Fundraising fills grooming budget shortfall for Mount Spokane State Park

An expected budget shortfall for snow grooming operations at Mount Spokane State Park has been solved thanks to fundraising efforts by local wintersports enthusiasts.

Rex Schultz, a spokesman for Washington State Parks, said the state’s largest park expected to be short by a little more than $7,000 this winter in its budget for grooming its Nordic ski and snowmobile trails this season.

The grooming program is funded by the sales of sno-park passes, which are required to park at a number of lots at popular winter recreation areas across the state.

Last year’s paltry winter led to a reduction in pass sales, Schultz said, prompting the shortfall. Park officials were considering reducing a motorized trail grooming position from full time to part time to make up for it.

That would have meant just three days a week of grooming on the motorized trails instead of the regular five. But the crisis has been averted.

Schultz said the agency asked for help from the Spokane Nordic Association and the Spokane Winter Knights to raise money for grooming, and it worked.

The Nordic Association in particular made a big push for Giving Tuesday this week to raise money for the effort. In a Facebook post, the group said it met its goal of $5,000 by noon that day.

Schultz said the fundraising efforts produced enough money to allow the agency’s grooming staff to work on the trails five nights a week this winter, preparing them for skiers and riders for the next morning. Visitors can expect to find freshly groomed trails Thursday to Monday each week.

A reduction in sno-park pass sales isn’t the only budget problem that state parks has dealt with this year. Earlier this fall, the agency announced that it was closing 14 of its sno-parks statewide because of a long-term reduction in snowmobile registrations.

In Eastern Washington, the shortfall prompted the closure of the Ninebark and Cloverland sno-parks.