The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to extend the camping season at three Upstate campgrounds.

Both Oconee Point Campground in Oconee County and Crescent Group Campground in Anderson County now will remain open until Oct. 31. Coneross Campground in Oconee County will be open until Sept. 30.

All of those campgrounds initially were slated to close on Sept. 9.

Tanya Grant, a park ranger at Hartwell Lake, said Corps officials announced in fall 2007 that the three campgrounds would close early this year because of budget constraints. Residents immediately expressed their disappointment, so an effort was made to save park maintenance costs in early 2008.

The efforts of volunteers to help maintain the parks was one way the Corps saved enough money to restore the usual closing dates for the campgrounds, Grant said.

“People have gotten used to how we run the campgrounds and what we expect,” she said. “We would like to continue to operate our campgrounds at a high level of maintenance.”

Billy Birdwell, a spokesperson for the Savannah District of the Corps, said he is glad the campgrounds will be able to serve people for a longer period of time.

“We knew there was a demand for extending our season,” he said. “We didn’t want to curtail our season in the first place.”