The State Lands Development and Renovation category provides funding to two state agencies to repair, renovate, and develop outdoor recreation facilities on existing recreation lands. As the popularity of outdoor recreation increases in our state, these grants help address overcrowding, ensure our outdoor amenities are safe for public use, improve visitor experience, and allow more people to enjoy our great outdoors.
This month’s featured project is Colockum Access Improvements on the ancestral land of the Yakama, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and Wenatchi people. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife used this grant to install a boat launch, gravel parking lot, and toilet on the edge of the Colockum Wildlife Area to provide access to the Columbia River. Access to this stretch of the river is scarce, with the nearest launch about 7 miles downstream and more than 20 miles upstream. The Colockum access was a primitive boat launch with a dirt and rock launch, grass and rock parking, and no facilities. The work included widening the road approach, building a loading platform for people with disabilities, adding boat tie ups, and creating turnouts along the narrow access road. This is the only public launch on the west side of the river from Wenatchee to Vantage.
