Head over HERE to read my story about the Bainbridge Island Land Trust‘s legal battle with a North Madison Avenue landowner.
BILT contends that Joseph Lachac broke a conservation easement agreement by clearing plants and at least one tree to make way for a rerouted section of his driveway. Lachac says he has the right to improve his driveway, and stresses that he has replanted the abandoned section with native plants.
The Bainbridge Island Land Trust, an organization that has helped preserve over 400 acres, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with an event featuring award-winning nature writer Robert Michael Pyle on Friday.
Pyle won a 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for “Sky Time in Gray’s River,” a reflection on the flora, fauna and people of a small community in southwest Washington.
The land trust event will also honor island resident Charles Schmid with the Phyllis Young Award for his decades of commitment to environmental protection. Schmid has worked to clean-up the former Wyckoff creosote treatment facility on Eagle Harbor, establish trails and lead the Association of Bainbridge Communities for many years.
Established by a small group of islanders in 1989 to help landowners permanently protect the natural character of their properties, the land trust has helped acquire and preserve over 400 acres of forest, wetland and shore. The trust owns 41 acres and has established 44 conservation easements linking protected areas.
Bainbridge City Councilwoman Hilary Franz and Community Energy Solution’s Tammy and Joe Deets sent in a column (below) arguing that more energy conservation and use of renewable energy could eliminate the need for a planned substation on Bainbridge Island.
A Vashon Island environmental research group thinks Bainbridge has a good shot at energy independence.
But Kitsap Sun readers apparently don’t.
My story about Institute of Environmental Research and Education director Rita Schenck’s appearance at the Bainbridge Environmental Conference sparked quite a discussion at the Sun’s Web site this weekend. You can check out the story below or by clicking here, where you can weigh in about Bainbridge’s chances of saving and making enough energy to achieve self-sufficiency.
To learn more about IERE, visit its Web site here.
For the IERE’s energy plan for Vashon, go here and click on “Energy Independent Communities” to download the report.
