BILL REQ. #:  S-2377.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/28/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to wildlife-related recreational access; amending RCW 77.12.320 and 4.24.210; adding a new section to chapter 77.32 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 77.12.320 and 2001 c 253 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The commission may make agreements with persons, political subdivisions of this state, or the United States or its agencies or instrumentalities, regarding fish, shellfish, and wildlife-oriented recreation and the propagation, protection, conservation, and control of fish, shellfish, and wildlife.
     (2) The director may make written agreements with the owners or lessees of real or personal property to provide for the use of the property for fish, shellfish, and wildlife-oriented recreation.
     (a) The department may furnish materials, funds, or labor under these agreements.
     (b) The director may adopt rules governing the conduct of persons in or on the real property.
     (3) The director may accept compensation for fish, shellfish, and wildlife losses or gifts or grants of personal property for use by the department.

Sec. 2   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 who contract with the state to provide fish and wildlife-related recreational access, 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 authority of chapter 79A.05 RCW or Title 77 RCW; and
     (b) 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.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 77.32 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) To fund the management of recreational access and habitat enhancement agreements as authorized in RCW 77.12.320, a surcharge is applied as follows:
     (a) Five dollars for residents and twenty-five dollars for nonresidents, for all big game licenses;
     (b) Five dollars for residents and twenty-five dollars for nonresidents, for all small game licenses not purchased with a big game license;
     (c) Five dollars for the three-day nonresident small game license.
     (2) All revenue derived from this surcharge must be deposited in the state wildlife account and must be used only for the management and implementation of wildlife recreational access and habitat enhancement agreements authorized in RCW 77.12.320. Administrative costs charged to this program may not exceed ten percent of annual expenditures.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The department of fish and wildlife shall develop legislative options to increase access for nonconsumptive users to department-owned and leased lands. The options must include a discussion of the cost of providing/acquiring access for this class of user and an equitable fee structure or other user-based revenue stream to support the additional access, if necessary. The department of fish and wildlife shall submit the legislative options to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature by November 1, 2007.