Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun
“CENTRAL KITSAP — Three-year-old Jada Wong had her boots on, even if she needed a little assistance on the hike to the middle of a forested area north of the Newberry Hill Heritage Park. As she stood with her mother, Lisa, of East Bremerton, the two were part of an effort on Friday to remove invasive plants in a newly protected community forest that is intended to remain natural and usable when Jada is old enough to pull Scotch broom herself.
The Wongs were two of the 10 or so volunteers at a Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC) event, joining GPC members and Navy personnel to remove invasive plants in a community forest purchased for $3.5 million and intended for future public access.
“I’m really excited to be able to help with conservation and to teach her (Jada) that volunteering to take care of Earth is important,” said Lisa Wong, whose husband works as a contractor for the Navy in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and decided to join the Earth Day Stewardship event with GPC after seeing an Instagram post.
The Newberry Woods Community Forest is located to the north of county-owned Newberry Hill Heritage Park west of Silverdale, and about two miles from Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, the homeport for eight of the country’s 14 Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines, some guided-missile submarines and Seawolf-class subs.
GPC’s land purchase in October 2022 prevents the forest from future development and allows public access to the land, and it couldn’t have done so without an assist from the Navy.”