Among locals, the Kitsap Peninsula has long been known as a
great place to go kayaking, but now the 300+ miles of shoreline are
quickly becoming a destination for out-of-area folks.
Kayakers paddle near Port
Gamble.
Kitsap Sun photo by Larry Steagall
A new map of Kitsap’s shoreline features has been produced for
the paddle crowd by the Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention
Bureau. The map is helpful for those trying to identify stopping
points along the shoreline — whether one wants to spend days on the
water or just a few hours.
Patricia Graf-Hoke, manager of the visitor bureau, said she
believes it is the first map of its kind in Washington state and
may be just the second or third in the nation.
Tourism on the Kitsap Peninsula is growing, she told the Kitsap
Regional Coordinating Council last week. As a whole, it is becoming
a major industry and one of the largest employers in Kitsap
County.
In a
Kitsap Sun story about the new map, John Kuntz, owner of
Olympic Outdoor Center, told reporter Rachel Pritchett that more
than half the people who paddle around the peninsula come from
somewhere else.
“It’s definitely a part of tourism that Kitsap County hasn’t
really embraced in the past,” Kuntz was quoted as saying.
A little more than a year ago, Kitsap County Commissioner Steve
Bauer and Jon Rose of Olympic Property Group unveiled a plan to
preserve 7,000 acres of forestland in North Kitsap. A tradeoff
being considered was a possible new community in Port Gamble to
absorb the deferred development.
Pope Resources timberlands
(shown in dark green) make up a significant portion of North
Kitsap. (Click to enlarge)
Map courtesy of Olympic Property Group
Lowland forests, like those in North Kitsap, are relatively
scarce in the Puget Sound region, experts tell me. Preserving such
lands are considered important for protecting fish and wildlife
habitat, water quality and aquifer recharge areas. Furthermore, the
North Kitsap Trails Association has already begun to plan for
low-key trails throughout the area.
While retaining the goal of protecting forests, Bauer announced
yesterday that they would not pursue a new community created under
a special provision of the state’s Growth Management Act called
“fully contained communities.” The switch was described in today’s
story in the
Kitsap Sun.
FCCs have fallen out of favor since the first ones were
developed in King County. Many planners concluded that these early
projects were little more than sprawling development well outside
of urban areas. The Puget Sound Regional Council even developed a
policy that discouraged local governments from proposing FCCs.
Kitsap Couny planners argued that they would be able to avoid
the previous problems with FCCs by requiring jobs and urban
amenities to be integrated into the plans.
Still, some people were never convinced. Members of the Port
Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and environmental groups were worried that
such a community would destroy the environment around Port
Gamble.
Now, Bauer hopes everyone can get on board with a plan to
acquire as much forestland as possible, using grants, donations and
other funding sources. It’s not clear whether all 7,000 acres would
qualify for outright purchase under the best conditions, but
Cascade Land Conservancy has signed on to match wetlands,
shorelines, critical habitats and recreation areas with associated
grants from government and private foundations.
Some growth is still planned at Port Gamble, which is designated
a “national historic town.” As such, it will be allowed to increase
in population to its greatest historical levels, with or without
protections for the forestland.
