Naturally, campground owners want to do their part to protect the environment. After all, having a beautiful, natural setting is part of what makes campgrounds great! But did you know there are many campgrounds across the U.S. that go above and beyond to ensure they are as green as possible?

The National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) has a program called Plan-It Green that recognizes a campground’s use of green practices. To be designated as a Plan-It Green Friendly Park, the campground must meet at least nine of 16 eco-friendly criteria such as having a recycling program, using non-toxic biodegradable cleaning products, installing energy-saving products and appliances and having low water-use landscaping.

Each year, two of these parks are awarded the honor of being named Plan-It Green Park of the Year. Here are the winners for 2018:

 

Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, Santee, California 

This southern California campground offers 300 full hookup campsites, seven lakefront cabins and even three floating cabins! The park has its own water reclamation facility where they recycle two million gallons of water each day. Considering the fact that this 190-acre park has seven lakes that are stocked year-round with sport fish, water quality is important to them! The park also has 14,000 solar panels mounted to RV storage covers that produce over one million kilowatt hours of clean energy every year – that’s equal to 50 percent of the entire park and campground’s power needs!

 

Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest, Harrisville, Pennsylvania 

This family-friendly park offers RV and tent sites along with rentals of cabins and yurts. They use energy-efficient lighting and appliances in their rental units and recreation building and have installed highly efficient tankless hot water heaters to save on electricity. The park has planted eco-friendly bushes that don’t require watering and has installed water-saving faucets, toilets and showerheads in all buildings and restrooms. When you visit, you’ll find plenty of fun things to do like laser tag, Gaga ball, mini golf, a jump zone and swimming. Best of all? Their pool is heated by solar power so keeping it heated doesn’t use any natural gas or electricity at all!

We encourage you to visit these and other Plan-It Friendly Parks across the country. They make it easy to go green when you go camping!

Eastern U.S.:

• Apache Family Campground, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Buttonwood Beach RV Resort, Earleville, Maryland
• Crown Point Camping Area, Perkinsville, Vermont
• Holiday Park Campground, Greensboro, Maryland
• MainStay Cottages & RV Park, Winter Harbor, Maine
• Ocean Lakes Family Campground, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• River’s End Campground & RV Park, Tybee Island, Georgia
• Shelby/Mansfield KOA, Shelby, Ohio
• Strafford/Lake Winniepesaukee South KOA, Strafford, New Hampshire
• Sun-N-Fun RV Resort, Sarasota, Florida
• True West Campground, Stables and Mercantile, Jamestown, Tennessee
• Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest, Harrisville, Pennsylvania

Central U.S.:

• Barefoot Bay Marina & RV Resort, Pittsburg, Texas
• Big Creek RV Park, Annapolis, Missouri
• Buffalo Lake Camping Resort, Montello, Wisconsin
• Cottonwoods RV Park, Columbia, Missouri
• Evergreen Campsites & Resort, Wild Rose, Wisconsin
• Geneseo Campground, Geneseo, Illinois
• Green Lake Campground, Green Lake, Wisconsin
• Guadalupe River RV Park Campgrounds & Nature Trails, Spring Branch, Texas
• Victoria Palms RV Resort, Donna, Texas

Western U.S.:

• 7^th Ranch RV Camp, Garryowen, Montana
• Bodega Bay RV Park, Bodega Bay, California
• Inn Town Campground, Nevada City, California
• J & H RV Park, Flagstaff, Arizona
• Kamp Klamath RV Park and Campground, Klamath, California
• Lassen RV Resort, McArthur, California
• Pechanga RV Resort, Temecula, California
• Pismo Coast Village RV Resort, Pismo Beach, California
• Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, Santee, California