In 2015, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission updated its real estate policy to cover three primary areas:
- Providing appropriate opportunities for privately financed development of recreational facilities in existing developed state parks
- Leasing undeveloped surplus lands for revenue-generating purposes
- Transferring selected lands to other government of tribal jurisdictions
In 2016, the Commission completed a public process to select 4 pilot sites for privately financed development of recreational facilities with state parks. These sites are now known as Recreation Concession Areas (RCAs).