Honald Ranch Airport

Economic and land-use conversion. The airport was a private airstrip located on agricultural land. The owner repurposed the land for a more profitable use, converting the runway area into a commercial fruit orchard. This is a common fate for small, private airfields located in valuable agricultural regions.

The site of the former airport is now a fully operational commercial fruit orchard. The land where the runway once existed is now covered with rows of mature trees, likely cherries, which are a prominent crop in The Dalles region. There are no remaining structures or distinct features of the airfield visible; the land has been completely integrated into the surrounding agricultural landscape.

Honald Ranch Airport was a small, private-use airfield serving the Honald Ranch. It was not a public airport and did not handle commercial, military, or scheduled passenger operations. Its primary function was to support general aviation activities for the ranch owners, which likely included personal transportation and recreational flying. The airfield consisted of a single, unpaved north-south runway. It does not appear on older aeronautical charts, with the earliest known depiction being a 1994 USGS aerial photo, suggesting it was established in the latter half of the 20th century. Its significance was purely local and private.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the Honald Ranch Airport. The prospect is considered non-existent due to the complete conversion of the site to a productive and established orchard. Reverting the land back to an airfield would require clearing the orchard and significant investment, which is highly unlikely for a private strip, especially with the public-use Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (KDLS) located just a few miles away.