Wildfire season is here and impacting several parks, so make sure you’re in the know before you go. Before you head to a park, please check its page or head to our alerts page for closures, alerts and other important information to make sure you have a fun, safe and informed trip.
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“May These Gates Never Be Closed”
The inscription inside the east wall of the Peace Arch monument has a simple message: the highest goal between great nations should be perfect peace. This 67-foot-tall structure of concrete on a steel frame was financed and constructed under the direction of lawyer, financier, road builder and humanitarian Sam Hill.
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks) has begun using a new electronic bidding system for public works projects.
The launch of the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) Bonfire system marks the first phase in the agency’s larger plan to modernize and streamline procurement across all competitive applications.
OLYMPIA — Significant septic failures led to the closure of the cabins and other buildings in the beach area of Cama Beach State Park in February 2024.
Forest thinning will begin this fall
OLYMPIA – Oct. 12, 2022 – Washington State Parks will hold a virtual open house on an upcoming forest health project at Squilchuck State Park. The purpose of this meeting is to share updates about the project and answer questions.
The meeting will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 via Microsoft Teams. Attendees do not need to download Teams to join; they can use a web browser on a computer or mobile phone.
OLYMPIA — On July 1, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will transition to the statewide small works roster hosted by the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC).
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.
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 — Washington State Parks encourages members of the community to participate in the process of developing a new master plan for Blake Island Marine State Park.
State Parks is set to host its first community meeting to discuss the park and learn about the community’s hopes for its future on Sept. 18 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ballard Branch of the Seattle Public Library.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
BLAINE – The Nooksack Indian Tribe will welcome canoe families on July 23 at Birch Bay State Park for a stopover as they continue their 2025 canoe journey.
Several canoes will arrive at the beach and ask the host Tribe permission to come ashore. Canoe landings will occur throughout the day on the beach at Birch Bay by the Heron Center log building.
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.
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.
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.
"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
OLYMPIA — One of the most uniquely Washington ways to experience the beauty of the state is to explore it by bike.
So, charged by the Legislature to raise the profile of some of Washington’s most notable cycling routes, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has officially established the statewide Scenic Bikeways Program. This program involves participation from the public who will have the opportunity to nominate routes they think should become Scenic Bikeways.
OLYMPIA — The traditional lands of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, on the present-day beaches of Saltwater State Park, will welcome traditional canoe families on July 26.
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.
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.
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.