OLYMPIA – The North Olympic Peninsula made out like, well, a bandit in the 2007 distribution of state funds for recreation and protection of wildlife and farmland.

Jefferson County scored a whopping $83 per resident in grants from a variety of state programs administered by the Interagency Commission on Recreation.

That’s more than five times the state average of about $16 per person and nine times the $9 per person received in King County, the state’s most populous county.

Clallam County received about $33 per resident, more than double the state average and more than three times received per person in King County.

The statistics are drawn from the interagency committee and from the Washington Office of Financial Management.