Great Peninsula Conservancy was excited to partner with REI again this year to host this National Public Lands Day Stewardship Event. This took place on the Peninsula’s new 3,500-acre piece of public land – Kitsap County’s Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park! Great Peninsula Conservancy, REI, Kitsap County Parks, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, North Kitsap Trails…
Powerful Partnership Video with Puget Sound Energy
GPC is working with Puget Sound Energy and their Powerful Partnership Program to help involve more people in conservation. Check out the video below to hear Executive Director Sandra Staples-Bortner discuss our partnership at the beautiful new Curley Creek Tyner Preserve! We toured the creek at the end of August as part of our Walks &…
Growing in Nature
This summer Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC) piloted a new program called Bremerton Urban Roots, which created opportunities for young people in Bremerton to learn about the environment through hands-on service projects and outdoor environmental experiences. GPC partnered with the New Life Community Development Agency’s Living Life Leadership youth mentorship program, run by the incredible Karen…
Great Peninsula Conservancy acquires McLane Cove
Sometimes big things come in small packages. That’s the case with Great Peninsula Conservancy’s purchase last Friday of 2.5 acres on McLane Cove, a ‘pocket’ estuary near Grapeview. This small, skinny parcel has 1200 feet of undeveloped shoreline that is a nursery for young Chinook and other salmon. Young salmon slowly make their way to…
Development Fees Pay for Hood Canal Preserves
The forested “Dewatto Shoreline Preserve” encompasses 1,700 feet of high-bank waterfront, as well as streams and tidelands. Its beaches provide spawning area for surf smelt, a food source for salmon and halibut. The property borders state forest. At the north end of the canal, the “Bob and Melissa Olson Shoreline Preserve” spans 490 feet of shoreline…
Landowner Partners with Land Trust to Save Salmon
Press Release BREMERTON, WA The first time he saw the place he knew it was special. It was November 1994 and Steven Tyner was looking at real estate in South Kitsap for a family retreat. “The 30 acres was heavily wooded and the stream was thick with chum salmon in the midst of their spawning…
The Return of the Salmon
Every year in early November tens of thousands of chum salmon return through the recently restored estuary into Chico Creek to spawn. And hundreds of Kitsap residents return to the stream to view the remarkable event! This year the weather was cold but clear and the salmon were easily viewable from the creek. Great Peninsula…
Hitting the Hansville Greenway Trails with ‘Urban Trails’ Author Craig Romano
A walk through wooded, well maintained and (well-marked) trails bring hikers to a sturdy observation platform overlooking wetlands protected by Great Peninsula Conservancy in the heart of Hansville Greenway. Look closely for a beaver lodge, wood ducks and river otters. This is the perfect place to observe a watershed at work, feeding clean water to…
Exploring Davis Family Farm
Just in time for September harvest, GPC members toured a working farm protected by GPC! Visitors to the farm began their tour with a brief history lesson about the Davis Family from farmer Ken VanBuskirk , which included the opportunity to view old family photos that Ken had laid out for viewing. Senses were heightened…
Port Gamble Forest Campaign Nears Deadline
Press Release KINGSTON, WA Community efforts to Save the Port Gamble Forest (SavePG.org) is fast approaching the July 31, 2017 fundraising deadline. This multi-year campaign to purchase 3500 acres of forest as a public park will soon come to an end. To date, 1890 acres have been purchased (in 2014 and 2016). The campaign underway…