Land_Trust BI - Land Trust 2014

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND LAND TRUST

25 ANNIVERSARY th

WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT THE ISLAND’S NATURAL RESOURCES A SUPPLEMENT OF THE BAINBRIDGE ISLAND REVIEW

PAGE 2

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE BAINBRIDGE REVIEW

Publisher Advertising Director Editor Writers Production Advertising Photography

Lori Maxim Donna Etchey Brian Kelly Luciano Marano & Cecilia Garza Bryon Kempf Marleen Martínez Paul Brians, Thomas Schworer, Thomas Fenwick, BI Land Trust

ON THE COVER: Gazzam Trail; Paul Brians photo.

911 Hildebrand Lane NE, 202 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206.842.6613 206.842.5867 (fax) www.bainbridgereview.com

JULY 25, 2014

Picnic at the Hilltop meadow The Bainbridge Island Land Trust will host a community picnic to celebrate 25 years of land conservation later this summer.

The picnic is planned for 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10 in the meadow at Hilltop.

There will be live music, and cake and beverPhoto courtesy of Bainbridge Island Land Trust ages will be provided.

Bring your own picnic to this family-friendly event. Please no alcohol, no smoking. Dogs on leash only.

The event will be held weather permitting, and will be canceled in case of rain.

Go to bi-landtrust.org for walking and parking directions.

Eileen Black Thank you Bainbridge Island Trust for 25 years of success. The Island will always be a better place because of you!

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JULY 25, 2014

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

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Bainbridge Island Land Trust celebrates 25 years of conservation

BY LUCIANO MARANO BAINBRIDGE ISLAND REVIEW

B

ainbridge Island has a bountiful history.

From its earlier days spent as the location of wintertime and hunting villages of the Suquamish people to its eventual cornerstone status in the regional timber industry, this island has always supplied the people who live here with ample natural gifts.

Today, the island’s 65.02 square miles is home to a total population of approximately 23,000 (as of 2010) residents. It is the second largest city in Kitsap County.

According to Wikipedia.org, “Since the 1960s, Bainbridge Island has become an increasingly affluent bedroom community of Seattle, a 35-minute ride away on the Washington State Ferries. The community has been especially concerned with preserving green space and keeping a tight control over development, both residential and commercial. The Bainbridge Island Land Trust, city and park district are instrumental in maintaining island open space.”

Now, not everything you read on the internet is true, but that last part happens to be abso-

lutely correct. rom a Bainbridge Island Land Trust “Statement of Purpose,” circa 1989: “The Bainbridge Island Land Trust believes that as transient occupants of the natural environment, we are responsible for the stewardship of the land. To ensure this, we believe that an effort to preserve our environment must be established and sustained over generations.”

Today, that statement of purpose seems well in hand as the group’s approximately 650 members proudly reflect on the organization’s first 25 years — and the more than 1,275 acres they have helped to protect, which include vulnerable forestlands, wetlands, meadows, shorelines, agricultural lands, riparian corridors and scenic vistas, of which more than 950 acres are open to the public. The land trust has also created 47 conservation easements (permanent land protection agreements on 42 private and five publicly owned properties) that encompass 708 acres, with an additional 80 acres owned by the land trust outright. Another 465 acres have been preserved as public parks and natural areas through the nonprofit’s acquisition efforts or with land trust assistance.

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SEE LAND TRUST, PAGE 7

Thomas Schworer photo

The sunlight streams through the forest canopy onto Issei Creek. The Bainbridge Island Land Trust acquired the nearby Hilltop property — the land that feeds Issei Creek — after a successful $3.6 million fundraising campaign.

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

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JULY 25, 2014

Pa s

Port Madison

Ag at e

Began discussions in 1989 with the Department of Natural Resources regarding the purchase of what would become the Grand Forest.

Pt Monroe Lagoon

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1990

s

First two private Conservation Easements finished — on the former Willowbrook Farm (now known as Rustica Island Farm, at the corner of Day Road and Highway 305) and the Battle Point Spit.

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B on

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Hidden Cove Road

Hidden Cove

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elp

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Day Road

Day Road

Manzanita Bay

Rolling Bay Ted Olsen Park

Puget Sound

Koura Road

Port Orchard Bay

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Tolo Road

Murden Cove

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Fletcher Bay (Lagoon)

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New Brooklyn Road

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Grand Forest bond levy passed by voters: BILT helped bring parties together; Park District takes ownership; 240 acres preserved.

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Battlepoint Drive

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Strawberry Hill Park

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1991

Parkland Circa 1990

SR

Bainbridge Island Land Trust (BILT) is formed.

