Post by pistonschick on Oct 18, 2010 15:12:26 GMT -8
DNR Recreation News
October 18 , 2010
· Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forest recreation plans—open house Oct. 26
· DNR Forum provides valuable insight on recreation issues facing DNR
· Tough budget decisions ahead for 2011
· Proposed Legislation
· Volunteers rock!
Hi, folks
It’s been a busy fall, and I wanted to catch you up on what we’ve been working on at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Recreation Program.
Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forest recreation plans—open house Oct. 26
DNR is embarking on a recreation planning process for the Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forests, located on the Kitsap Peninsula. This planning process will be similar to what we just completed at Reiter Foothills Forest and the Ahtanum and Yacolt Burn State Forests. We need your help in charting a course for the future of recreation in these state forests.
We’ll be engaging the public throughout the planning process, starting with a kickoff open house from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26 at North Mason High School in Belfair. For more information, view the press release we sent out last week at: bit.ly/bj1vgQ
The open house is the first of many opportunities the public will have to give their input into the planning process and help create a road map of what recreation will look like in this area. If you like to recreate in these areas, you will want to attend the meeting.
If you can’t make the meeting but want to be on the e-mail list please send and e-mail to greentahuyaplan@dnr.wa.gov. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know who might be interested. Stay tuned…
DNR Forum provides valuable insight on recreation issues facing DNR
Many of you participated in the DNR Forum on recreation in early September. Thanks to many of you we received 450 comments during the course of the weeklong forum. Each day, we posted a new discussion topic covering a number of recreation-related issues, including asking you how and where you like to recreate; how can DNR improve safety; what criteria should guide DNR in determining where to do recreation planning; how can DNR better fund recreation; and whether you would support user fees.
Even though the forum is now closed for comments, you can still view the online conversation. Go to: dnrforum.wordpress.com/ and follow the link to each day’s topic.
We’ll be working on a writing up a summary from the forum and making it available online in the coming weeks.
Tough budget decisions ahead for 2011
The legislature will again be forced to make some tough budget decisions during the 2011 legislative session. Inevitably, these decisions will have major impact on DNR’s Recreation Program.
So far, budget cuts in this economic recession have forced DNR to close or reduce services at 40 of our 143 recreation facilities. DNR’s Recreation Program could lose its remaining state general fund, which would force us to close an additional 31 recreational trails and facilities across the state. Some of these areas are extremely popular, such as Mount Si, Lake Spokane, McLane Nature Trails. As you may recall, DNR faced a similar threat in the last session, but we were spared. As revenue forecasts continue to show a growing state budget deficit, the same cut may be contemplated in 2011.
All this comes as DNR grapples with how to improve safety and ensure public health on state trust lands. With the current economic climate, Washingtonians are staying closer to home, which puts more pressure on their local recreation areas, many of which are managed by DNR. We are also seeing increased vandalism and garbage dumping on state trust lands. In 2010, we had two deaths on DNR-managed lands.
DNR must also address major water quality issues resulting from unmanaged recreation use on a number of blocks of state trust lands throughout Washington. The impacts to water quality in some areas is so severe that we must either correct the problems or close the areas to public access.
Proposed Legislation
DNR management and staff appreciate how much recreation means to the public. On several occasions—through the Sustainable Recreation Work Group and the recent DNR Forum—we’ve asked for your suggestions and ideas about a number of issues related to recreation on state lands. We heard that a great deal of you:
· Want additional and improved recreational access to state lands.
· Support increased law enforcement.
· Support better education and awareness programs.
· Approve of lifting the lid the lid on the ORV fuel tax refund.
· Support some sort of user fee.
Based on what we’ve heard from the public, we’ve been working on request legislation with our counterparts at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) that will enable us to raise much-needed revenue to sustainably manage recreation on lands managed by DNR and WDFW. We’ll be keeping you updated throughout the coming months.
Volunteers rock!
We’ve always known it, but our volunteers are awesome. And getting even more awesome. Last quarter volunteers logged in a record number of hours on state trust lands. Thanks to all of you who help improve recreation by volunteering on DNR-managed lands!
