Illahee Preserve Dedication - 10/23/10

Illahee Preserve Dedication on Tuesday Morning.  The Illahee Preserve will have its official dedication on Tuesday morning at 9:30 am in the Almira road parking lot.  The Preserve is the largest tract of land in Illahee at about 560 acres with the addition of Rolling Hills.  It is significantly larger than the 75 acre Illahee State Park, and represents roughly one third of Illahee's total land area.  If all of the planned acquisitions and conservation easements were to materialize, the total acreage would be close to 40 percent.   Despite it's size, the preserve is a unique part of Illahee that has not yet been discovered by many residents, and this will be a great opportunity to learn about the preserve and it's establishment. The official press release for the dedication is attached below.

Jim Aho

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:	October 21, 2010
Contact:	Josh Brown, Kitsap County Central District Commissioner, 360-337-7146 Jim Dunwiddie, Kitsap County Parks & Recreation Director, 360-337-5350 Vic Ulsh, Illahee Preserve Stewardship Committee,  692-6900 Jim Aho, Illahee Forest Preserve (non-profit support group), 479-1049 or 649-1049 Dennis Sheeran, Port of Illahee, 692-6971 Barney Bernhard, Illahee Community Club,  479-3679
No:	10-57

Illahee Preserve Dedication

(Port Orchard, WA) – The official dedication of the Illahee Preserve, a Kitsap County Heritage Park, is Tuesday, October 26, 2010. A dedication ceremony is set for 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot on Almira Drive, about 700 feet south of Fuson Road in Bremerton..  A dedication plaque is set on a big rock unearthed while constructing the parking lot.

Specifically honored at the dedication are those who were instrumental in the purchase of the Preserve: Frank Chopp, Washington State Speaker of the House; Chris Endresen, former Kitsap County Commissioner for the Illahee area; and Audrey Boyer, Illahee community resident and proponent for the county purchase of the DNR property. Other public officials supporting the purchase were former County Commissioners Tim Botkin, Patty Lent, and Jan Angel, and the many dedicated residents who for over 25 years advocated for the purchase of the property, and establish a park there.

Kitsap County purchased the remaining 352 acres of the Illahee School Trust lands from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2001. The County approved a Stewardship Plan in 2003. The plan named the property the “Illahee Preserve,” and recommended an aggressive approach to purchasing adjoining properties, primarily those riparian areas along the Illahee Creek corridor toward Puget Sound. During the past seven years, through grants and gifts—the latest being the gift of the Rolling Hills Golf Course—the acreage has grown to approximately 560 acres.

“The Illahee Preserve was conceived as, and continues to be, an experiment in community planning. Volunteers are taking the lead in planning, maintaining, and supporting a major park facility. The Illahee Preserve Stewardship Committee, the Illahee Forest Preserve Non-Profit Corporation, the Rotary Club of East Bremerton, the Port of Illahee, and the Illahee Community Club are all major contributing partners of the Preserve. By combining local community volunteers, committed community groups, and working alongside Kitsap County Parks Department we are creating a premier nature preserve and park, and we’re doing it as a community,” said Jim Aho.