Initial Board of Directors: Nate Thomas, president; Jim Cutler, vice president; Paul Kundtz, secretary; Larry Luce, treasurer.

Since then the Land Trust has worked with private landowners to protect their land with conservation easements (permanent land protection agreements).

1989

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1989

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FROM THE GRASSROOTS UP: A HISTORY OF SUCCESS

High School Road

Rotary Field

Fletch er Bay Road

1992

Waterfront Park

Eagle Harbor Blakely

Photo courtesy of Bainbridge Island Land Trust

Phyllis Young, the first person to step up and do a conservation easement, stands with then board member Laurie Usher on Battlepoint Spit.

New Sweden Road

Avenue

Meigs Park, 67 acres, purchased and transferred to the Park District.

Work begins on the acquisition of Gazzam Lake Preserve..

Wyatt Way

Baker Hill Road

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SJM, 10/ 20/03

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Bainbridge Island Park District City of Winslow Kitsap County

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Fort Ward Hill Road

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Gazzam Lake Preserve acquisition completed and transferred to the Park District with a Conservation Easement; 321 acres Fifteen Conservation Easements completed by this date

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1995

Blakely Harbor

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Washington State, Parks

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Meigs Park Thomas Schworer photo

Gazzam Lake Paul Brians photo

1996

1997

1999

2000

Wildlife Corridor, 20 acres, is purchased and connects Meigs Park to the Grand Forest.

Fundraising starts for Blakely Harbor Park.

The 20-acre Blakely Harbor Park project is completed; Park District takes ownership along with an additional 18 acres acquired by BILT.

31 Conservation Easements have been completed by this date; city of Bainbridge Island Open Space Bond passes.

Path to Blakely Harbor Park.

Paul Brians photo

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

JULY 25, 2014

PAGE 5

A TIMELINE OF THE BAINBRIDGE ISLAND LAND TRUST

2007

Bainbridge Island Conservation Lands

BILT helps purchase 5 acres to be added to the Ted Olson Preserve and transferred to the Park District with a Conservation Easement.

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - January 2014 Map by BILT

Bainbridge Island Land Trust Purchasing Bainbridge Island Land Trust Easement Bainbridge Island Land Trust Fee Ownership Private Preserve

2010 Powel Shoreline Restoration project begins with the design phase.

City-owned Open Space Tract Other Easement

Day Road E

Sunrise Drive

Bainbridge Island Park District Easement Bainbridge Island Park District Park Athletic/Ball Field Sites

2006

Lovgren Road

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North Madison Avenue NE

05

BILT raises $500,000 toward the purchase of Prichard Park.

Valley Road

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2005

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Lofgren Road

New Brooklyn Road

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Bu ck Hill Rolin ad

Ferncliff Avenue

Wyatt Way

Madison Avenue N

Finch Road

High School Road

Bainbridge Island Land Trust bi-landtrust.org || 206-842-1216

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1

2 Miles

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The shoreline at the Close property.

Winslow Way W

2004 Eagle Harbor Drive

Baker Hill Road

Wing Point Way

Paul Brians photo

The Close property acquisition is completed with BILT raising half the purchase price and the Open Space Bond paying the other half; 64 acres are added to the Gazzam Lake Preserve.

Peters Tree Farm is purchased with the Open Space Bond and a Conservation Easement is given to BILT; the 49 acres are added to Gazzam Lake Preserve.

2003 A three-way transaction with the state of Washington, BILT and the Suquamish Tribe for 19 acres of tidelands that had been donated to BILT.

Paul Brians photo

Wildlife flourishes in tidelands preserved by the BILT.

2001

2002

BILT options the Hall Property for the Open Space Commission; the land becomes the 12-acre Hawley Cove Park.

Rockaway Beach Park is acquired by the Open Space Commission with help from BILT; only 1.8 acres but stunning views of Seattle and unique underwater habitat.

View from Hawley Cove Park.

Paul Brians photo

Rockaway Beach Park.

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

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JULY 25, 2014

2011

2012

2013

2014

19-acre Heart of the Forest purchase by BILT completed.

Fundraising for the 31-acre Hilltop Project, which connects the east and west Grand Forest parcels, begins.

Keep Gazzam Wild campaign is completed adding 30 acres to Gazzam Lake Preserve.

Powel Shoreline Restoration project is completed.

BILT purchases 5 acre parcel to be added to Hilltop.

BILT earns the prestigious Accreditation Award by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission BILT purchases 15 acre parcel to expand the Wildlife Corridor Fundraising for the Hilltop Property completed.

