BILL REQ. #:  H-5026.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/09/10.   

     AN ACT Relating to implementing certain recommendations of the sustainable recreation work group; amending RCW 79.10.140 and 4.24.210; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that the members of the sustainable recreation work group created in chapter 195, Laws of 2008 volunteered numerous hours and dedicated considerable personal resources and knowledge to aid the legislature with the development of recommendations aimed at improving recreational opportunities on land managed by the department of natural resources. Their dedication and contributions deserve the respect and appreciation of everyone who enjoys recreating in Washington's great outdoor spaces.
     (2) The legislature further finds that the input and expertise of these volunteers, which was presented to the legislature in a final report dated December 2009, has created an invaluable document that deserves consideration by state policymakers both today and into the future.
     (3) It is the intent of this act to adopt certain policy recommendations developed by the sustainable recreation work group that are capable of being implemented in the near term and that may provide near-term benefits to sustainable recreation or additional information that may be used to improve recreational activities in Washington.

Sec. 2   RCW 79.10.140 and 2007 c 241 s 23 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department is authorized:
     (1)(a) To construct, operate, and maintain primitive outdoor recreation and conservation facilities on lands under its jurisdiction which are of primitive character when deemed necessary by the department to achieve maximum effective development of such lands and resources consistent with the purposes for which the lands are held. ((This))
     (b) The authority provided by this section shall be exercised only after review by the recreation and conservation funding board and determination by the recreation and conservation funding board that the department is the most appropriate agency to undertake such construction, operation, and maintenance. Such review is not required for campgrounds designated and prepared or approved by the department;
     (2) To acquire right-of-way and develop public access to lands under the jurisdiction of the department and suitable for public outdoor recreation and conservation purposes;
     (3) To receive and expend funds from federal and state outdoor recreation funding measures for the purposes of this section and RCW 79A.50.110;
     (4)(a) To assess use charges on individuals for the privilege of accessing certain specific improved, dedicated recreation sites identified by the department or assess an operation fee on individuals or organizations hosting specific events located on public lands. The department may only require use charges to access specific recreation sites if the department determines that the use charge revenue would be critical given the expenses required to maintain access to the site, the amount of public access pressure on the site is significant, or that the site is likely to otherwise be closed to public access due to lack of financial resources.
     (b) For any recreation site subject to an access use charge, the department must allow the use charge requirement to be satisfied by one of the following methods:
     (i) Purchase of a one-day only parking and access fee at trailheads, campgrounds, or other parking areas in the amount of five dollars;
     (ii) Purchase of an annual parking and access pass in the amount of twenty dollars; or
     (iii) Purchase of a one-night campsite fee for overnight camping at a designated camping facility, in the amount of ten dollars.
     (c) For any specific event located on public lands, the department must allow the operation fee requirement to be satisfied by the payment of a flat administrative fee set at two hundred dollars, plus the greater of either ten percent of entrance fees collected by the host or ten percent of the host's total commercial operations.
     (d) A violation of the use charge or operation fee requirements of this section is punishable as a natural resources infraction under chapter 7.84 RCW.
     (e) Except for annual parking and access passes, all revenues collected through use charges under this section must be reinvested by the department into the management of, and the provision of recreational opportunities at, the site where the use charge was collected.
     (f)(i) The department may allow a noncommercial organization to host an event on public lands without having to pay an otherwise required operation fee if the organization has recorded at least one thousand cumulative hours of recorded volunteer time with the department in the previous fiscal year. The department may allow each unit of one thousand recorded cumulative volunteer hours to entitle the organization to host one event without paying an operation fee.
     (ii) The department may allow any individual volunteering at least fifty hours with the department in any one fiscal year to receive one free annual parking and access pass.
     (g)(i) Any annual parking and access passes provided by the department must be available at the department's Olympia headquarters and at the department's regional offices.
     (ii) The department may enter into agreements with the department of fish and wildlife or the United States forest service to allow the department-issued annual parking and access pass to authorize the holder access to recreational lands managed by either agency.

Sec. 3   RCW 4.24.210 and 2006 c 212 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, any public or private landowners or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether designated resource, rural, or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who allow members of the public to use them for the purposes of outdoor recreation, which term includes, but is not limited to, the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood by private persons for their personal use without purchasing the firewood from the landowner, hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking, bicycling, skateboarding or other nonmotorized wheel-based activities, hanggliding, paragliding, rock climbing, the riding of horses or other animals, clam digging, pleasure driving of off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, and other vehicles, boating, nature study, winter or water sports, viewing or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or scientific sites, without charging a fee of any kind therefor, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to such users.
     (2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, any public or private landowner or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether rural or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who offer or allow such land to be used for purposes of a fish or wildlife cooperative project, or allow access to such land for cleanup of litter or other solid waste, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to any volunteer group or to any other users.
     (3) Any public or private landowner, or others in lawful possession and control of the land, may charge an administrative fee of up to twenty-five dollars for the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood from the land.
     (4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the liability of a landowner or others in lawful possession and control for injuries sustained to users by reason of a known dangerous artificial latent condition for which warning signs have not been conspicuously posted. A fixed anchor used in rock climbing and put in place by someone other than a landowner is not a known dangerous artificial latent condition and a landowner under subsection (1) of this section shall not be liable for unintentional injuries resulting from the condition or use of such an anchor. Nothing in RCW 4.24.200 and this section limits or expands in any way the doctrine of attractive nuisance. Usage by members of the public, volunteer groups, or other users is permissive and does not support any claim of adverse possession.
     (5) For purposes of this section, the following are not fees:
     (a) A license or permit issued for statewide use under the authority of chapter 79A.05 RCW or Title 77 RCW; ((and))
     (b) A use charge issued under the authority of RCW 79.10.140; and
     (c) A daily charge not to exceed twenty dollars per person, per day, for access to a publicly owned ORV sports park, as defined in RCW 46.09.020, or other public facility accessed by a highway, street, or nonhighway road for the purposes of off-road vehicle use.