Announcements
SAVE the DATE!
RCO will be hosting its 2024 Successful Applicant Webinar on September 10 from 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. This free webinar is designed to help applicants with the implementation phase of the funded project. There will be sessions on grant agreement terms, reporting requirements, project changes, ongoing obligations, project closeout, accessibility requirements, and more.
Typical Projects
- Renovating boat launches
- Adding guest moorage facilities
- Building parking, restrooms, and other boating amenities
Who May Apply?
- Local agencies
- Park and recreation districts
- Public utility districts
- Port districts
- Native American Tribes
- State agencies
The above entities must be authorized legally to develop, operate, and maintain recreational facilities.
Planning Requirement
To apply for this funding, grant applicants must have completed a comprehensive recreation or conservation plan. See details on the planning page and in Manual 2: Planning Guidelines.
Funding
Funding is awarded every two years and comes from a portion of the gasoline tax paid by boaters.
Grant Limits
| Project Type | Grant Limit |
| Acquisition | $1 million |
| Development | $1 million |
| Combination of acquisition and planning OR acquisition and development | $1 million |
| Planning (architecture, engineering, environmental review, permitting) | The lesser of $200,000 or 20 percent of the estimated construction cost for a development or combined acquisition and development project. |
Administrative Costs
| Project Type | Administrative Costs Allowed |
| Acquisition | 5 percent of the total acquisition costs |
| Development and renovation | Architecture and engineering costs are limited to 20 percent of the total development project cost. |
Match Details
Match may include the following:
- Applicant’s labor, equipment, and materials
- Appropriations or cash
- Bonds
- Conservation futures
- Corrections labor
- Donations of cash, land, labor, equipment, and materials
- Federal, state, local, and private grants
Local agencies and special purpose districts must provide 25 percent match for each project, and at least 10 percent of the total project cost must be from a non-state, non-federal contribution.
State applicants do not need to provide match.
Tribes need to provide 25 percent match.
| Eligible Projects | Ineligible Projects |
| Acquisition | Any facility for leased, exclusive use, or long-term moorage |
| Development | Any facility primarily for commercial use or commercial vessels |
| Dredging, including both capital construction and periodic activities to remove materials deposited due to unforeseen events; dredging must extend facility usefulness for at least five years. (Revised Code of Washington 79A.25.080) | Maintenance dredging |
| Moorage floats, fixed docks, and buoys for guest boaters | Concessionaire buildings or space |
| Parking and staging areas | Fuel sales equipment including piping, fuel pumps, and storage tanks |
| Permits | Master plans or feasibility studies |
| Planning | Mobile vessel transporters |
| Ramps and fixed hoists for launching, loading floats | Projects on waters prohibiting gas-powered motors |
| Renovation | Project primarily for non-gas powered boats, such as canoes, kayaks, or diesel-powered craft |
| Sewage pump-out stations and porta-potty dump stations | |
| Support facilities upland, such as restrooms, showers, and picnic facilities used exclusively or primarily by guest recreational boaters |
Long-term Commitment
Property acquired, developed, or renovated with these boating grants must be kept for public outdoor recreation use forever. More information is in Manual 7: Long-term Obligations.