PACIFIC COUNTY — The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office doused three outdoors-minded projects on the north end of the county with cash, it was announced earlier this month.

The trio of projects were awarded just shy of $1.2 million combined from the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board, which awarded more than $148 million to 242 projects statewide that are aimed at building and improving parks and trails, conserving critical wildlife habitat, and maintaining land for farming and forestry.

The board had received 411 applications in total during this most recent funding period, with requests topping $266 million. In a news release announcing the funding, RCO cited an economic analysis from 2020 that estimated outdoor recreation supports more than 6% of all jobs in Washington.

“These grants are critical to keeping Washington a premiere destination for outdoor adventure as well as a great place for Washingtonians to live,” said Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office, which supports the funding board. “These grants are key to building great communities. The grants help communities light ball fields, make parks accessible to people with disabilities, connect gaps in trail systems, refurbish pools and resurface pickleball courts.”

The Dr. O.R. Nevitt Memorial Pool in Raymond is one such pool that is being supported with state funding. The city of Raymond will receive $391,500 for an initial phase of renovations to modernize the pool, which first opened in 1955. The city took over day-to-day operations and maintenance of the pool in 2024 from People Organized to Operate Leisure, or POOL, a nonprofit that got the pool back up and running in 2002 after it had sat dormant for more than 20 years.

Work will include installing a new pool liner — the interior surface of the pool — with new lane lines to allow for more athletic use of the facility, as well as the addition of a new kiddie slide; currently, the only slide is located on the deeper end of the pool.

Raymond will also receive $317,250 to remove its worn-out skatepark from the parking lot at the 8th Street Park and build a pump track — a continuous paved loop of rollers and berms designed for cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading and scootering. The track will be built on the same side of the road as the softball field, courts and playground, and lighting will also be installed around the park.

The last project receiving major funding in the county is the repair of bridge 43 on the Willapa Hills State Park Trail, which runs 56 miles between South Bend and Chehalis and is used by hikers, cyclists and equestrians. The bridge in question is located near Menlo, and is part of a larger effort to improve safety and visitor experience by adapting the bridges along the trail from rail to recreational use.

Washington State Parks is receiving $488,500 to repair the bridge, which will include removing rotten wood decking and railroad ties, and installing new decking, safety rails and traffic bollards. Rotten and warped wood on the abutment wall will also be replaced.

Finally, in south county, the Washington Trails Association has been awarded $10,000 to perform trail maintenance at Cape Disappointment State Park as part of a larger, 13-countywide effort for 3,500 volunteers to perform more than 24,000 hours of maintenance on 235 miles of backcountry trails. Common maintenance work will include removing overgrown brush and downed trees, repairing trail surfaces and rerouting small sections of trail.