State awards grants to help communities plan for recreation

OLYMPIA - The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) today announced the award of more than $4.7 million in grants to help communities plan for outdoor recreation facilities.

The grants were awarded to organizations in 19 counties and ranged from $12,927 to $250,000.

“These grants support community efforts to invest in recreation by helping them take the first step and begin planning,” said Megan Duffy, RCO director. “We know that spending time outside provides so many benefits, such as improved health, less stress and better social skills. We think that everyone should be able to spend time in a park or on a trail and get those benefits. These grants will assist communities in getting started to provide those valuable outdoor amenities.”

Many of the grants will help smaller communities write parks and recreation plans, which then can be used to apply for construction grants, and some will help larger communities plan specific projects in areas that lack public parks.

The Legislature first funded the Planning for Recreation Access grant program in 2021 as a way to fund planning projects in communities that lack adequate access to outdoor recreation opportunities. The first round of grants were announced in February and the second round was funded by the Legislature in its session that ended in April.

NCW Projects were funded in:

Chelan County: $292,007

Douglas County: $165,460

Grant County: $102,577

Okanogan County: $250,000

To see project descriptions, visit https://rco.wa.gov/state-awards-recreation-planning-grants/.