Assistance from the NPS Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program will be provided during the 2008 Federal Fiscal Year (FFY), which ends September 30, 2008. The extent of NPS RTCA assistance is dependent on a Department of Interior budget bill for FFY 2008.

National Park Service Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance Community Outreach Planner Bryan Bowden has been assigned to manage the project. Bowden will provide technical assistance to help meet the positive goals for the Sinclair Inlet Watershed Community at large including currently endangered marine life & salmon.

NPS assistance will be focused on facilitating the planning process to include a strong public involvement component.

“Great news about the National Park Service technical assistance for KITSA,” wrote Bob Barnes, Olympic Region Landscape Architect, Roadside and Site Development Office, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in Olympia, in an email to KiTSA.

“I know we can improve both the transportation corridor and the environment for current and future users, especially the wildlife.”

In return for technical assistance, NPS RTCA requests that recipients jointly participate in the development of an annual work plan that identifies specific roles and tasks for project partners, public involvement and RTCA assistance; commit significant time & resources (financial, in-kind, overhead, etc.) along with other project partners to match RTCA assistance; acknowledge and credit NPS assistance in press releases, promotional material, trailhead and welcome signage, maps and publications such as newsletters, surveys, brochures and final concept plans; provide copies of print and media news to NPS RTCA staff; and keep an on-going record of project successes.

Continued assistance is possible by request of a Continuing Project Application due Aug. 1, 2008, though RTCA does not typically provide assistance beyond two years.

KiTSA met on Jan. 22 to discuss this as well as other current and completed projects. The meeting was attended by board members and guests, including staff from the City of Bremerton.

“It is a welcome opportunity to introduce the City’s shoreline restoration and reclamation projects with KITSA and to begin integrating these efforts with the upcoming plan to be carried out with RTCA assistance,” said Wyn Birkenthal, City of Bremerton Director of Parks and Recreation.

The City’s list of current and future projects includes Lions Park, recently awarded a Department of Ecology Stormwater Implementation grant for Low Impact Development (LID) in a partnership with KiTSA. Birkenthal also cited Anderson Cove’s Pederson Oil and Cady properties; the Sheridan Park Maintenance Shop removal and site restoration; and Evergreen Park shoreline south to the Louis Mentor Boardwalk.

The Eagle Scout Project by Candidate Jon Gallent and his group to landscape the entrance to US NAVY Missouri Gate, off SR-304 at the entrance to the Bremerton complex was completed on Jan. 12.

Gallent, of Scout Troop #1528 in Port Orchard, has been working with the Navy, WSDOT, KiTSA, and others since last fall. The Missouri Gate Traffic Islands are located at the “Gateway to Bremerton” traffic light and near the northern shoreline of Sinclair Inlet.

Barnes oversaw the project and provided technical guidance for landscaping enhancements and was also the WSDOT tractor operator. Barnes can be seen wearing the yellow rain gear suit in photos.

“A goal for KiTSA & WSDOT is to make more Sinclair Inlet landscaping enhancements, as funding/grants allow,” said Don Larson, KiTSA Vice President.

“Puget Sound Restoration Fund got us off to a good start on landscaping improvements with a Suquamish Tribe grant of $1,000 and non-profit 501(c)(3) Washington Scuba Alliance followed with a donation of $300, which helped fund $940 compost and beauty bark materials for this current project,” added Larson.

“This was a positive ‘can-do’ work effort involving many organizations and individuals that all worked together to eliminate scotch broom weeds, enhance very poor, rocky glacial soil and provide landscaping plants that will help reduce some of the storm water non-point source stormwater pollution problems in the urban bay of Sinclair Inlet.”

Donations included mulch/TAGRO from City of Tacoma Environmental Division, and installation by volunteer labor. Code 106 Gay Gates coordinated the Self-help and the Seabees for existing soil removal. The rich compost/mulch is used to sustain healthy plants and Medium Beauty Bark to control weeds.

The landscaping materials — 15 cubic yards each — were delivered to the site by Walrath Trucking of Tacoma at WSDOT’s Barnes request. WSDOT Landscaping Office in Olympia provided landscaping plants and the tractor to properly distribute the compost and beauty bark.

KiTSA is planning a Sinclair Inlet Shoreline & Underwater Cleanup in honor of EARTH DAY 2008 on April 19, and International COASTWEEKS Beach Cleanup, Sept. 20, at the Sinclair Inlet Watershed Bremerton (SR-304), Gorst (SR-3) & Port Orchard (SR-166) WA.

Volunteers have been performing semi-annual Sinclair Inlet Cleanups since 1990, and have removed 592 cubic yards of trash in 17 years, 1990-2007, along SR-304 and SR-3 from Bremerton to Gorst, with the goal of eventually enhancing the area and encouraging more local citizens to take a more active role in caring for the environment.