In 2023, Great Peninsula Conservancy began a partnership with the Nisqually Reach Nature Center to conduct Forage Fish Surveys on several GPC preserves on the Key Peninsula. Terence Lee, Science Director at Nisqually Reach manages this community science effort in the Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve and wanted to expand to a few GPC preserves that…
GPC Legacy Member Highlight: Marion Schoenbackler in memory of Janine Dolezel
Marion Schoenbackler (pictured left) joined GPC’s Legacy Society at the end of 2023 by including GPC as a beneficiary of her estate. Her membership is in honor and memory of her friend of 73 years, Janine Dolezel, who passed away at the end of 2021. Marion first learned about composting when she was eight years…
Birding at Point No Point Walk & Talk Recap
This November, participants gathered at Point No Point County Park to go birding with one of GPC’s staff members, Brendan McGarry. Brendan has been birding for thirty years and has previously worked as a field biologist and naturalist and was excited to share this passion with participants! The day started out foggy but eventually cleared…
Fall Land Labs at Grovers Creek Preserve
On several crisp fall mornings this November, eager students trudged through fallen leaves of big leaf maples to identify tree species at Grovers Creek Preserve. Under the towering evergreens of the GPC-managed preserve, they noticed the discrepancy in the number of species between plots just a few hundred feet apart. While one plot boasted five…
Celebrating Orca Recovery and Salmon Conservation
This October Great Peninsula Conservancy celebrated Orca Recovery Day with an Orcas and Salmon Walk & Talk at Curley Creek Tyner Preserve. Curley Creek sees an average of 2,500 fall chum returning to spawn every year and is also home to summer chum, coho, and coastal cutthroat trout. Visitors explored the preserve to learn about the…
The Stewardship Team is Hard at Work this Fall
GPC’s stewardship team has been hard at work this fall (as always!). Read on to see how they’ve been working to protect and improve GPC preserves: Marking Boundaries During a recent field day, GPC stewardship staff and AmeriCorps VISTA fellows learned why companies charge so much for performing land surveys! At GPC’s Rocky Creek Preserve…
Salamanders of Grovers Creek Preserve
One of the exciting things about Great Peninsula Conservancy’s environmental education program Land Labs is that our preserves are ideal classrooms! Land Labs regularly visits Grovers Creek Preserve and will be bringing local students there for fields trips this fall. While staff were visiting the preserve to prepare for the upcoming programing, they kept encountering…
Conservancy Circle and Legacy Society Luncheon at Sehmel Homestead Park
Great Peninsula Conservancy was excited to host a luncheon to celebrate our Conservancy Circle and Legacy Society members at Semel Homestead Park in Gig Harbor. The afternoon was a great opportunity for friends, old and new, to gather in support of their lasting impact on local conservation. Attendees heard from GPC staff leadership about exciting…
Benthic Sampling Walk & Talk Recap
This August Great Peninsula Conservancy hosted a community science event at Curley Creek Tyner Preserve. The Benthic Sampling Walk & Talk provided people with an opportunity to learn how benthic macroinvertebrates can be used to assess water quality on GPC preserves, as well as get their boots wet in Curley Creek! Benthic macroinvertebrates are invertebrate…
Restoration at Martha John Creek Preserve
Great Peninsula Conservancy is working closely with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) to convert two acres of pastureland to riparian habitat at our Martha John Creek Preserve. Because our hot dry summers are hard on seedling plants, part of the restoration project is an experiment to see if planting through heavy wood chip mulch…