A common question is why cant an agency get rid of certain lands?
Every agency (federal or state) has lands that they admit no longer are usable or fit their agency mission. So the simple response from the public is...Sell it!
It's not that easy.
Most of WA's state lands were acquired between the 1930s and the early 1960s. During this time the state was basically getting all the land possible. They would take any donation, buy anything feasible and so on. As a result the state received A LOT of donated lands from individuals, especially State Parks.
It wasn't until the recent economic downfall around 2008 when State Parks started to look at selling/transferring lands that they realized in some cases, they were stuck with the lands.
Many of these land donations came with land ownership terms. Some require the lands to be ran as state parks, some require them to be publicly owned, etc. So if in it's donation terms it states that XYZ Park must be a state park then State Parks cant get rid of it. If the lands must remain publicly owned, then the options of moving it to a county/city agency are viable.
This isn't just for land management agencies either. The school district I reside in received donated land in the 1940s and built a school on it. That land is now at the corner of a 4 lane highway (state route) with numerous shopping malls and gas stations. I can only imagine what the land will go for. Around 2006 the district starting building a school which would serve as a replacement to the school in a neighborhood, school was completed and kids were transferred. So the district decided to sell the land.
Oh wait. According to the land donation agreement the land must remain in the hands of the school district for education purposes. 7/8 years later the empty school building is still sitting there.
