Washington’s best-kept secret for funding the outdoors just got better

You may have never heard of Washington state’s Recreation Conservation Office (RCO), but for the past 60 years it has been protecting and improving our state’s outdoors. To help ecosystems and communities thrive, RCO invests in projects that protect lands and develop parks and trails. This spring, RCO is taking a new equity-focused approach to their grantmaking, so this best-kept secret just keeps getting better. 

RCO administers 12 different types of grant programs (ex: forestland preservation, salmon recovery, recreation projects) that invest in Washington’s outdoors, including three that fund trails specifically.

RCO grants protect landscapes and create trails, like the 196 acres acquired by Clallam County to complete the final 12 miles of the Olympic Discovery Trail. Photo of the Spruce Railroad Trail section of the Olympic Discovery Trail by Valerie Martinson.

RCO staff noticed a pattern: Certain communities would consistently apply for and receive grants. At the same time, other communities lacked parks and trails, but weren’t applying for grants to help solve that. RCO wanted to bridge the gap between their grants and the people and places in our state that would most benefit from them. 

The grant changes happening this spring were made possible by years of work by RCO, WTA and other partners. 

In 2021, WTA rallied hikers like you to join partners in asking the state legislature for funding for RCO to review their grant programs with an equity lens. Our state lawmakers listened and invested $375,000 in RCO to undertake a grant equity review. 

• “We know that spending time outside improves people’s mental and physical health, academic performance and social skills,” said Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office. “Everyone should be able to experience those benefits no matter where they live. These criteria changes are a first step in helping to ensure equitable access to parks, trails and other outdoor facilities.”

RCO staff make it clear that their equity review is an ongoing process. Some exciting changes are already happening, and more will come as they continue to look at how support for green spaces and grant money are distributed across our state — and how that can be improved.

One thing that RCO realized was that a whole new category of grants was needed: funding for towns, cities and counties that didn’t have the resources to plan parks projects. This includes underserved urban communities, small rural communities and places with less grant-writing experience.

It takes time and money to plan for a community’s needs — and until it’s clear what a community needs, those communities don’t know what grants to apply for. Also, communities aren’t eligible for many RCO grants until they have a comprehensive plan in place. 

RCO had $2.3 million in funding to distribute and received $12 million in requests for these planning grants. A majority of the groups that applied had not received RCO funds in the past decade, so this funding was attracting the groups that RCO had hoped to reach. 

An RCO planning grant funded Yakima Greenway Foundation to improve outdoor access and health outcomes for Yakima county residents, who experience some of the state’s highest rates of high blood pressure, diabetes and mental illness. Photo of Sunrise Rotary Park in Yakima County by trip reporter demonstrate.

RCO’s planning grants in 2021, the first year of the program, supported 21 different groups in 15 counties, including:

• Mattawa, Oroville, Carbonado and Morton to create parks plans for their communities.
• Concord International School to convert their Puma Playfield from a school field into a resource for the whole community. 
• Spokane Tribe to redesign of Snwx mene (Salmon People) Island, formally known as Canada Island, in Riverfront Park.
• Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to plan a new campground and expansion of the trail system.

Now that these communities have experience with the RCO grant process, they’ll be better able to apply for funding to bring these, and other parks projects, into reality. 

RCO is also making changes so the grant process is easier for new applicants to navigate. They are changing how projects are evaluated to provide more opportunity to communities with less parkspace and to reward projects that have strong community input, among many other changes. 

Last year, WTA joined RCO in securing the funds they need to keep this work going, including the budget for a staff position at RCO to focus on equity. 

We look forward to continued partnership with RCO, to support their work and learn along with them what it takes to ensure that Washington has trails for everyone. 

Do you believe that everyone should have the opportunity to get outdoors? Join WTA’s Trail Action Network to receive action alerts to work towards this together.