The House of Representatives announced last Tuesday at its hearing for the state capital construction budget that the State Parks is set to receive $540,828 in funding for the Green River Gorge State Park – Icy Creek Trail Easement.

The project is part of a proposed $50 million appropriation to the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP), which funds high priority wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation projects across the state.

The Green River Gorge State Park – Icy Creek Trail Easement grant will help ensure that the Green River Gorge trails remain open to the public, and that houses aren’t built right on the edge of the gorge.

The Green River Gorge trails are located in Southeast King County just south of Black Diamond and north of Enumclaw.

State Parks will use the grant to buy an easement for a 2.2-mile trail in the Green River Gorge Conservation Area. State Parks has been trying to buy land within the gorge between Flaming Geyser and Kanaskat-Palmer State Parks since the conservation area’s creation in 1969.

Projects funded by the WWRP – a highly respected grant program with bipartisan support that had been slated for near elimination in Gov. Gregoire’s proposed budget – are determined using scientifically based, objective criteria. However, the Green River Gorge State Park – Icy Creek Trail Easement grant could be put at risk if the Senate cuts funding for the program or alters the selection criteria for which projects receive funding.

“We are thrilled to see that the House of Representatives understands the critical role that preservation projects like these play in local communities across the state,” said Joanna Grist, executive director of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, which advocates for the program.  “WWRP projects help maintain critical habitat for wildlife, protect our waterways and ensure that outdoor recreation can continue to be major source of income in rural communities across the state.”

Statewide, renewing WWRP funding is an essential investment in our long term prosperity because of the billions of retail dollars and millions of tax dollars a year that flow to the state and local economies through tourism and outdoor recreation.  Outdoor recreation generates $8.5 billion in revenues annually to Washington’s economy and supports 115,000 jobs.