The Naval Ammunition Depot along the shores of Ostrich Bay might’ve closed in 1959 but evidence of its former life remains. Around 20 bunkers still protrude the dense forest that has grown back in the years since the Navy left its shores.

Thanks to the 75 or so of you who came out for the Kitsap Sun’s latest Story Walk Saturday. (If you couldn’t make it, the park is located at 1900 Shorewood Drive and is open from dawn to dusk. There’s a trail uphill from the parking area that leads to the bunkers; a waterfront paved pathway that runs perhaps a quarter-mile; and shoreline access.)

Regardless of a few showers — one walker referred to it as another “Slosh with Josh” — we got a nice hike in and took a closer look at the controversy surrounding a locked gate that now separates the park from The Landings, formerly Jackson Park.

Here’s a brief timetable of NAD Park, which dates back more than 100 years.

1902: The U.S. Government appropriates money to purchase the land, around 250 acres, of what we now know as the park, Jackson Park and the other portion of NAD Park nearer to Kitsap Lake. The land is purchased for about $14,000.

1908: The “magazine depot” is commissioned; it wouldn’t be until 1916 that it becomes known by the name we know it as today. Picture ships filling Ostrich Bay, waiting for munitions, as there was no water or electricity to the area.

1940: The depot has come into its own, with a wharf, railroad access and around 40 buildings to its name. World War II sees its height as an ammunition depot.

1959: With not much room to grow and new depots developing at Bangor and Indian Island, NAD closes.

1965: Jackson Park Housing is created, named for the US Senator “Scoop” Jackson. Years later, Highway 3 cuts NAD in two when it is built.

More recently: NAD includes a former garbage dump and was classified as an EPA Superfund Site. The Army Corps of Engineers also does cleanups here. Just this month, the Navy is still detonating old munitions found in the tidelands below.

June 11, 2016: A bunch of eager learners head to Marine NAD Park for a Story Walk! Thanks again for coming.

The most important thing about the Illahee Preserve in Mike Taylor’s mind? “Simply that it persists,” he said.

Passersby of the more than 500-acre forest off Highway 303 might assume its enduring legacy is secured. Not so. For much of Taylor’s life, he’s watched the land be logged, used as a garbage dump and as a haven for off-roading vehicles.

Today, that forest has largely been cleaned up and returned to its pristine past. Its location in one of the densest areas of Kitsap County makes such forestland invaluable, say the stewards who help maintain it. Some, including Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent, see it as a kind of Central Park for Bremerton as the city grows to encompass it in the coming years.

About 110 of you ventured to the woods of Illahee Saturday for the Kitsap Sun’s latest Story Walk. That includes Taylor, who has lived nearby for most of his life. It includes Jim Aho, a forest steward whose involvement in all things Illahee has given rise to his nickname as its mayor. And finally, it includes Vic Ulsh, who has headed East Bremerton Rotary’s involvement in keeping up the forest since that organization adopted the woods as a major project in 2005.

But as I mentioned, it did not have to be this way. In the early 1700s, a fire burned down most of the woods there, giving rise to some more diverse conifers including white pines and Western Hemlocks (to go with the Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedars and Madrona we all know and love). It was logged at least twice since. It became federal trust land before it was turned over to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

On at least three occasions, it could have been sold for development but neighbors fought back, according to Ulsh. Kitsap County took it over in 1999. Aho, Ulsh and others have been maintaining it since.

But they’re not stopping at its current boundaries. Last year, a successful effort to purchase what became known as “The Lost Continent,” brought in another 25 acres. The stewards hope to extend the preserve all the way to Illahee State Park one day, to create a wildlife corridor and a stream — Illahee Creek — that can remain in its natural state.

Already, the forest is home to some treasures of nature, including this 500-year-old tree that got its share of hugs Saturday afternoon.

Within four years’ time, Kitsap County’s 911 dispatch center and its morgue went from being among the most antiquated in the state to the most sophisticated. Kitsap County Central Communications moved from a toll house on Warren Avenue into an $11 million, state-of-the-art facility in West Hills in 2005. Four years later, the coroner’s office, once housed in a dilapidated house next to the jail, also moved to West Hills in a $3.6 million campus still considered among the most advanced in the state.

On Saturday, nearly 200 people came to the Kitsap Sun’s latest Story Walk at the two facilities, getting an inside look into the life of a coroner and a dispatcher.

Within the dispatch center, Brandy D’Intinosanto, its dayshift supervisor who has been with the agency more than 12 years, led tours right to the floor of dispatch, the high-tech, bulletproof hive of the county’s emergency response system. It continues to be on the cutting edge, as Kitsap was the first to allow residents to text 911, she said.

Our 911 dispatchers create 200,000 cases, or “details,” every year. They handle even more calls than that. D’Intinosanto mentioned that even if most, if not all of their generator-backed technology were to fail, they are still trained in a handwritten card system that would keep our emergency responders moving.

The tours Saturday happened to overlap with the deadliest case of domestic violence on the Kitsap peninsula in modern history, in which Mason County authorities said a man killed four people before killing himself. Kitsap County Coroner Greg Sandstrom said Saturday his office was assisting Mason County with those death investigations.

The worst violence prior to the Mason County mass shooting was in 1934, when a man bludgeoned six people to death in what would become known as the Erland’s Point Massacre. Following that case, a sheriff’s deputy is said to have let people walk through the crime scene for a quarter.

I’d like to think such a lapse in the investigative process would not occur today. The coroner’s office investigates about 350 of the total 2,000 deaths that occur in Kitsap each year. They focus on traumatic and suspicious deaths, conducting autopsies to help determine the cause of death. They also pin down the manner of death, which can be one of four things: homicide, suicide, accident or natural.

Police have the job of investigating the scene of the crime; the coroner’s office has custody of the body. Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan came along Saturday and talked of the “honor” involved in death cases — that it is never something his officers take lightly.

Sandstrom, who has been Kitsap’s elected coroner since 1998, is a former Washington State trooper and chaplain who talked Saturday of one of the office’s most paramount duties: death notifications. He and his deputies have the task of delivering the news of death to next of kin. They once did so in vehicles marked “coroner’s office,” but that changed on Sandstrom’s watch, Chief Deputy Coroner Tony Stewart told the crowd. The reason? It made a private family matter something very public when they’d arrive in someone’s driveway.

The coroner’s office contracts with a forensic pathologist to conduct autopsies. The biggest counties in Washington have medical examiners, or actual doctors hired by the county. Kitsap could convert to that system, as counties over 250,000 residents can, but there’s been no push to do so. Strachan pointed out Saturday that the medical examiner system is costly.

Thanks, everyone, who came out on Saturday. As usual, we all learned a lot. Be sure to email me at josh.farley@kitsapsun.com with any questions or concerns.

Also, be sure to subscribe to Bremerton Beat updates on this page and I’ll be sure to post an update when I know where the March Story Walk is going to be.