(1) Any lease of public lands with outdoor recreation potential authorized by the department shall be open and available to the public for compatible recreational use unless the department determines that the leased land should be closed in order to prevent damage to crops or other land cover, to improvements on the land, to the lessee, or to the general public or is necessary to avoid undue interference with carrying forward a departmental program. Any lessee may file an application with the department to close the leased land to any public use. The department shall cause written notice of the impending closure to be posted in a conspicuous place in the department's Olympia office, at the principal office of the institution administering the land, and in the office of the county auditor in which the land is located thirty days prior to the public hearing. This notice shall state the parcel or parcels involved and shall indicate the time and place of the public hearing. Upon a determination by the department that posting is not necessary, the lessee shall desist from posting. Upon a determination by the department that posting is necessary, the lessee shall post his or her leased premises so as to prohibit recreational uses thereon. In the event any such lands are so posted, it shall be unlawful for any person to hunt or fish, or for any person other than the lessee or his or her immediate family to use any such posted land for recreational purposes.

(2) The department may insert the provisions of subsection (1) of this section in all leases hereafter issued.

Effective date—1981 c 136: See RCW 72.09.900.