BKAT Schedule & Piebald Deer Sighting 4-4-11

BKAT Showing of Aquifer Briefing.  We first heard that BKAT (Channel 12) was showing the aquifer briefing presentation by someone who caught the last few minutes of a showing and wanted to know when it would be showing again.  We received the schedule from BKAT this morning and caught the 11:30 am showing and have some comments.

At Times the Microphone Cut Out.  While the visual coverage was great, there were a few times when the microphone Dr. Massmann was using cut out, and we wished the external microphone's volume was higher for the question and answer time.

Remaining BKAT Schedule.  The remaining airing schedule for the aquifer briefing is:

4/5        9pm

4/9        11am

4/11      1:30pm

Piebald Deer Sighting.  This sighting was in the area south of Illahee State Park. 

I wanted to let you know that I think we had a piebald deer in our yard this morning.  The deer was quite stocky and short and did not seem like it was a second year deer because it was so stocky and filled out; it didn't look like any second year deer I've ever seen. The deer also had very noticeable white patches on its haunches down to its hooves.  It seemed to be solitary but I wasn't able to get a good look around before my dog noticed what I was observing. The deer was about 30 feet from my sliding glass door and the only reason why I noticed it was because the dog wanted out.  Luckily, I saw the deer before I opened the door and let the dog out.  

I thought I should pass this on particularly becuase I have not seen other deer like this in the neighborhood since I've lived here and I know the Illahee community is trying to monitor our wildlife.

Jim Aho

Aquifer Briefing Report 4-1-11

Aquifer Briefing (3/29/11).  On March 29, 2011 Dr. Joel Massman gave an informative presentation on aquifer modeling and specifically how the Bainbridge Island aquifer study and model related to Illahee Creek and the surrounding area.

Many Engineers and Hydrologists Attended.  We were surprised at the number of engineers, hydrologists, and those working in the water industry, who attended the briefing, since the press releases sent to local papers did not get printed.  Other educators and scientists also attended such that it seemed like the aquifer topic appealed primarily to those with scientific backgrounds and those with advanced degrees with at least 4 Ph.D's, including Dr. Massmann in attendance.

Illahee Residents - Low Numbers?  We were also surprised that there weren't more Illahee residents in attendance, though a number of residents who could not attend provided questions to ask.  There were a total of 14 signs placed throughout the Illahee community, and in the days preceding the briefing we were told by many that they like receiving the summaries of meetings so they don't feel they need to attend in order to be informed.  We also heard some got the date wrong and showed up on Wednesday. 

Bremerton Kitsap Access Television (BKAT).  The briefing was video taped by BKAT for later showings, which will help those who could not attend on Tuesday.  We will let you know when they will be shown on Channel 12.

Briefing Content.  We do not have a copy of the Power Point of the briefing so this will be very short and succinct.  The Bainbridge Island study did extend over onto the Kitsap Peninsula which takes in Illahee.  The USGS gave Dr. Massmann access to their modeling software so he was able to use the model to extrapolate the affect of wells on the flows on Illahee Creek.  The modeling exercise showed that there is a significant effect on the summer base flows of Illahee Creek from the various wells along Illahee Creek.  

Many Questions Followed.  Following the briefing questions from the audience and written ones from those who could not attend, were fielded by Dr. Massmann, with a few fielded by Dr. Matt Bachmann from the USGS.  Comments from some Illahee residents were that the questions helped get the discussions down from the theoretical to the practical issues that local citizens are dealing with.

Responses (Answers) Later.  We will publish some of the more pertinent and interesting questions and answers when we get a tape of the event.  One question and response proved interesting which was -- When will the USGS Kitsap aquifer study be completed?  The answer was in another 4 years.  (Comment - That is the reason the Port wanted to have Dr. Massmann review the USGS BI Study could give us more information on Illahee Creek, which many residents consider already at a critical state with respect to low base flows.)

Comments from Other Attendees?  We would like to hear from others who attended the briefing on their thoughts.  We did receive emails the next day thanking those who arranged for the briefing, which would be the Port of Illahee with funding from the Department of Ecology.

Jim Aho

Wildlife Update & Other Items - 7/24/09

Eagle Gets Goose.  This past week I went out on the deck to take a phone call.  While on the phone I heard the crows making a loud commotion at the beach and saw a Canada goose that appeared to have fallen down and was using his wings to try to move or get himself up.  Seconds later, and before the goose could get up, a bald eagle was on top of him and immediately started to pick away at his feathers.  There was a slight breeze blowing and soon the beach downwind was covered with goose feathers.  I finished my call and took some pictures and have attached 4 of them.  I was told that two eagles spent most of the rest of the afternoon feasting on the goose.  A similar event took place last year with a single goose, which may be why the geese tend to stay in groups. 

 

Deer Photo.  The other evening on a walk we saw six deer.  The attached photo shows four of the deer - two larger deer are on the left with the mother in the center of the photo and twin fawns to the right.  They were amazingly tame.  The other two deer seen were a mother and her fawn.  Some of you see these scenes daily and others only see the results of their nightly grazing.  The photo was taken at dusk with a flash so some serious editing of the photo was needed to take the glare from the eyes.

 

Illahee Day August 1.  Just a reminder that Illahee Day is next Saturday, August 1st.

