Proviso would direct $100,000 to trail weeds

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Mar 16, 20160

A supplemental budget proviso is being considered by the state legislature regarding weeds along the John Wayne Trail.

The proposal, put forth by Ninth District State Senator Mark Schoesler, would direct Washington State Parks to spend $100,000 of their existing budget (from agency earned revenue) to use for weed control along the trail.

The proviso would be in effect through the current biennium which ends in June 2017.

“They have not done their due diligence,” said Schoesler. “What everybody can agree on is this – that they should practice weed control like everybody else. Going by in some places with random acts of kindness doesn’t control noxious weeds.”

Plans for what specifically may be done with the added money are not set.

“I really can’t say,” said Virginia Painter, spokesperson for Washington State Parks. “I don’t know where we have assessed what we’d be able to do with that.”

State Parks already spends money on weed control on the trail, paying $27,000 for a spraying contract in fiscal 2015 and $38,000 the year before.

“It’s an ongoing activity,” Painter said.

“Their record is inconsistent,” said Schoesler. “Their records are so bad they wouldn’t survive an audit by the Department of Agriculture.”

In general terms, the State Parks’ funding has risen since the 2011-13 biennium, a low point for its operating budget, following the national financial crisis.

Weed control has long been a subject of contention for private landowners along the almost cross-state John Wayne Trail, most of it a former railbed.

“Obviously, we will be doing more,” said Painter. “More needs to be done, too.”

Over the winter, State Parks began working with a 12-member advisory committee to produce a plan to address management and recreational use issues on a 135-mile section of the trail, which had been slated for closure last September in a nullified budget. Maintenance issues, including noxious weeds, were cited as reasons for closing down the trail.

The legislature is now in special session with the state budget on the agenda. Depending on what is ultimately approved, Schoesler’s current weeds-proviso may or may not go through.

“The ball has always been in the court of the Ninth legislative district,” said Ted Blaszak, president of the Tekoa Trestle and Trail Association. “For 35 years they’ve been telling the Parks not to spend money on the trail. There’s no question that this allocation is a true reversal of a state policy.”

From 2012-15, Washington State Parks increased its earned revenue by 16 percent.

The 2015-17 State Parks general operations budget is $138 million.