Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park

Location

Kitsap County

Date Conserved

2014-2017

Acreage

3,400

Property Type

Featured Projects, Open to the Public

Property Attributes

Forests, Recreational Trails, Shorelines, Streams, Wetlands/Ponds

What to Expect

The trail options are endless along the old service roads and recreational trails of this 3,400-acre park––a favorite of mountain bikers, trail runners, equestrians, and hikers. If it is water views you want, enjoy a quiet walk along the bluff trail overlooking Port Gamble Bay.

Address

28901 Highway 104
Kingston, WA 98346

[-122.58768017400, 47.84017327430]

All Properties Map

Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park protects one of the largest lowland forests remaining in west Puget Sound. This vast forested landscape provides important habitat for bears, salmon, birds, and other wildlife, protects the waters of beautiful Port Gamble Bay, and contains cherished open space cherished as a place for year-round outdoor recreation.

Thanks to a visionary conservation campaign, the spectacular forests and tidelands of this Kitsap County Park have become the backbone of a future regional land and water trail system. With conservation of the land completed, Great Peninsula Conservancy continues to remain active in stewardship efforts in the park, enhancing low impact trails and creating viewing areas overlooking the bay.

Project History

Great Peninsula Conservancy joined together with many community partners in 2011 to launch the visionary Kitsap Forest & Bay Project, to conserve 6,700 acres of forestland and 1.5 miles of shoreline surrounding Port Gamble Bay. This land has been cherished by native peoples for millenia, was once the hub of Puget Sound’s timber industry in Washington State. With the former lumber mill gone, the landowner (Pope Resources) provided the community a tremendous opportunity to conserve the land for all time, preserving the property’s rich ecosystems and the recreational appeal of its existing nature tails.

In 2014, the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project purchased 535 acres of forestland and 1.5 miles of shoreline on Port Gamble Bay as an addition to Kitsap County’s Park system. Since then, Great Peninsula Conservancy, REI, Kitsap County and hundreds of volunteers have removed invasive plants and unsightly garbage from the park, planted native trees, and re-routed a quarter mile of trail around a wetland.

In 2016, the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project, working in partnership with Washington Department of Ecology, added 1356 acres to the park. In 2017, the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project purchased a final 1504 acres of forestland from Pope Resources to expand Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park to a total of 3,400 acres. For these final two purchases, the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project negotiated with Pope Resources to buy the land at a highly discounted price of approx. $2,500 an acre, with the stipulation that the company would be able to harvest trees on this land one last time over the next 25 years. After the company harvests stands of monoculture Douglas fir, it will replant with a diverse mix of native conifers.

This is an incredible victory for conservation, and will ensure that this land continues to provide benefits both as wildlife habitat and for outdoor recreation for generations to come.

Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park