Current conditions unavailable
From 2023 to 2025, nearly $1.5 million in state funds have been sent to Lewis County for recreation projects, with even more money dedicated to conservation and maintenance in trails and habitat in Lewis County and south Thurston County.
The Washington state Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) released a funding list earlier this week showing the money received from 2023 to 2025 by each county and detailing the projects funded. According to the news release, the office’s grant funding board awarded funds to projects in 35 of the state’s 39 different counties, including approximately $7 million in funding that went to projects funding improvements that impact multiple counties, such as repairs of a bridge on the Willapa Hills Trail that runs for 59 miles from Chehalis to South Bend.
In the statement, the office’s Director Megan Duffy said the funds were important to keeping community activities accessible and maintaining the state’s reputation as a destination for outdoor recreation.
“These grants are critical to keeping Washington a premiere destination for outdoor adventure as well as a great place for Washingtonians to live,” Duffy said. “These grants are key to building great communities. The grants help communities light ball fields, make parks accessible to people with disabilities, connect gaps in trail systems, refurbish pools and resurface pickleball courts.”
The list provided by RCO lists descriptions for two projects specific to Lewis County. One project received $1,050,000.00 to install new ballfield lights at Fort Borst Park in Centralia and $443,045.00 for the effort to develop McMurphy Park in Vader. It also lists two projects in southern Thurston County, with a project to construct basketball and pickleball courts in Tenino receiving $40,460 and restoration of the Prairie and Oak restoration in Violet Prairie along Old Highway 99 receiving $387,002.
Additionally, Lewis County stands to benefit from funding or improvements to trails that run throughout the state projects, including $75,000 for maintaining backcountry trails statewide, $75,000 heavy maintenance on motorcycle trails statewide, $74,950 for maintaining backcountry trails in national forest lands, $75,000 for maintaining endangered trails and $488,500 for repairs to a bridge along the Willapa Hill Trail that runs from Chehalis to South Bend.
Below are the descriptions of the different projects to receive funding by jurisdiction.
Lewis County
• The City of Centralia will use a $1,050,000 grant to install lighting on four fields in the Borst Park Sports Complex. The lighting will allow the fields to be used more and expand opportunities for the community to gather for evening games. The four fields are where local and regional teams play softball and fast pitch, Little League baseball and adult slow pitch. One field also accommodates multi-sport activities, such as soccer.
• The City of Vader will use a $443,045 grant to develop McMurphy Park. The park has 13 acres of fields, a gravel loop road and three portable toilets. The city will add utility infrastructure, such as water and a septic system, a restroom building with four shower stalls, and gravel parking lots. Additionally, the city will build five pull-through sites for recreational vehicles, one with full hookups for the camp host and four with water and electric service. Future phases will include a covered event shelter, a small playground, enhanced parking and an amphitheater.
Thurston County
• The City of Tenino will use a $40,460 grant to build a half-court basketball court and full pickleball court in Tenino City Park. This will be the only outdoor basketball half-court court in Tenino and the only pickleball court in South Thurston County. The courts will serve the youth of Tenino and the Tenino School District, adults and seniors.
• The Department of Fish and Wildlife will use a $387,002 grant to restore 573 acres of glacial outwash prairie and oak woodland habitat in the Violet Prairie Unit of Scatter Creek Wildlife Area. This area contains a prairie-oak woodland-wetland complex that includes federally designated critical habitat for Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly and Yelm pocket gopher, and supports habitat for a variety of Endangered Species Act-listed or candidate species and State Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The department will apply herbicide, do a prescribed burn, seed and plant native plants, perform mechanical vegetation treatments, and take periodic habitat assessments to ensure that the efforts are meeting management goals. The work is aimed at increasing native grass and forbs and enhancing oak tree starts. This project will contribute to a regional effort to restore south Puget Sound prairies by increasing habitat size, quality, and connectivity and supporting the recovery of the species that depend on these habitats.
Multicounty projects
• The Washington Trails Association will use a $75,000 grant to provide 3,500 volunteers performing more than 24,000 hours of maintenance on 235 miles of backcountry trails. Through multi-day work parties, the crews will remove overgrown brush and downed trees, repair trail surfaces, build retaining walls and reroute small sections of trail. Two million hikers and backpackers use backcountry trails in Washington annually, making backcountry trails an essential part of the state’s trail system. However, these trails do not receive enough maintenance to keep up with visitor demand and the damage caused by extreme winters and fires. Without immediate maintenance, many of these trails are at risk of being lost.
• The Northwest Motorcycle Association will use a $75,000 grant to support crews to complete heavy maintenance projects on about 1,800 miles of multiuse, motorized, single-track trails on public lands across Washington state. The association will focus on water management, restoration of trail surfaces, and repairs of structures such as bridges, turnpikes and puncheons.
• The Back Country Horsemen of Washington will use a $73,776 grant to clear and maintain about 230 miles of backcountry trails in five national forests across the state. Crews will remove downed trees, clear overgrown brush, repair trail surfaces and drainage structures, and replace damaged or missing trail signs. Addressing trail hazards will be the highest priority to ensure safe access for all users.
• The Back Country Horsemen of Washington will use a grant to clear and maintain 355 miles of trails on public lands across the state. Crews will remove downed trees, clear overgrown brush, and repair trail surfaces and drainage structures. Addressing trail hazards will be the highest priority to ensure safe access for all users. The volunteers will provide pack support to partner groups.
• State Parks will use a grant of $488,500 to repair Bridge 43 on the Willapa Hills State Park Trail, a 56-mile rail trail that runs between Chehalis and South Bend and is used by hikers, cyclists and equestrians. The work is part of a larger effort to improve safety and visitor experience on the trail by adapting bridges created for rail use to recreation use. Bridge 43 is near Menlo, about 13 miles from the trail end in South Bend. State Parks will remove rotten wood decking and railroad ties, and install new decking, safety rails and bollards. State Parks also will replace rotten and warped wood on the abutment wall.
