SURVEY: Help Shape the Future of Recreation in the Upper Yakima Basin

[elockwood]

Hello Washington Hunters,

My name is Ethan Lockwood and I work in partnership with the Forest Service, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and the East Cascades Recreation Partnership (ECRP) and we have launched a year-long recreation survey for the Upper Yakima Basin (Western Kittitas and Yakima counties) to better understand where people go to recreate and what draws them to these areas. This data will be used by public land management agencies (state and federal) and diverse recreation groups to help prioritize recreation projects in the Upper Yakima Basin. We need to hear from as many people as possible who use and value this area and would greatly appreciate if you could take the time to fill out the survey.

The survey will be open through February 2020 and takes 5-10 min: http://www.gis.cwu.edu/geog/ecrp

Thanks for your time and assistance with this project!

[Mudman]

We need less regulation/restrictions and more access and freedom.  So in nutshell less Government.

[Limhangerslayer]

So you'll figure out other places where you can charge us in new ways?

[Special T]

I havent taken the survey because I dont recreate in that area...  For you Nay sayers, this could just be to try and allocate existing funds to the correct areas.

if you know the area well take the survey and report it back to us..

[elockwood]

Thanks for the comments,

The goal of this survey is to protect access to public lands for recreation. Sadly our public land managers are facing steeply decreasing budgets and staffing for managing recreation, and the numbers of people coming to live and recreate in Yakima and Kittitas Counties is drastically increasing every year. As this gap continues to widen there is increasing potential for areas to be damaged, overrun, and for quality experiences to be harder and harder to find. As an outdoor community, it will be critical to work with public land managers to prioritize projects and maintain access to areas that are important to all of us or we may face areas being closed.

[buckfvr]

We need less regulation/restrictions and more access and freedom.  So in nutshell less Government.

This stinks of viewing areas, restrooms, bike paths and more screw balls trying to force hunters out.  No transparancy with state spending, so Id not give another dime, especially to non hunting special interest groups.

[yakimarcher]

Thanks for the comments,

The goal of this survey is to protect access to public lands for recreation. Sadly our public land managers are facing steeply decreasing budgets and staffing for managing recreation, and the numbers of people coming to live and recreate in Yakima and Kittitas Counties is drastically increasing every year. As this gap continues to widen there is increasing potential for areas to be damaged, overrun, and for quality experiences to be harder and harder to find. As an outdoor community, it will be critical to work with public land managers to prioritize projects and maintain access to areas that are important to all of us or we may face areas being closed.

How is it possible that they have less money with the discover pass, fee areas, and increased cost of hunting and fishing licensed?

[Special T]

Thanks for the comments,

The goal of this survey is to protect access to public lands for recreation. Sadly our public land managers are facing steeply decreasing budgets and staffing for managing recreation, and the numbers of people coming to live and recreate in Yakima and Kittitas Counties is drastically increasing every year. As this gap continues to widen there is increasing potential for areas to be damaged, overrun, and for quality experiences to be harder and harder to find. As an outdoor community, it will be critical to work with public land managers to prioritize projects and maintain access to areas that are important to all of us or we may face areas being closed.

How is it possible that they have less money with the discover pass, fee areas, and increased cost of hunting and fishing licensed?

Because a huge percentage goes to parks not DNR and WDFW

[bigtex]

Thanks for the comments,

The goal of this survey is to protect access to public lands for recreation. Sadly our public land managers are facing steeply decreasing budgets and staffing for managing recreation, and the numbers of people coming to live and recreate in Yakima and Kittitas Counties is drastically increasing every year. As this gap continues to widen there is increasing potential for areas to be damaged, overrun, and for quality experiences to be harder and harder to find. As an outdoor community, it will be critical to work with public land managers to prioritize projects and maintain access to areas that are important to all of us or we may face areas being closed.

How is it possible that they have less money with the discover pass, fee areas, and increased cost of hunting and fishing licensed?

Because a huge percentage goes to parks not DNR and WDFW

And the federal agencies do not receive funding from the Discover Pass or hunting/fishing licenses.

[Alan K]

Cut some timber and they'd have plenty of money... Makes me want to puke when the feds in particular bellyache about shrinking budgets when they're literally sitting on billions upon billions of dollars worth of timber.  Create/support rural communities with timber jobs, maintain/grow the road systems and in turn public use can be increased, and it can all be paid for if they'd just get out of their own way...

[Mudman]

 

[CementFinisher]