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<br /> <br />Chapter 11 R ECREATION, PARKS, OPEN SPACE AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT <br />KITTITAS COUNTY <br />Page 139 Comprehensive Plan <br /> Policies <br />RPO-P1: Create and maintain a comprehensive recreation plan which: <br /> Incorporates new parks/recreational areas into growth planning <br /> Establishes additional passive recreation sites and opportunities <br /> Formulates recreational guidelines <br /> Includes cooperation with county and city recreation districts and committees <br /> Creates a long range vision for recreation <br />RPO-P2: Consider recreation needs and the services the County is able to provide by developing a <br />countywide recreation plan in coordination with other agencies and jurisdictions within Kittitas County. <br />Recreation opportunities and facilities include, <br />but are not limited to parks, trails, river access, <br />public lands access, campgrounds and picnic <br />facilities. <br />RPO-P3: Recognize the important functions <br />served by private and public open space, <br />designate and map public and private open <br />space of regional importance, and designate <br />open space corridors within and around urban <br />growth areas. <br />RPO-P4: Provide a land use designation for public and private open space of regional/statewide <br />significance. These areas are identified because their recreational, environmental, scenic, cultural, and other <br />open space benefits extend beyond the local area. <br />RPO-P5: Develop a program to identify and prioritize open space corridors and greenbelts within and <br />between urban growth areas that include lands useful for recreation, wildlife habitat, trails, and connection <br />of critical areas. <br /> Natural Environment <br />Kittitas County is blessed with an abundance of natural environments, ranging from shorelines and wetlands <br />to shrub steppe habitat and important migration routes. Natural features, such as floodplains or steep slopes <br />areas that are susceptible to landslides or erosion, also are considered as significant natural environments <br />that are important to protect as Kittitas County develops in the future. <br />Kittitas County protects its natural environments through a variety of plans and tools, ranging from an <br />ongoing effort to document and map critical areas to the adoption of plans such as the County’s Shoreline <br />Master Program and Critical Areas Ordinance, both of which are incorporated by reference into this <br />Comprehensive Plan. <br />Shoreline Master Program <br />A central planning and regulatory tool for the protection of shorelines is the County’s Shoreline Master <br />Program (SMP). The SMP implements the statewide Shoreline Management Act of 1971, Chapter 90.58 RCW.