Budget Cuts Trim Recreation Facilities SEATTLE, WA (KPLU) - Before you head out for that holiday camping trip, you might check to make sure your destination hasn't been stripped of outhouses and picnic tables. No, not by vandals. Blame the budget.

State lawmakers axed nearly half the money from the Department of Natural Resources's recreation program. So the agency plans to save more than half a million dollars by withdrawing services from several dozen campgrounds and picnic areas around the state.

DNR's Mark Mauren says that means fire rings, signs, picnic tables, even outhouses will be removed. The state land will still be open for public use. But campers and hikers will be expected to provide for their own needs and pack out their own waste. Parking lots will be closed to cars; you'll have to hike in and out.

The agency has focused the service reductions on lesser-used locations. Still, more than a dozen spots in Snohomish and Skagit Counties are either already shuttered, or they will be by the fall.

DNR officials say they hope to restore the facilities in future budget years.


DNR List of Reduced Service Sites


DNR Map of Reduced Service Sites


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