BILT receives $1.2 million from the Salmon Recovery Fund to pay for the 12.5-acre West Bainbridge Shoreline Protection Project.

2014 Bainbridge Island Land Trust celebrates 25th anniversary.

Paul Brians photo

Thomas Fenwick photo

Hikers make their way through the Heart of the Forest.

A barge is in place for the Powel Shoreline Restoration project.

The land trust worked with the Powel family to remove over a quarter mile of armor along the shoreline as part of the largest restoration project in Puget Sound on private property.

You’ll notice the difference.

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JULY 25, 2014

Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

LAND TRUST CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

F

ounded in 1989 by architects Nate Thomas, Jim Cutler, state lobbyist Mike Ryherd and attorney Paul Kundtz, the trust was formed out of a concern about rampant growth on Bainbridge Island and the founders established the organization to provide a mechanism and ally for landowners looking to protect and preserve their property.

It was a project born out of passion, Kundtz explained, but at first the founders weren’t at all sure about what kind of community support they might receive.

“We were uncertain as to whether or not anyone — or any private owner — would be interested in a conservation easement,” Kundtz said. “But, our thinking was that even if we did one project, it would be worth it.”

That being said, the BILT hit

the ground running.

The group’s first two private conservation easements were finished within a year.

Willowbrook Farm, at the corner of Highway 305 and Day Road, was originally slated to become a driving range. BILT worked to acquire the property, sell it to a conservation-minded buyer and place a conservation easement on the piece thus protecting the scenic rolling hills and meadows we enjoy today. ainbridge resident Phyllis Young, whose easement was actually the first project undertaken by BILT, placed the group’s second conservation easement on her property at Battle Point Spit on the west side of the island soon after.

The agreement with the land trust protects a marine estuary and crucial shoreline habitat.

“We were inspired by Phyllis Young,” Kundtz recalled, saying that she was the critical first islander to inquire about a conservation easement.

Then, in 1991, BILT scored their first major league home

B

run.

The Grand Forest bond levy was passed by voters, after much assistance by the land trust in bringing concerned parties together, and ultimately resulted in the park district taking possession of 240 acres.

The very next year, BILT managed to purchase Meigs Park and an additional 67 acres of land were transferred to the park district.

The Gazzam Lake Preserve acquisition in 1995, perhaps the group’s most widely publicized accomplishment, resulted in a total of 321 acres being transferred to the park district with a conservation easement.

The following years would see no slowing of acquisitions by the land trust, and even more conservation easements completed.

In 1999, Blakely Harbor Park was completed, and was soon followed by an option for the Hall property in 2001 for the Open Space Commission (formed just the year before).

The land became the 12-acre

Hawley Cove Park.

By 2004, the organization added an additional 49 acres to Gazzam Lake Preserve by acquiring the Peters Tree Farm property. And the Close property, acquired in partnership with the Open Space Bond in 2005, added still another 64 acres to the Gazzam Lake Preserve.

In 2006, BILT put on its fundraising hats and got serious about rounding up $500,000 for the purchase of Prichard Park.

And in 2011, BILT completed the 19-acre Heart of the Forest purchase and began initial fundraising efforts for the 31-acre Hilltop Project, which connects the east and west Grand Forest parcels.

In 2012, BILT completed its widely recognized “Keep Gazzam Wild” campaign. Successful, it added another 30 acres to the preserve. That same year, the trust added five more acres to the Hilltop Project.

As of this year, the trust has completed nearly 50 conservation easements.

PAGE 7

The trust’s accomplishments have far exceeded the relatively humble aspirations of the founders, Kundtz said.

“It seemed like it was a time for action,” he said of the founding. “The long-term success was due to more good people getting involved. In the beginning, we had no money. Now, the land trust raises substantial money and receives substantial grants.” or most, a clean and sustainable planet is the very least of a legacy that we owe to the next generation. Surely, there can be few causes more important to the species as a whole than the protection of the environment upon which we depend for so many things. It is through the work of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, and other similar organizations around the state that Washington’s title as “The Evergreen State” — and Bainbridge Island’s own historically renowned natural elements — remain assured.

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Bainbridge Island Land Trust - 25th Anniversary

PAGE 8

JULY 25, 2014

Bainbridge Island Land Trust thanks city of Bainbridge Island, Bainbridge parks and organization’s volunteers for years of dedicated work We wish to thank all the past and current board members without whose hard work, dedication and support the Bainbridge Island Land Trust would not have become the organization it is today.

We also wish to thank our staff members who helped propel this organization to new levels of productivity and organization.

