25 years ago this month, Governors Dan Evans and Mike Lowry announced the creation of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition and things sure have changed a lot since then!
Our founding members knew we needed a solution to funding Washington’s great outdoors, but it took a little while to sort out the details. Before the Coalition founded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, a state grant program for outdoor recreation and conservation, we thought we’d be taking the issue to the ballot.
Luckily, the Coalition quickly found a large number of bipartisan supporters in Olympia who were determined to create a long term solution in the state capital construction budget.
25 years later, our many Coalition members have helped more than double the original goal of $500 million for the outdoors, funding more than 1,200 projects that benefit every county in the state. Our work isn’t over, but we’re here for the long haul. Thank you so much for making all of this possible.
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