WDFW Habitat and Recreation Lands: RCO Eligibility Plan 2010-2016

This document is a summary of relevant plans and information that qualify the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to participate in all Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) grant programs that have a planning requirement. These grant programs include:

1. BFP - Boating Facilities Program
2. LWCF - Land and Water Conservation Fund
3. NOVA - Non-highway roads, non-motorized, and off-road vehicles categories
4. WWRP Habitat Conservation - Critical Habitat, Natural Areas, State Lands Restoration, and Urban Wildlife Habitat categories
5. WWRP Outdoor Recreation - Local Parks, State Lands Development, State Parks, Trails, and Water Access categories
6. WWRP Riparian Protection category

WDFW is currently engaged in a conservation priority-setting process using the various plans and data listed in the Needs Analysis section of this document. The process, called Ecosystem Conservation Priorities (ECP), will pull together conservation actions for species and habitats of concern with a map of priority landscapes where WDFW will focus its conservation efforts for the next six years. The ECP will include:

• Spatially-enabled strategies and actions for all programs/statewide
• Action priorities based on conservation principles adopted by the agency
• Work plan format that identifies staff roles and responsibilities and external partner opportunities
• Agency budget expenditures tied to priority actions
• Communication strategy - internal and external
• Current strategies and actions compiled by June 2011

The ECP will allow a major revision of our RCO grant eligibility plan in 2012. This 2010 RCO eligibility plan is organized into sections corresponding to the six elements required for RCO certification. To simplify the narrative portion of this plan, much of the descriptive information is cited with web links and/or attached as appendices.