Our first planning meeting on April 8th to determine the future of the Divide Community Forest was a big success! Community members and GPC staff gathered at the Village Green Community Center in Kingston, WA to explore possibilities together. The session began with GPC staff introducing the concept of Community Forests and highlighting the diverse opportunities these spaces offer local communities. We then participated in interactive activities to define what “community” means in this context and develop our shared understanding of what makes a Community Forest.
Community members then worked together to brainstorm a list of objectives and associated community benefits for the Divide Community Forest, focusing both on practical goals and meaningful outcomes. Together, we organized all our ideas around three core pillars for the Divide Community Forest: Conservation, Stewardship, and Public Engagement. Our community came up with 15 conservation objectives and 13 associated benefits, 67 stewardship objectives and 46 associated benefits, as well as 57 public engagement objectives and 39 associated benefits. We’ve visualized the distribution of these themes in the pie charts included in this summary, giving us a clear picture of where our collective priorities lie.
Join us on Tuesday April 22nd and Tuesday May 6th to be involved and bring the voice of your community to the future management and use of the Divide Community Forest! Visit our events page to see all upcoming meetings and tours at The Divide.
Check out the pie charts below, as well as some representative input from our community members.
Conservation:
- Objectives
- Divide creates a continuous “habitat corridor” from Hood Canal to Puget Sound across N.Kitsap (i.e. Port Gamble Forest Park, Divide, Grovers Creek, NKHP, etc).
- Expand connectivity of nature to change these small parcels to a very large connected habitat which will support even apex predators.
- Community Benefits
- A healthier forest that will endure for future generations.
Stewardship:
- Objectives
- Implement traditional Indigenous resource management practices.
- Create a forest with diversity by selective thinning and replanting native species.
- Restoration and regeneration aimed at increasing resiliency and health of the forest.
- Community Benefits
- Enhances long-term sustainability for future generations.
- [Utilize selective logging practices to] pay for maintenance and provide material for selected uses i.e. artists, woodworkers.
- Community is larger than just humans. Provide higher quality habitat for wildlife, native plants.
Public Engagement:
- Objectives
- An advisory board that is open-minded to listening to the community wants and needs.
- Create meaningful environmental education projects on how the Divide CF plays a role in creating a linear habitat corridor from Hood Canal to Puget Sound.
- Grow network of trails for community access.
- Community Benefits
- Inspire the next generation of stewards. Parks and forests are for everyone.
- Improve public understanding on how important continuous habitat corridors are for wildlife and plants.
