The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board has awarded more than $110 million to 268 projects to build parks and boating facilities, give people access to shorelines, maintain trails and conserve working farms and critical wildlife habitat. San Juan County was awarded $141,953.
“These grants are important to our economy because they help local communities create the kinds of places that people want to live and work, and tourists want to visit,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “Washington’s outdoor recreation industry is as important to our economy as our technology and aerospace industries. Making sure we take good care of our outdoor places is important to many businesses and families in this state.”
A recent study noted that $21.6 billion is spent in Washington on recreation trips and equipment annually and $4.6 billion comes from out-of-state visitors. Outdoor recreation also supports nearly 200,000 jobs, rivaling the technology and aerospace industries.
“These grants are an important investment in our future,” said Kaleen Cottingham, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office, which administers the grants. “They support three important goals of the state – to get people, especially our kids, outside more often to experience nature, to expand parks and to conserve our environment. It’s a win all the way around.”
Of the $110 million in grants, nearly $32 million goes to build or improve parks, nearly $12 million to improve facilities for boaters, about $26 million to maintaining trails, $4 million to conserving working farms and another $27 million to protecting important wildlife habitat.
Here are the projects funded for Lopez:
Lopez Island Conservation Corps Grant Awarded $26,500 for improving trails in Moran State Park. The Lopez Island Conservation Corps, in partnership with two other local island youth corps, will use this grant to maintain more than 38 miles of trail in Moran State Park. Trail crews will maintain the trails, make safety improvements to address hiker-biker trail conflicts and tackle erosion issues. Many of the trails, roads and structures in the 5,600-acre park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Budget cuts have meant annual trail maintenance has been neglected for 15 years. The park attracts more than 600,000 visitors annually, many from overseas, and is considered one of the gems of the state. The Lopez Island Conservation Corps will contribute $23,500 in staff labor, a local grant and donations of labor. For more information and photographs of this project, visit RCO’s online Project Search. This grant is from the Recreational Trails Program, which is funded by federal gas taxes.
San Juan County awarded $115,453 replacing the Odlin Park float and gangway. The San Juan County Public Works Department will use this grant to remove a deteriorated wood float, three creosote piles and an old aluminum gangway and replace them with a new heavy-duty wood float that is better for the environment in Odlin Park. The new float will reduce overwater shading with 50 percent open grating and reduce pollution by replacing the creosote piles with galvanized steel piles. The new float will double the available side-tie, day-use moorage space and will be accessible to people with disabilities. The county will move the float 25 feet to the south of the current float to better serve boaters. These improvements will support and provide additional access to the park’s amenities, such as restrooms, drinking water, sandy beach, picnicking, playfield, trails, boat launch and trailer parking, mooring buoys, and camping, all of which are open year-round. The Odlin boat launch and float are important public facilities supporting access to the exceptional opportunities available in the San Juan Islands, including whale watching, sport fishing, crabbing, scuba diving and visiting the many state marine parks in the San Juan Islands archipelago. San Juan County will contribute $38,916. For more information and photographs of this project, visit RCO’s online Project Search. This grant is from the Boating Facilities Program, which is funded by state gas taxes paid by boaters.
