The effort to develop the Nisqually-Mashel state park has been delayed by the budget cuts facing Washington State Parks.

The agency has been working for a couple of years and gathering public input to create plans to develop the 1,230-acre property at the confluence of the Nisqually and Mashell rivers along Highway 7, across from Pack Forest.

But those efforts have stalled because of the state’s fiscal crisis.

In its 2009-11 operating budget, State Parks is taking a $52 million cut in general fund tax dollars. The current budget includes $100 million in general fund revenue. The Legislature hopes to fill the gap with revenue from a new $5 tab renewal donation program and fuel tax revenue associated with off-road and marine recreation uses

As the governor and the Legislature were working on a final budget, the parks commission had considered plans that included closing at least 13 parks.

“Because our commission has been focused on those budget issues, and because it seemed like a bad idea to talk about new parks at a time when existing parks were in danger of closing, staff decided not to take the Nisqually-Mashel plan to the commission for approval in the spring, as previously planned,” Nikki Fields, Puget Sound regional planner for State Parks, said in an e-mail.

“We are still working on finalizing the plans, though, and we expect to take them to the commission in the second part of the year, possibly in December,” she added.

The latest plans call for an investment of at least $10 million for hiking and horse trails, campgrounds and observation areas. The original plan called for some of the facilities to be completed by 2013, the 100th anniversary of the state parks department.

But not all the work has stopped.

While developing the park’s master plan and classification and management plan, Fields said staffers also have been working on a recommendation for an official park name.

She said they have come up with some recommendations, but wanted to get public input before passing along recommendations to the commission, which will make the final decision.

Because the park’s master plan calls for a focus on the cultural story of the area, particularly of the Nisqually Indian Tribe, Fields said the staff is considering some names in the Lushootseed language. Lushootseed is a Northwest Coast Salishan language spoken by more than a dozen small Puget Sound-area Salish tribes, including the Nisqually and Puyallup tribes. At this point, however, Fields said they don’t have translations for all the proposed names.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure

Naming a new park

Here are the names being considered by State Parks for a new state park at the confluence of the Mashel and Nisqually rivers:

 • Nisqually State Park

 • Leschi State Park

 • Confluence State Park

 • (Lushootseed name for “Renewal”) State Park

 • (Lushootseed name for “People Bridges”) State Park

 • (Lushootseed name for “The Three Waters”) State Park

To comment: Contact Nikki Fields, Puget Sound regional planner for Washington State Parks, by June 18 at Nikki.Fields@parks.wa.gov.