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<br />§ WWRP (Washington Wildlife & Recreation Program) – provides
<br />funds to acquire, develop, or renovate outdoor recreation facilities
<br />at neighborhood, community, and regional parks including physical
<br />access to shorelines for non-motorized, water-related activities
<br />such as fishing, boating, picnicking, camping, swimming beaches,
<br />trails including interpretive, scenic vistas and viewpoints, and
<br />supporting facilities including parking, restrooms, and utilities.
<br />§ Critical Habitat Category provides funds to protect or
<br />restore habitat for wildlife including for endangered,
<br />threatened, or sensitive species.
<br />§ Natural Areas Category provides funds to protect high
<br />quality, representative native ecosystems or unique plant or
<br />animal communities, endangered, threatened, or sensitive
<br />species, rare geological features, or similar features of scientific
<br />or education value.
<br />§ Riparian Protection Category provides funds to protect
<br />riparian areas including acquisition.
<br />§ Trails Category provides funds to acquire, develop, or
<br />renovate pedestrian, equestrian, or bicycle trails that provide
<br />connections to communities like Easton, Cle Elum, or Ellensburg
<br />or regional trails like the PTC Trail.
<br />
<br />§ SRG (Salmon Recovery Grants) – provide funds to buy pristine
<br />salmon and bull trout habitat, restore streams and waterways,
<br />replace fish barriers, remove dikes and levies, create fish habitat by
<br />planting native trees along a river, reconnect rivers to floodplains,
<br />add large, woody materials to rivers to create more habitat, install
<br />viewing shelters, trails and bridges, fishing piers and platforms,
<br />launch ramps, benches and tables, campgrounds, wayfinding signs,
<br />interpretive kiosks, paths, roads, parking, and restrooms as well as
<br />stewardship plans and programs.
<br />
<br />§ LCP (Local Capital Projects) – provides state appropriations for
<br />capital construction projects that benefit local governments and
<br />nonprofit organizations. Each appropriate, sponsored by the
<br />Governor or the Legislature, is tailored to the needs of the recipient
<br />organization.
<br />
<br />Implications – RCO administered state and federal grant funds can
<br />fund a number of Yakima River river access programs and projects,
<br />and in fact, most of the programs can fund some of the same
<br />program and project proposals depending on how the proposals are
<br />structured to fit the grant purposes.
<br />
<br />Being eligible for a program, however, is not necessarily to be
<br />competitive. There are funding limits for each of these programs,
<br />and depending on available funds in each cycle, applicant proposals
<br />can be extremely competitive resulting in available funds for only a
<br />limited and select few of the total submitted.
<br />
<br />RCO administered state and federal grant funds have limits on the
<br />maximum amount the grants can provide, from $35,000 to
<br />$1,000,000, and require matching monies from 20% to 50% in most
<br />programs from some other source, preferably local. RCO grants,
<br />therefore, cannot be relied upon to fully fund proposed Yakima
<br />River public access site acquisition or development projects.
<br />
<br />Kittitas County funds
<br />Kittitas County has some programs in place with which to match or
<br />even fully fund some Yakima River public access programs and
<br />projects and/or can adopt a number of other specialized programs
<br />or adaptations to existing funding programs with which to
<br />implement public river access proposals.
<br />
<br />§ HMTax (Hotel/Motel or Lodging Tax) – Cle Elum, Ellensburg,
<br />Roslyn, and Kittitas County impose lodging taxes assessed on the
<br />sale or charge made for furnishings of lodging including
<br />campgrounds, motels, and hotels in accordance with RCW
<br />67.28.180-181. The inter-local agreement between Kittitas County
<br />and Cle Elum, Ellensburg, and Roslyn, awards funds with different
<br />application processes for each authorized use including a) tourism
<br />marketing, b) special events and festivals, and c) tourism-related
<br />facilities (or infrastructure) owned or operated by a municipality or
<br />nonprofit.
<br />
<br />A Kittitas County Consolidated Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
<br />(LTAC) includes members from Kittitas County, Roslyn, Cle Elum,
<br />and Ellensburg that advise and recommend to the Board of County
<br />Commissioners on how excise taxes on lodging should be allocated
<br />supporting tourism activities that generate revenue within Kittitas
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