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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Joint Memorial 12
Sponsored by Representative YUNKER
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: Asks the President, the NPS and Congress to find money to fix a certain historic place
in Oregon. (Flesch Readability Score: 61.6).
Urges the President of the United States, the Director of the National Park Service and the
Congress of the United States to provide the funding needed to complete the full historic restoration
of the Chateau at Oregon Caves National Monument.
JOINT MEMORIAL
To the President of the United States, the Director of the National Park Service and the Senate and
the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
We, your memorialists, the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, in legisla-
tive session assembled, respectfully represent as follows:
Whereas the Chateau at Oregon Caves National Monument, located in rural Josephine County,
is one of the National Park Service’s (NPS) iconic Great Lodges, a designated National Historic
Landmark and one of Oregon’s greatest treasures; and
Whereas completed in 1934, the Chateau was designed by local builder Gust Lium, following the
vision of renowned landscape architect Arthur Peck; and
Whereas the Chateau’s use of local materials, including cedar bark from Port Orford and marble
from the Oregon Caves, showcases a harmonious integration with the surrounding environment and
offers an astonishing glimpse into Oregon’s past; and
Whereas in 2017, the Chateau began undergoing a comprehensive rehabilitation project to pre-
serve its historic integrity while modernizing it to meet contemporary safety and accessibility stan-
dards, but the project revealed a need for extensive repairs; and
Whereas in 2022, the NPS put the project on hold because it did not have the funds necessary
to complete the work and reopen the Chateau to the public; and
Whereas the Chateau has been closed to the public since 2018, and after six years of stops,
starts and lost momentum to complete the necessary rehabilitation work, its future is in jeopardy;
and
Whereas the Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau are advancing a campaign to assist the
NPS in funding the repairs and restoration of the Chateau, which is a vital part of the heritage of
Oregon and the United States of America; and
Whereas completed restoration of the Chateau will return an irreplaceable historic landmark to
its former glory and bolster Southern Oregon’s critical hospitality business, bringing new gener-
ations of visitors to the park and to nearby communities; and
Whereas the NPS and the Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau still have a long way to
go toward securing the funding needed to complete this crucial restoration project; and
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 4076 HJM12
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Whereas 2025 will be critical to sustaining and growing leadership support and building more
robust strategies for fundraising the restoration of the Chateau and saving one of Oregon’s most
treasured places; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
That we, the members of the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly, respectfully urge the President
of the United States, the Director of the National Park Service and the Congress of the United
States to provide the funding needed to complete the full historic restoration of the Chateau at
Oregon Caves National Monument; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the President of the United States, the
Director of the National Park Service, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and each member of the Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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