Mark R. Mauren
Assistant Division Manager
Recreation, Public Access and WCC Programs
Asset Management and Recreation Division
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
360-902-1047
mark.mauren@dnr.wa.gov
October 18 , 2010
· Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forest recreation plans—open house Oct. 26
· DNR Forum provides valuable insight on recreation issues facing DNR
· Tough budget decisions ahead for 2011
· Proposed Legislation
· Volunteers rock!
Hi, folks
It’s been a busy fall, and I wanted to catch you up on what we’ve been working on at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Recreation Program.
Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forest recreation plans—open house Oct. 26
DNR is embarking on a recreation planning process for the Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forests, located on the Kitsap Peninsula. This planning process will be similar to what we just completed at Reiter Foothills Forest and the Ahtanum and Yacolt Burn State Forests. We need your help in charting a course for the future of recreation in these state forests.
We’ll be engaging the public throughout the planning process, starting with a kickoff open house from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26 at North Mason High School in Belfair. For more information, view the press release we sent out last week at: bit.ly/bj1vgQ
The open house is the first of many opportunities the public will have to give their input into the planning process and help create a road map of what recreation will look like in this area. If you like to recreate in these areas, you will want to attend the meeting.
If you can’t make the meeting but want to be on the e-mail list please send and e-mail to greentahuyaplan@dnr.wa.gov. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know who might be interested. Stay tuned…
DNR Forum provides valuable insight on recreation issues facing DNR
Many of you participated in the DNR Forum on recreation in early September. Thanks to many of you we received 450 comments during the course of the weeklong forum. Each day, we posted a new discussion topic covering a number of recreation-related issues, including asking you how and where you like to recreate; how can DNR improve safety; what criteria should guide DNR in determining where to do recreation planning; how can DNR better fund recreation; and whether you would support user fees.
Even though the forum is now closed for comments, you can still view the online conversation. Go to: dnrforum.wordpress.com/ and follow the link to each day’s topic.
We’ll be working on a writing up a summary from the forum and making it available online in the coming weeks.
Tough budget decisions ahead for 2011
The legislature will again be forced to make some tough budget decisions during the 2011 legislative session. Inevitably, these decisions will have major impact on DNR’s Recreation Program.
So far, budget cuts in this economic recession have forced DNR to close or reduce services at 40 of our 143 recreation facilities. DNR’s Recreation Program could lose its remaining state general fund, which would force us to close an additional 31 recreational trails and facilities across the state. Some of these areas are extremely popular, such as Mount Si, Lake Spokane, McLane Nature Trails. As you may recall, DNR faced a similar threat in the last session, but we were spared. As revenue forecasts continue to show a growing state budget deficit, the same cut may be contemplated in 2011.
All this comes as DNR grapples with how to improve safety and ensure public health on state trust lands. With the current economic climate, Washingtonians are staying closer to home, which puts more pressure on their local recreation areas, many of which are managed by DNR. We are also seeing increased vandalism and garbage dumping on state trust lands. In 2010, we had two deaths on DNR-managed lands.
DNR must also address major water quality issues resulting from unmanaged recreation use on a number of blocks of state trust lands throughout Washington. The impacts to water quality in some areas is so severe that we must either correct the problems or close the areas to public access.
Proposed Legislation
DNR management and staff appreciate how much recreation means to the public. On several occasions—through the Sustainable Recreation Work Group and the recent DNR Forum—we’ve asked for your suggestions and ideas about a number of issues related to recreation on state lands. We heard that a great deal of you:
· Want additional and improved recreational access to state lands.
· Support increased law enforcement.
· Support better education and awareness programs.
· Approve of lifting the lid the lid on the ORV fuel tax refund.
· Support some sort of user fee.
Based on what we’ve heard from the public, we’ve been working on request legislation with our counterparts at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) that will enable us to raise much-needed revenue to sustainably manage recreation on lands managed by DNR and WDFW. We’ll be keeping you updated throughout the coming months.
Volunteers rock!
We’ve always known it, but our volunteers are awesome. And getting even more awesome. Last quarter volunteers logged in a record number of hours on state trust lands. Thanks to all of you who help improve recreation by volunteering on DNR-managed lands!
Mark R. Mauren
Assistant Division Manager
Recreation, Public Access and WCC Programs
Asset Management and Recreation Division
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
360-902-1047
mark.mauren@dnr.wa.gov