“Water quality education efforts benefited from earlier strategies to save salmon,” stated Charlotte Garrido, former Kitsap County Commissioner and pioneer of the Olalla Creek project.

“These groups and volunteers recruited for recovery efforts, public education, and conservation goals had and gained more knowledge of the watershed by being involved in those earlier projects galvanized by the Endangered Species Act,” Garrido explained.

“Understanding was the biggest step in knowing what to do. I think it was the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team (PSWQAT) that coined the axiom ‘we all live downstream’ and these folks saw firsthand how many different influences there really are on water quality.”

Begun as a PSWQAT “Pie Grant” back in 1994, the Olalla Creek project built on a coalition of local organizations and volunteers to enhance community awareness of water quality levels in the creek. Very little was known about the six-mile long salmon-spawning stream in South Kitsap County and it lacked a reliable database during the watershed ranking process. Now after eight years of monitoring in collaboration with the Kitsap County Health District and many volunteers, property owners and scientists have a much clearer understanding of what needs to be done.

Garrido has set her sights on another concern and favorite among the locals, South Kitsap Community Park. Located at Jackson and Lund, the 200-acre park is home to streams, wetlands, miles of walking trails, important tree and plant species in commune with so many creature comforts for people.

“Thank goodness the county had the foresight to set this open space aside early while the remaining area was urbanizing. The citizens and Kitsap County put a lot of work into the negotiations and purchase from the State Department of Natural Resources,” said Garrido, “Otherwise, their plans for the land would have been to log and develop.”

The county developed the parklands, funded 50 percent by a state IAC grant, to include ballfields, volleyball, and children’s playground. A miniature train occupies 10 acres and the park commission plan to add an espresso stand, snacks, and other amenities by this summer.

Recently, retired DNR forester, John Kingsbury, and Washington Timberland Management’s Gary Hansen conducted a plant and tree inventory of the property. Kingsbury practiced forestry in this area since 1953 and remarked on the healthy number of white pines, diversity and multiple species throughout the forested acres while assisting the group in developing a tree policy.

The stewardship group and unpaid volunteer coordinator, appointed by the commission, conscientiously tracks volunteer’s hours made up of 150 locals that contribute 100 hours per week. Once per month the Kitsap County work release program provides a crew to clean up the park and the juvenile alternative to detention program pitches in as well. Even so, it takes a lot of work and the park could still use some funding for repairs, adopt-a-tree donations and still more volunteers to tend to the “Freedom Garden” established post September 11.

“John Conte has been a tireless volunteer and observers just marvel at how he employs that weed wrench tool to eradicate invasive scotch broom throughout the park,” added Garrido. Anyone wanting to help out and learn more about stream and forest habitats can call the park at 360-895-1551 or visit the website at www.skparks.org.

As part of another monitoring strategy, the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group (HCSEG) engage volunteers and local property owners in counting the number of smolts migrating out of several streams throughout the watershed. Knowing the number of juvenile fish surviving in these systems will tell us how effective habitat restoration and nutrification efforts have been.

So far we have seen the numbers of out-migrating smolts increase as early as three years following passage barrier removal projects such as culvert replacement. These efforts have also given weight to the theory that streams with beaver ponds yield higher levels of out migrating Coho than streams with no beaver ponds. From this work, we can begin to see how adding carcasses to the system affects the average size of the juveniles living in the system (more food=bigger fish). Trapping began on March 17 and will continue in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

If you are interested in volunteering to monitor the smolt traps installed in both Mason and Kitsap counties please call Chris Daniel at the HCSEG at 360-275-3575 for more information.

If one thing holds true in Kitsap and Mason Counties, opportunities to learn are plentiful as the number of precious resources we have to protect.