Valley residents and river users generally agree on the need to maintain and improve recreational access to the McKenzie River. Thus, the impending loss of the Ike's Landing troubled many recreation providers and users. Of concern to community members is the increased use of Helfrich Landing as a pull-out, which has resulted in increased congestion and trespass. For these reasons, Lane County Parks Division, a member of the MRCMP, began work to site a new landing between Leaburg and Vida on the McKenzie River. Community members in the Goodpasture Bridge area were concerned about location of the proposed boat landing, and requested that the County evaluate other sites.

The Parks Division agreed to form a Citizens Advisory Task Force to assist with this endeavor. The McKenzie Watershed Council was approached about providing technical experts from its partner organizations who could assist in the evaluation of eight proposed landing sites. The experts included a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, a fisheries biologist from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a hydrologist with the Bureau of Land Management, and an operations supervisor from Oregon Department of Transportation.

In April of 1999, the technical experts, along with task force members, visited the sites. Each expert provided verbal comments and a short written report that summarized their professional assessment of the sites, for use by the task force and County staff as they considered the suitability of the proposed landing sites.