Camano Island State Park became a functional park in 1949 after the South Camano
Grange successfully got the Department of Natural Resources to make property available for a park. Initial park improvements were
provided by 900 volunteers in one day, when they constructed a small picnic area still in existence today! Since then, this
134-acre park has constructed 3 miles of trails, 88 campsites and a popular 200 person group camp and amphitheater. With over
100 picnic sites, boat launch, fishing access and picnic shelters, more than 200,000 visitors a year visit this beautiful park.
Efforts are underway to develop a long-term management plan for Camano Island State Park.
Interested members of the public are invited to join us for identifying issues and concerns and exploring alternative approaches
to addressing issues. With our stakeholders help, we will prepare preliminary recommendations to address issues or suggest
alternative approaches. A final management plan will become our management tool for Camano Island State Park. This planning
process is State Park’s “Classification and Management Plan” or CAMP process, beginning with a public workshop on November 15th
and two additional public workshops concluding in about 8 months with the State Parks Commission adoption of the management plan.
Stage One – Identify issues and concerns
The purpose of this stage is to understand what is important to the park community, what to change or save in the state park. This helps get a sense of the range and type of issues that need to be considered through the planning process.
Stage Two – Exploring alternative approaches
At this stage, the planning team suggests potential alternative approaches to address the various issues and concerns raised by people in stage one. No preferred alternative is established; rather this is an opportunity to understand the range of possibilities.
Stage Three – Preparing preliminary recommendations
The best ideas from the alternative approaches developed in stage two are combined into a preliminary plan in this stage. The plan includes recommendations for use and development of land, changes to property boundaries and ways to address issues raised during the planning process. Another important document completed at this stage is the SEPA checklist that describes environmental impacts of the recommendations (available for public review upon request).
Stage Four – Preparing final recommendations
At stage four, final adjustments are made to recommendations and submitted to the seven-member Parks and Recreation Commission for approval. The public is encouraged to attend the Commission meeting and provide testimony or to provide written comment.
Provide comments
We are very interested in your thoughts and comments about this project. Please provide comments on this project by:
Project lead: Chris Parsons, AICP
E-mail: Camano.Island.Planning@parks.wa.gov
Phone: (360) 902-8616
Fax: (360) 586-0207
Mail: P.O. Box 42650, Olympia, WA 98504-2650