Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Please Note! Stand-alone (not course-related) trips that do not have fees associated with them are exempt from WA DNR permit requirements, as long as the group size is 12 or fewer on NRCA land, or 25 or fewer on State Forest land.
Official Washington State DNR website - Washington State DNR
Staff applies for a Land Use License annually for activities taking place on Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) managed lands. Staff must apply for a separate Land Use License for each DNR region where we run activities that fit the permit requirements below.
Permits are required for:
- All fee-based trips, regardless of number of participants. This includes all activities that are exclusively for course participants, such as field trips, SIG outings, and conditioners.
- On NRCA land, all activities with more than 12 participants require a permit, even if the activity is free. Learn more about NRCAs here.
- On State Forest land, all activities with more than 25 participants require a permit, even if the activity is free.
Please note that stand-alone (non-course-related) trips that do not have fees associated with them are exempt from permit requirements, as long as the group size is 12 or fewer on NRCA land, or 25 or fewer on State Forest land.
As part of the Land Use License, DNR requires The Mountaineers to collect signed waivers from participants in permitted activities taking place on DNR land. Mountaineers staff manage the administration and collection of digital waivers.
2019 Calendar Year
The Mountaineers Land Use License with Washington State DNR has been finalized for 2019, and all leaders who scheduled trips on our website at DNR-managed route/places prior to our submission deadline (12/21/18) have been notified about the status of their trip(s). We are unable to post additional permitted trips on DNR land during the 2019 calendar year. Please contact amandav@mountaineers.org if you have a pressing need to run a permitted trip on DNR land.
2020 Calendar Year
For 2020, The Mountaineers will submit a list of trips that require permits to DNR staff at the end of 2019 so that they can review and approve the trips as a part of our annual Land Use License. If you anticipate leading course-related trips (or other trips that fall within the permit rules above) on DNR land in 2020, in order to ensure that they are included in our application, the trips must be posted on our website by December 17, 2019. Staff will remind volunteer leaders of this deadline as it approaches. We do not anticipate being able to add additional permitted trips in 2020 after our application has been submitted.
Below are links to the WA DNR permitting calendar. Use the iCal feed to get calendar alerts.