Boating Facilities Program Overview

The Marine Board's Boating Facilities Section: from surveying and permitting, to design and engineering services, our facilities staffers know the "ins and outs" of completing access projects that can withstand floods, droughts, and high use while helping protect the banks and habitats for fish and other wildlife -through design. The agency also provides funding for parking, restrooms (water and land-based), lighting, staging areas, pumpout and dump stations, and other designs to help meet the needs of the growing number of diverse boating uses.

Your Oregon State Marine Board - investing in boating access infrastructure to last generations

In 1962 the Marine Board's Boating Facilities Program was born due to the appropriation of federal gas tax dollars for facility construction.

In 1985, the Oregon Legislature directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to ensure marine fuel tax revenue returns to the Marine Board for boating programs. The Maintenance Assistance Program (MAP) was created in the same year to assist eligible facility owners with financial assistance to maintain basic boating services. The MAP program was created in response to reduced local government funding for operations and maintenance and the desire of the Marine Board to protect, preserve, and extend the useful life of facility grant projects.

The Marine Board is a funding mechanism (grants) for local, state, and federal waterway facility providers. The Marine Board does not own or operate any access facilities and instead, relies on willing partners to apply for grants to make needed improvements.

Boating Facility Grants are available to facility owners/operators of public boating access sites around the state to acquire, improve, and maintain boating facilities that serve recreational boaters. Typical boating improvements include launch ramps (for trailered motorized and hand-carried nonmotorized), boarding docks, parking lots, restrooms, temporary tie-up docks, and other services needed by boaters (pumpout/dump stations and floating restrooms). The facility owner/operators have a 25% funding match for Marine Board boating facility grants, which can come from administration or in-kind and cash contributions.

The Marine Board receives no money from the state General Fund or Lottery dollars. Agency revenues come from a mix of state and federal sources, all from user fees. State sources include registration fees and marine fuel taxes paid by owners of registered motorboats and sailboats 12 feet and longer. Other state revenue comes from Waterway Access Permit sales for owners/operators of non-motorized boats (kayaks, canoes, rafts, drift boats, catarafts, stand up paddleboards, including inflatable versions, and sailboats under 12 feet). Federal sources include grants from the US Coast Guard for boating safety programs and the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Clean Vessel Act funding for boat waste facilities, and short-term moorage.

The Boating Facilities Section creates a Six-Year plan based on feedback from recreational boaters and facility owners to identify boating needs. The plan is then used to help prioritize grant funding recommendations to the Marine Board. The 2024-2030 Six-Year Plan identified nearly $500 million in facility needs. To put this in perspective, the program receives roughly $13.1 million for the 2025-2027 biennium.