Thursday, October 1, 2026
Olympia Parks Planning and Maintenance Director Laura Keehan announced two major achievements for the city’s parks system, including statewide recognition for Grass Lake Nature Park Trail.
The project received the Washington State Recreation and Park Association’s 2026 Trail Award, Keehan said during the Olympia City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 28.
“This is quite an honor,” said Keehan of the award. “We continue to hear from our community members about how much they are enjoying this new trail and their ability to now recreate in Olympia’s second largest park.”
Located on Kaiser Road Northwest, the Grass Lake Nature trailhead now provides access to more than 1 mile of an accessible, shared-use trail.
The park’s features include a boardwalk that offers views of the site wetlands and public art installations repurposed from an old steel tank, creating elements intended to blend habitat access, scenic viewing and local culture.
Keehan also announced that the city is beginning the process of updating its Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan, a planning effort expected to take about 18 months.
The process will identify parks, arts and recreation needs and priorities for the 2028-2034 period. The city will use Engage Olympia as the online landing page for the planning process. More information is available here.
The announcements came as the city recognized the role of parks and recreation through its proclamation of Parks and Recreation Month in July.
During her presentation, Keehan said Olympia stewards 57 parks and nearly 25 miles of trails and organizes thousands of volunteer hours annually.
In 2025, Olympia’s four seasonal recreation brochures generated more than 10,000 registrations, while more than $17,000 in scholarship funding was awarded for recreation programs.
Council member Paul Berendt praised the city’s parks system, highlighting Grass Lake Watershed and Squaxin Park for their trails and opportunities for residents to enjoy the outdoors. He also mentioned the city’s dog parks at Ward Lake and Mud Bay, saying they are well-loved by the community.
The council’s proclamation recognized the role of parks, trails and recreation programs in supporting health, community connection, environmental stewardship and quality of life.
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BobJacobs
Congrats to our parks staff for their great work.
Bob Jacobs
Monday, August 3 Report this
Tanker1982
I will second Bob Jacob’s endorsement
Monday, August 3 Report this
jturlove
I’ll third Uncle Bobs sentiment - great work!!
Monday, August 3 Report this
notdeskandchairs
Apparently the State's Rec and Park Association failed to consider the junk on the site:
https://nextdoor.com/p/hK8cFzr2-9xZ?post=500459579&utm_source=email§ion=post_0&mar=true&ct=a5YIYIU85ZTuDK59HkLNyV-a3w1RPqcFpShDoeNvGLAu5XcWco8S2o2I5JeC8PTk&ec=9DzldwzBlFlTkCltRKyQOg%3D%3D&mobile_deeplink_data=eyJhY3Rpb24iOiAidmlld19wb3N0IiwgInBvc3QiOiA1MDA0NTk1Nzl9&link_source_user_id=1602096
Monday, August 3 Report this
KellyOReilly
Having hiked through the "before version" of this park, I was so impressed with the improvements made to Grass Lake park when I first saw them last year. This is now a beautiful park and I appreciate that so much of it is handicapped accessible. I appreciate all the hard work that parks employees and volunteers do to maintain Olympia's parks. I'm very grateful to be able to enjoy Squaxin Park and the other parks here in Olympia. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy these resources.
Monday, August 3 Report this
Snevets
Congratulations!
Tuesday, August 4 Report this
DudeGuyOly
I fourth Bob Jacob's endorsement
Wednesday, August 5 Report this