parties, just as long as you leave it like you found it,” Doyle said, referencing the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity’s “pretty disgraceful” abandonment of so much waste that the campground was declared a biohazard site. “We wouldn’t mind seeing them back.”

And back they are — in fact, “They’re out on the water right now,” Holiday Harbor Resort and Marina office manager Lesa Mason said Friday.

Colleges throughout the region come to the lake in May, but Doyle said it’s a particularly well-known tradition for Oregon schools.

“The whole area gets flooded with them,” he said. “I’d say thousands (of students), between all of the marinas.”

Last year’s incident happened on Slaughterhouse Island, a “problem island” that local law enforcement is “very well aware of,” Doyle said. Shasta County sheriff’s boating officials didn’t return a call seeking comment Friday.

Doyle said most marina owners have an attitude of acceptance, but also vigilance in the wake of last year’s scandal. That means many marinas are taking extra steps to prevent a repeat incident, and — with the public outcry from the national media coverage — they’ll probably be helped along by good Samaritans who happen to be on the lake.

“I think with the notoriety, there’s going to be even more of an interest in Slaughterhouse. But I think that there’s also going to be even more notable vigilance from people across Lake Shasta,” he said.

Forgiveness tinged with caution is the general attitude of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, too.

“We welcome everybody to come back, to come to the lake and enjoy themselves and have a good time. We’re not barring them,” public affairs specialist Joe Orosz said. “Everybody’s welcome, as long as they come and have a good, respectful use (of the lake).”

Orosz said the Forest Service is asking marinas to distribute fliers about the importance of keeping forest sites clean, but isn’t upping its patrols beyond the increased presence it normally has for big holiday weekends.

The Forest Service isn’t the only law enforcement agency that will be out there, but even so, Orosz said it’s hard to control every aspect of guest stays at the Shasta-Trinity.

“I think we’re more concerned with managing what we can manage,” he said. “We’re taking the same steps we normally do, the same increased measures of security on the lake that we can to control and try to prevent the things that we know historically happen.”

Orosz also noted that both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University have reached out to the Forest Service to assure officials they’ve told their students to be respectful this year.

In a joint letter from both universities, school officials were careful to distance the colleges themselves from the annual trips, pointing out that the vacations are “not a recognized or sponsored event by either university.” They also said their first concern is student safety, but concluded the letter by advising forest officials and other community members to contact them if more bad behavior pops up, since “we have the ability to hold ... students accountable for certain behaviors while off campus.”

“Obviously, we have seen issues in recent years and we want to be proactive in working with students to ensure their safety, while encouraging them to be good citizens of any community where their activities take them,” Kris Winter, associate vice president and dean of students, said in a separate statement posted on the University of Oregon’s website.

While it’s early, Mason said so far that appears to be the case for the students staying at Holiday Harbor this year, calling them, “very respectful people that checked in here.” She also noted the primary offenders from last year’s debacle weren’t using Holiday Harbor boats.

“Right now, everything looks good,” she said. “We just want them to be out there, have fun and be safe, basically.”

A Lambda Chi representative did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Doyle said he thinks the fraternity got enough scorn to stop members from doing anything close to what happened last year. The fraternity also was investigated by the school and got suspended by its national organization.

“I think that a lot of other people learned their lessons; there was a lot of shaming,” Doyle said. “I’m pretty sure that frat went through the ringer on that.”

But Orosz said it’s too soon to say what may have changed — or not.

“We don’t know that for certain,” Orosz said, “and no one knows until the weekend comes.”