A bicyclist rides through the Capitol Forest in this photograph made available for publication at flickr.com.
On Wednesday, the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board announced the recipients of nearly $116 million in grants. Those funds will go toward 267 projects focused on outdoor recreation and the conservation of wildlife habitat, working farms and forests around the state.
“These grants are important to strengthening Washington’s economy and retaining our way of life,” said Gov. Jay Inslee in a press release. “They will build parks, trails and boating facilities, and conserve working farms and critical wildlife habitat — all the things that make Washington a great place to live, work and operate a business.”
With the state Legislature’s recent approval of a capital budget, the grants were approved for cities, counties, state and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations undertaking projects in 35 of the state’s 39 counties. Funds for those grants are derived from a mix of federal grants, the sale of state bonds, gas taxes and user fees.
In Western Washington, Clark County received just under $5 million, Cowlitz County received nearly $2 million, Grays Harbor County received more than $3 million, Pacific County received almost $3 million, Pierce County received just under $2.5 million and Thurston County received more than $8.5 million in grant money. Additionally, $3.5 million in grant money was allocated to multiple different counties for sprawling projects, such as those on federal lands in Lewis County.
Those grants include a stipend of $102,746 to Lewis and Skamania counties to provide snow plowing and grooming of snowmobile trails as part of the State Parks winter recreation program. A $63,600 grant to Lewis, Skamania and Yakima Counties for projects in high use areas of the Gifford Pinchot Wilderness including sending rangers to provide education and enforcement in the high use areas of Snowgrass Flats in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, Blue Lake in Indian Heaven Wilderness, South Climb in Mount Adams Wilderness, and the Pacific Crest Trail.
Other grants allotted to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest set aside $94,000 for maintenance on 230 miles of trails and six campgrounds in Lewis, Skamania and Klickitat counties, as well as $134,624 for maintenance on 300 miles of wilderness trails used for hiking and horseback riding in those same counties. That project also includes 81 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
A $123,000 grant awarded to the city of Castle Rock in Cowlitz County will allow for upgrades to the Al Helenberg Boat Launch on the Cowlitz River. The river’s flow at the spot is too fast for safe boating and, large amounts of sediment have collected under the ramps and floats.
A trio of DNR grants In Thurston County are intended to improve the Capitol State Forest. One grant awarded $189,700 in order to maintain 77 miles of off-road vehicle trails. Another DNR grant allots $104,900 for maintenance to trails and campgrounds. The third grant assigned $154,500 to education and enforcement work, including funds for a recreation warden and additional police services on 143 miles of trail, four campgrounds, six trailheads, and 500 miles of open forest roads.
A recent study found that outdoor recreation leads to $21.6 billion in sales each year in Washington, including $3.4 billion from out of state visitors. The outdoor recreation industry also supports nearly 200,000 jobs, which is on par with technology and aerospace industries.
“Investments in outdoor recreation pay many dividends,” said Kaleen Cottingham, director of the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, in the release. “Not only do these grants bring money and jobs to the economy, but spending time outdoors improves the mental and physical health of both kids and adults, and that saves money down the line in costs for health care. Equally important, preserving and protecting natural areas for us to enjoy conserves habitat for fish and other animals, protects clean air and water and reduces pollution.”
Grant applications were evaluated and ranked by citizen committees during a competitive jurying process. The Recreation and Conservation Funding Board, the governor and state Legislature contributed to the final allocation of funds.
“Overall, we have funding only for about half the demand,” Cottingham said. “The process ensures that the state invests strategically in only the best projects.”
This year there were 520 grant applications requesting a total of $239 million. Most of the grants require matching resources and this year those matching funds totaled more than $106 million. Of the nearly $116 million doled out by the state, more than $38 million will go toward the improvement of parks, more than $19 million will go toward the improvement of facilities for boaters and trail maintenance, close to $7 million will go to the conservation of farms, and $31 million will be spent on protecting wildlife habitat. New to the program this year was a category for commercial forests, which netted two grants totaling $700,000 to protect important wildlife habitat.
“Our population is growing, and prices are going nowhere but up,” Cottingham said. “The best time to invest in outdoor recreation is right now. The more we invest now, the more we save in the future, and the more future generations will benefit.”
A complete list of the grants, including funding numbers and project descriptions, can be found online at rco.wa.gov/documents/press/2018/178-RecreationGrantDescriptions.pdf.
