State Recreation & Conservation Office Grant Funding - Firearms?

I was recently doing some homework about grant funding for 2012 provided by the State Recreation & Conservation Office.  Of particular interest to me was funding provided for Salmon Recovery efforts.  In the process, I learned about some surprising if not disturbing projects that are currently being funded.  Topping the list for me of questionable spending was the category Firearms and Archery Range Recreation.  I'm not a firearms enthusiast but the issue for me was not so much whether firearms and archery qualify as bonafide "recreation" that merit state recreation funding but that the funding was going to private gun clubs.  If you don't belong to any of these clubs or pay a fee to them, you can't use their facilities.  I don't get it.  And consider how are State Parks are now being decimated. 

Following is the full list of funded projects:

Why in the world should the public provide grant funding to upgrade the Clubhouse of the Renton Fish and Game Club or any of these clubs for that matter?   For more detail on these projects and others, follow this link to Recreation and Conservation Office.

I did find that there is quite a lot of funding going directly and indirectly to salmon recovery as the following summary  list illustrates.

I believe that the roughly $540,000 grant awarded to purchase an easement for trails in the Icy Creek area came through the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.  Hopefully, such acquisition can be completed as this would be a significant asset to our community.

Comments

[Simon]

I thought this bill might be of interest to you.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2217&year=2011

They seem to trying to change the discover pass to cover all members of the household. I think its better than the current system which stopped people even buying a single pass. It stops short of a proper pass, like a national park pass. I don't like passes that have to be left in the vehicle, people break into your truck and steal it.

The discover pass help fund more than the state park.

I don't get the gun club funding either, but I also don't get tax funded county/city golf clubs either.

I don't like many things like that.

:)

[Craig]

I agree, hopefully this will provide an incentive for more people to buy a Discover Pass. However, I remain pessimistic that Discover Pass revenues will generate sufficient revenue over the next 5 years or so to prevent even more dramatic cuts to service in the months ahead.