WA Makes it Easier for Rural Towns and Tribes to Build Parks

March 14, 2019

Great piece in Crosscut about the match reduction program, one of the newer updates to WWRP that allows communities in need better opportunities to get grants.

Excerpt: Just north of Keller Community Park in Ferry County lies a rail-to-trail project that has struggled to finance its completion. In the works for a decade, the project would have been completed earlier if there had been easier access to funding, say Ferry County Rail Trail Partners President Bob Whittaker and Keith Bell, the trail’s project manager. With high unemployment rates and a median household income 40 percent below the state average, Ferry County had its required match lowered to 10 percent. It had won grants before, but a recent Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant will finally complete the Ferry County Rail Trail.

Read the full piece in CrossCut.