PAST AND CURRENT STAFF MEMBERS Linda Buck Hayes Yolanka Wulff Karen Molinari Asha Rehnberg Hallie Stevens Laura O’Mara Brenda Padgham Jane Myers Stone Susanne Schneider Frances Ran

Bainbridge Island

Metro Park & Recreation District

Puget Sound Partnership Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and its numerous funding sources

Connie Waddington Martha Monkman AMERICORPS INTERNS Jacob Dyste Jonnie Dunne Molly Esteve

PAST AND PRESENT BOARD MEMBERS Tom Backer Bill Booth Bill Eckel Thomas Fenwick David Harrison Hilary Hilscher John Hough

PARTNERS One Call For All City of Bainbridge Island Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park & Recreation District Suquamish Tribe IslandWood Sustainable Bainbridge

NOT IN OUR HOUSE: Spartans rally from two ones to beat Bellevue.

A10

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

REVIEW

, No. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014 | Vol. 114 A

What a scream!

19 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREV

IEW.COM | 75¢

A new summer spot

Pool at Pleasant Beach may open by next spring

that says “There’s nothing there be.” kid-friendly as this will i said, a By spring 2015, Jacob hot ry, sumpool complete with a In other parts of the count neigh- community tables with ut the tub, kiddie pool, picnic mer isn’t summer witho shower facilities and grills cue barbe pool. borhood visitors. ays are will be open for its first It’s where summer birthd cues we talked barbe “The reason we did it, celebrated and poolside e in the comto an awful lot of peopl happen. they “And it’s the munity,” Jacobi said.

For kids and adults alike, ng up in having a soaki expressed an interest best spot for alternately . r … So that’s what cente down g unity coolin comm and the sun d jump we’ve have designed.”

On Bainbridge, kids instea how lete, visior test Once the pool is comp off the Point White pier behind the shocking tors will be able to park Lynwood long they can last in the t Sound on Puge existing shopping strip “refreshment” of the . . before rushing out again no perfect Center Road top of the hill, is is There, at the That’s about it. There perfect water playwhat Jacobi says is the sunbathing patio, kiddie table. pool. The sun rises, a for picnic ot ide sunsp ground or pools and sets e in reaches its highest spot At Pleasant Beach Villag will from builduction that h, without any obstr Lynwood Center, thoug ings or trees. all soon change.

Beach, least from Like the rest of Pleasant “There really isn’t, at will isn’t anything the new community pool and my perspective, there space John dly said -frien ,” family island a the be like this on familyJacobi, the owner of the community friendly shopping and TURN TO POOL | A18 center.

BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review

ew Highway interchange dracy interest for CVS pharm

gas staLast May, owners of the Station d 76 tion purchased the close School High of side other the on There are now Road for $1.2 million. on both sides two Chevron stations near the busy of High School Road

BY BRIAN KELLY .

Highway 305 intersection June Bainbridge Island Review in The following month, weren’t the records, the Developers from Ohio 2013, according to city

Developers had more than one new drugstore in the planning stages

Erin Kellogg Lew Mandell Jan Mulder Deb Rudnick Barb Robert Gene Seligmann John van den Meerendonk Connie Waddington Bruce Anderson Annita Baze-Hansen Ken Bennett Ian Bentryn Mike Bonoff Katya Bridwell Richard Brown Maureen Buckley Bob Burkholder Bob Campbell Matthew Coates Tom Croker Lee Cross Yanira Cuellar Tom Cunningham Jim Cutler Wayne Daley Heidi Dexter

Joe Rochelle Phil Rockefeller Leonard Rolfes Don Rooks Mike Ryherd Jo Schaffer Tom Schworer Sandy Shopes Carol Sperling George Stege Annette Stollman Frank Stowell Gary Sundem John Thomas Marguerite Thomas Nate Thomas David Thorne Jim Thrash Val Tollefson Barb Trafton Tom Tyner Laurie Usher Keith Wentworth Jane Wentworth Penelope Wood

Barry Fetterman William Foster Tom Goodlin Kathy Haskin Linda Hayes Jim Huntley Neil Johannsen Emily Kehrberg Leigh Kennell Maryann Kirkby Margie Klein Darlene Kordonowy Paul Kundtz Larry Luce Iver MacDougall Sallie Maron Karen Matsumoto Julie Matthews Jolynn Meriam Steph Miller Liz Murray Jane Myers Stone CeAnn Parker Deborah Parr Doug Picha Ann (John) Powel

Congratulations Bainbridge Island Land Trust for 25 years of protecting & preserving our island’s natural resources.

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