July 20, 2009

Dear friends and neighbors,

During the 2009 legislative session majority party leaders crafted a nearly $35 billion state operating budget that was balanced by raiding numerous pots of money, including an important one to trail users -- the Nonhighway and Off-Road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) account.

In lieu of receiving a fuel-tax refund, ORV users asked the Legislature in 1973 to put the money into this special NOVA account.

NOVA has been a great program for every type of trail user, including ORV'ers, mountain bikers, hikers and backcountry horsemen. More than $76 million has been provided through NOVA for over 1,000 projects throughout Washington. Grant recipients have also voluntarily contributed more than $27 million in matching resources.

During the legislative session, the Democrat operating budget completely drained the NOVA account for the next two years, putting trail maintenance and access in jeopardy.

My family and I are avid trail users and ORV recreationalists. I understand how important this fund is to the many people who enjoy the back trails of Washington. Raiding of NOVA money is one of the many reasons why I voted against the operating budget.

This week's article addresses the NOVA raid and the impact it may have for trail users in Washington.

As always, I welcome your comments. Please click here to contact my office through our e-mail service.

It is an honor to serve you.

Sincerely,

Dan Kristiansen
State Representative
39th Legislative District

P.S. - When e-mailing me, please do not hit reply to this e-mail as I will not receive the response. Instead, I invite you to click here and e-mail me. Thank you!

Trails, recreational areas in jeopardy from NOVA raid
by Rep. Dan Kristiansen

I recently received an e-mail from Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark entitled, "Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to reduce services at many recreation areas." The commissioner's note discussed budget impacts to 143 DNR-managed recreational facilities and more than 1,000 miles of Washington's trails.

"As a result of budget cuts, including loss of NOVA funding, DNR's Recreation Program was reduced by nearly 50 percent. We have been forced to reduce services to many of our designated recreational facilities," he wrote.

A significant portion of trail maintenance funds came from NOVA -- the Nonhighway and Off-Road Vehicle Activities account. NOVA was created by off-road vehicle (ORV) users to provide grants to develop, maintain and manage trails and nonhighway road systems. A fuel-use study estimated 4.6 percent of the state fuel tax was generated by ORV use. In lieu of receiving a fuel-tax refund, ORV users asked the Legislature in 1973 to put the money into this special account.

This year, for the first time since NOVA's inception, majority party leaders in the Legislature raided the account, using the entire $9.56 million anticipated for the next two years, to help balance the state's operating budget.

Trail-user groups are steamed, and rightfully so, because they voluntarily waived their rights to a fuel-tax refund so they could benefit statewide from this dedicated funding program. They had even recently asked the Legislature to double ORV permit fees to supplement the fund. Now that account will remain empty until the next biennium.

Where did the money go?

The Democrat operating budget (House Bill 1244) re-appropriates the NOVA funds "to the state Parks and Recreation Commission for maintenance and operation of parks and to improve accessibility for boaters and off-road vehicle users."

Keeping state parks open was a high priority for me during the legislative session. However, we had better options than raiding NOVA. For example, the capital budget contained more than $80 million to purchase land for new parks. I questioned why the state was buying land for new parks when it couldn't afford to maintain existing ones.  I supported an amendment that would have transferred $25 million from park acquisition into state parks maintenance and operations. This amendment could have prevented the NOVA raid. Unfortunately, it failed. This is one of the many reasons why I voted against the operating budget. 

Now, we are seeing the consequences, as evidenced in Goldmark's e-mail. An Eastern Washington newspaper reported "many of the state's trail systems may be lost to underbrush, overuse and, eventually, a chaos of downed trees." An Everett newspaper added, "People can still use trails, park in parking lots and stay in campgrounds, but they should expect to find no toilets, picnic tables, signs or garbage service at many campgrounds."

The state Parks and Recreation Commission now has authority over these funds. If we are to prevent erosion and disrepair of trails and recreational facilities, the commission must be made aware and held accountable. If you have concerns, let the commissioners know. They are meeting Aug. 6 in Pasco, Oct. 1 in Spokane, and Dec. 3 in Centralia.

For more information, go to: http://www.parks.wa.gov/agency/commissionmeetings or write them at:

Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
1111 Israel Road S.W.
Olympia, WA 98504-2650

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EDITOR'S NOTE: State Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, represents the 39th Legislative District, and also serves as chairman of the Washington House Republican Caucus. He can be contacted at (360) 786-7967 or from his Web site at: www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/Kristiansen.