The Mountaineers
Before you grab your Discover Pass and head to your favorite Washington state park or recreation area this spring, read on for a post-legislative session update to learn more about the critical funding that makes our adventures on state lands possible. (Spoiler alert: it’s a mixed bag.)
Over the last four months, Mountaineers conservation staff have met with lawmakers, written advocacy letters, testified at committee hearings, and engaged with land managers and tribes around important initiatives to fund public lands and outdoor recreation. We raised our community’s collective voice in support of funding for Washington’s state-managed public lands because places like Mount Si, Deception Pass, and Oak Creek Wildlife Area near Tieton connect our community to nature through Mountaineers programs and beyond.
Facing a $10-15 billion state budget deficit and challenging revenue forecasts for the next several years, legislators faced hard funding choices this session, including how to fund state land managers and programs that support recreation and conservation. Now that the legislature has passed a final 2025-2027 state budget, we’re left with cuts to key programs that support the outdoors. We’re grateful that the budget still retains funding for recreation and conservation projects, including $120 million for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.
Before we dig into the results - the good, the bad, and the noteworthy - consider taking a moment to thank your legislators for prioritizing investments in our state public lands this session.
Reviewing our Priorities
We acknowledge the many pressing challenges facing Washington state that require funding. At a time when federal public lands are under-resourced and state land managers face growing backlogs of deferred maintenance, it's critically important to continue to invest in conservation and recreation. Investments in the maintenance and operations of state lands today mean a more sustainable future for Washington’s natural areas and thriving communities with equitable access to outdoors.
In the final budget, all three state land management agencies - Washington State Parks (State Parks), the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) - sustained budget cuts that will likely lead to staff reductions and impact the work of the agencies over the next two years. Despite the cuts, we appreciate the ways lawmakers continued to prioritize public lands despite a challenging fiscal outlook. We recognize the need and opportunity to build on these investments in future years.
Here’s how our specific advocacy priorities landed in the final 2025-2027 state operating and capital budgets:
Operating Budget
Most of our advocacy focused on funding from the state’s operating budget for land managers’ work to manage sustainable outdoor access, maintain recreation infrastructure, and conserve and protect natural and cultural resources on state lands. We also advocated for funding to promote access to nature across Washington.
The budget includes a one-time 25% cut to ongoing maintenance and operations funding that was previously secured for all three land management agencies. The funding makes up 20-50% of all recreation maintenance funding at each agency. This cut will reduce land managers’ ability to restore and maintain trails, campgrounds, and other recreation-related facilities and operations. Given the budget outlook, we’re grateful to have secured most of this funding and that the cut is one-time and not ongoing. We’ll continue our advocacy with Washington Trails Association and other recreation partners to restore this funding to the previously secured level of $10 million per agency, per biennium.
The final operating budget lacks funding to support tribal government participation in the State-Tribal Recreation Impacts Initiative (STRII), as well as funding to support land manager engagement and the development of a statewide data management system to help study and mitigate recreation impacts on state-managed public lands. Despite these cuts, the agencies anticipate the ability to move forward with this work on a more limited basis. We will continue to find ways to support the important work by tribes and land managers to manage recreation and better protect natural and cultural resources.
Washington’s No Child Left Inside (NCLI) grant program that connects underserved youth to outdoor experiences (including previous Mountaineers partner programs) was cut by 75% in the final operating budget. The remaining $1.126 million will allow the program to continue and fund a smaller percentage of grant applications.
Capital Budget
The state’s capital budget also presented opportunities to support recreation and conservation projects. The final 2025-2027 capital budget includes $120 million in funding for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP). WWRP is the state’s largest source of conservation and recreation funding for projects, and matching the current high for WWRP funding will make possible 100 projects across the state. The capital budget also includes funding to conserve forests and natural areas and manage sustainable recreation on DNR lands:
- $16.9 million in Trust Land Transfer Program funding to protect mature forests on state lands.
- $2.958 for Safe and Sustainable Recreation funding to invest in new or renovated recreation infrastructure on DNR lands, including parking areas, trails, and facilities.
- $2.930 in Natural Areas Program funding to preserve facilities and improve access on DNR’s Natural Areas.
Priority Legislation - Discover Pass Increase Bill
This session, lawmakers passed SB 5390 to increase the cost for the Discover Pass - the access pass for all state-managed lands in Washington. The bill raises the annual cost of the Discover Pass from $30 to $45, while keeping the day-use pass rate at $10. The Mountaineers supported this first-ever adjustment to the cost of the pass to account for inflation and provide increased revenue for land managers during uncertain fiscal times for the State. This user fee increase will generate additional revenue for all three management agencies as they sustained cuts to their state general funding in the final budgets.
SB 5390 also makes changes to how revenue generated from Discover Pass sales is distributed between State Parks, DNR, and DFW. In the wake of these policy changes, lawmakers and state land management agencies will convene a workgroup to study how recreation funding is handled at the agencies, including whether to adjust how the split of the Discover Pass revenue is shared through future legislative action. The final state budget includes $150K to support these efforts. The fee increase is slated to take effect this fall. Need a Discover Pass? Pick one up on your next visit to our Seattle Program Center bookstore.
Thank Lawmakers
Securing investments in public lands and outdoor recreation this year shouldn’t be taken for granted. There will be opportunities to build on these investments in future sessions. In the meantime, use our action tool to thank lawmakers for continuing to invest in public lands and outdoor recreation despite a tight budget year. Lawmakers hear from constituents on so many priorities, so a personal note highlighting your connection to the outdoors will keep these issues top of mind for lawmakers heading into the next session.
