The Parks headquarters Information Center is moving from its current location in Tumwater to the Department of Ecology building at 300 Desmond Drive SE in Lacey. Our customer service team is located at the front desk, just inside the main entrance.
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Cold weather scuba diving is popular in the Northwest, and our western Washington waters are among the premier places to dive in the country, says Mike Racine, a western Washington diving enthusiast. Undersea life in our region is vibrant and beautiful — a rarely seen scape of infinite wonder and mystery.
Join us as we celebrate the completion of the capital project to improve the Swale Canyon section of the Klickitat Trail.
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Parks Winter Recreation Program will temporarily close fourteen motorized Sno-parks for the 2024-25 winter season, due primarily to a roughly 25 percent reduction in funds available from snowmobile registrations to support the motorized part of the program.
Olympia — The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission welcomes the community to attend an open house on Feb. 27 to discuss ongoing planning for Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.
Step through the kitchen door of the Rothschild House and step back to the 1800’s. Located at the corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets in uptown Port Townsend, the Rothschild House is virtually unchanged from a hundred years ago.
Boaters should check project schedule before planning overnight trips
OLYMPIA – April 29, 2022 – Washington State Parks will begin contracted mooring buoy repair work in the San Juan Islands beginning Monday, May 2 and on the eastern Olympic Peninsula beginning Wednesday, June 1. The agency will repair 82 buoys that are currently unsatisfactory and unusable. The months-long maintenance project will service salvageable state-owned, public mooring buoys to ensure they are in top condition for boaters.
BLAINE – The Nooksack Indian Tribe will welcome canoe families today at Birch Bay State Park. The landing is a stopover on the Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey.
"Its grim black walls of basalt frown across a broken chain of linear lakes, some of them as wide as the coulee floor ….. potholes a hundred feet deep in rock, dry cataracts one hundred to four hundred feet high, and river bars one hundred to two hundred feet thick … under the present semiarid climate it lies naked of forest mantle, every detail of its form clearly displayed." -J Harlen Bretz, Geologist
Washington State Parks is conducting a public planning process to update the long-term boundary for Riverside State Park to include the property known as Glen Tana. This project adds over 1,000 acres just outside Spokane, expanding recreation opportunities and environmental protections in a high-demand, urban setting.
One of the foremost cultural and business ambassadors between the Northwest United States and Japan in the mid-1800s, MacDonald helped shaped the policies that opened relations between the two countries.
Join us Thursday, July 3rd, from 9AM-12PM to work on prepping picnic tables for installation. We will sand down the boards using circular and belt sanders, followed by cleaning and staining the boards. There are also a few orchard trees in the area that we can work on pruning as well.
OLYMPIA – Celebrate the new year with Washington State Parks during our annual First Day Hikes events on Jan. 1, 2025.
More than 30 state parks will host staff-led and self-guided hikes, snowshoe excursions, trail rides, polar plunges, scavenger hunts and more on New Year’s Day.
Embarking on a recreational journey for the first time can be exhilarating and scary. Whether you are joining the land of outdoor lovers to start a new hobby or improve your mental or physical health – the exploration process can be a bit challenging if you don’t know where to start. That is where Washington State Parks comes in!
SPOKANE — The community is invited to attend an open house to learn more about an upcoming forest thinning project in the 7-Mile area of Riverside State Park.
OLYMPIA – June 13, 2023 – Plan your next adventure along the Willapa Hills Trail and explore the brand-new multi-use Littell Bridge near the Adna Trailhead.
DES MOINES – The traditional lands of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe on the present-day beaches of Saltwater State Park will welcome traditional canoe families on July 29.
State Parks Clean Vessel Act Grant Program funds $700,000 in new pumpout and floating restroom projects
Recreational boat pumpout facilities expand across the state
OLYMPIA – April 5, 2022 – Recreational boaters in Washington waters will have an easier time disposing of vessel sewage, thanks to more than $700,000 in new federal pass-through grants for recreational boat pumpout and floating restroom projects.
Come join us at the Trautman Conservation Area in Nine Mile Falls to continue thinning overcrowded Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir Stands. Removing smaller trees will allow more space and nutrients for the mature trees to grow larger. We will be using handsaws and loppers, then dragging the trees to the trail to feed the wood chipper.
Come join us at the Trautman Conservation Area in Nine Mile Falls to continue thinning overcrowded Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir Stands. Removing smaller trees will allow more space and nutrients for the mature trees to grow larger. We will be using handsaws and loppers, then dragging the trees to the trail to feed the wood chipper.
OLYMPIA — Recreational boaters in Washington waters will have an easier time disposing of vessel sewage thanks to nearly $690,000 in new federal pass-through grants for recreational boat pumpout and floating restroom projects.
Awarded by the Washington State Parks Clean Vessel Act Grant Program (CVA), the grants focus on constructing or maintaining sewage disposal systems for recreational vessels, and supporting outreach programs that inform boaters about the location of these facilities.
Earn your Junior Ranger Badge!
Earn your Junior Ranger Badge!
Come join us at the Trautman Conservation Area in Nine Mile Falls to continue thinning overcrowded Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir Stands. Removing smaller trees will allow more space and nutrients for the mature trees to grow larger. We will be using handsaws and loppers, then dragging the trees to the trail to prepare for the woodchipper to come through later this Spring.
There are also some old barb wire fences on the property that should be removed with use of T-post pullers, and fencing pliers!
There are also some old barb wire fences on the property that should be removed with use of T-post pullers, and fencing pliers!
OLYMPIA – With daytime low tides returning and spring right around the corner, many of Washington’s clam and oyster beaches are now open or will soon reopen for recreational shellfish gathering.
State clam, mussel, and oyster harvesting seasons vary by beach. Regulations and season dates as well as shellfishing tips are available on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) website.