WSPF and Friends Groups Thank Governor Inslee

February 17, 2015

Governor Jay Inslee
Office of the Governor P.O. Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Dear Governor Inslee:

On behalf of the Washington State Parks Foundation and State Park Friends Groups and Foundations across the state, we wish to thank you for the generous support of state parks in your proposed 2015-17 budget. We are grateful that your proposed capital budget for state parks funds nearly 90 percent of the Commission’s request. We also appreciate that your operating budget would reduce the decline of the state parks system and sends an important message to the legislature that state parks are a priority.

We understand that Washington’s recovery from the recession and obligations to fund basic education have created extreme challenges in funding a range of important programs and services. At the same time, state parks has done its best to reduce the need for public funding by transitioning to a predominately user-fee based system through camping fees, the Discover Pass and other earned revenue.

We appreciate that you realize how critical the remaining public fund support is to state parks in achieving your goal of a healthy and sustainable park system. As you know, our biggest challenges to realizing this vision are operating budget investments. Thank you for offering an operating budget that brings us within sight of our goal, and for recognizing that one of the nation’s most spectacular park systems should have the type of support that the public wants, expects and deserves.

Sincerely,

John Floberg
Executive Director
Washington State Parks Foundation