 

County Notice Posting of Illahee Creek.  There are some residents trying to figure out what is being planned for the dredging of the Illahee Creek culvert and the placement of the dredging material at the beach.  It is interesting that the project name is "Illahee Beach Nourishment."  Needless to say, some are not convinced, and are trying to get more information.  We are hoping that we can have a presentation on this project at the August meeting of the Illahee Community Club.  The time and place of this meeting is yet to be determined.

 

Aquifer Meeting Airing on BKAT.  The aquifer meeting was taped and is being rebroadcast on the Bremerton Kitsap Access Television (BKAT) station at the following time:

The last showing of “The Illahee Watershed Aquifer Protection Plan” will air:
7/30      10am
BKAT is Kitsap's local TV channel. 
Channel 12 - Comcast
Channel 3 - WAVE

 

Jim Aho

Miscellaneous Items - 7/19/09

Kitsap Sun Article.  We like to pass on newspaper articles about Illahee and there was an interesting one in the Kitsap Sun's Sunday paper regarding the Illahee Community's appeal of the Hearing Examiner's decision to approve the Timbers Edge project.  Reporter Brynn Grimley was in attendance at the Commissioner's work study session where the appeal was briefed to the Commissioners and she wrote the linked article:  http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/jul/16/commissioners-preparing-to-hear-appeal-to/ 

Commissioner's Meeting.  There were also 4 Illahee residents at the meeting to listen to the county's briefing which took about 45 minutes.  What is interesting is the Illahee Community will have roughly 10 minutes to present its appeal arguments to the the Commissioners, which may be fine if this was a simple appeal, but in this case there were over 400 exhibits and two days of testimony. 

Timbers Edge Counter Proposal.  The community is reported to be working on a Counter Proposal to be presented to the developer.  The process has been ongoing off and on for two months and reports are they are getting final approvals from the ad hoc committee and the 15 member Illahee Community Club board.  Afterwards it will be voted on by the Illahee community at an August meeting, yet to be scheduled.  We will pass it on in an Update once it becomes available to us.

Copies of Counter Proposal.  We just heard that they are hoping to have copies of the Timbers Edge Counter Proposal available at Illahee Day on August 1, 2009.

Illahee Day on August 1st.  This is a reminder that Illahee Day is next Saturday.

Illahee Day.  Save Saturday, August 1 for Illahee Day 2009.  The theme is the ABC's of Illahee.  A for an Attractive Illahee, B for Breakfast and lunch at the community dock, and C for Community clean-up in-between breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast at the dock between 9-10 am.  Community clean-up between 10am -12 pm.  Lunch at 12 pm.

5 Clean Up Teams.  You can pick the clean-up team you would like to be on. The five of them are:  Team Dock, Team Illahee Road North, Team Illahee Road South, Team Ocean View & West, and Team Illahee Preserve.  The attached brochure provides the details.

Volunteer Receive .....  All volunteers will receive Illahee T-Shirts, and there will be drawings and prizes.  Sign up by sending an email or leave a message with your name and shirt size atdocdmsret@msn.com or call 340-7257.

Illahee Preserve Trash Dumping.  We are attaching a picture of some major trash dumping at the new Illahee Preserve parking lot on Almira.  They are realizing that they will need to open some "windows" through the trees so that those doing the illegal trash dumping might be seen and caught.

Rotary Work.  Thank God for the East Bremerton Rotary Club that has taken the Illahee Preserve on as one of their projects.  Not only are they doing a stellar job of trail work, and promoting the Preserve, they also took care of illegal dumping that occurred (see the attached report),

East Bremerton Rotary completed another successful work party at Illahee Forest Preserve on Thursday evening, July 16th.  10 Rotarians participated in efforts to tidy up the Almira Drive parking lot.  Activities included spreading wood chips around the perimeter of the parking lot and removal of construction debris which had been dumped in a hidden corner of the parking lot.  Thanks to Ron Pettygrove for taking care of this disposal task.  Hooray for Ron!

Wildlife Reports.  Just a few wildlife reports coming in.

Plant Nibbling Deer.  Near nightly nibblings by deer passing through the neighbor hoods have been reported. 

Otter Family Increases.  There are reports the numbers of otters in the area have increased.  We don't know if it is because of new young ones or not.

Blueberry Addicted Goose.  There evidently is a lone Canada goose that has become so addicted to blueberries he is able to repeatedly defeat mesh netting.  We understand the wife paid for an additional four foot high fence around the berries so the husband wouldn't shoot the goose.  We hear that emotions can run quite high as people try to cope with wildlife.

Brownsville Weather Station.  We haven't had time to research the Illahee weather station, but did receive the following information that there is a Brownsville weather station.

I don't know if this would be any use to you.... but the Port of Brownsville has a weather station set up on the dock, it records rain, wind, pressure and such... I have included the web site, http://www.portofbrownsville.org/      on top left is weather and events click that, then just click weather, it's interesting and would be worth a few minutes just to look around, it also gives all the upcoming events such as BAD in September , which is Brownsville appreciation Day, very cool, well I am signing up for the big clean-up on August 1, so I will see you then.

Aquifer Meeting Airing on BKAT.  We owe the community more information of the aquifer meeting that was held on June 30, 2009.  In the meantime the meeting was taped and is being rebroadcast on the Bremerton Kitsap Access Television (BKAT) station at the following times:

“The Illahee Watershed Aquifer Protection Plan” will air:
7/20      11am
7/22      10:30pm
7/24      3pm
7/30      10am
BKAT is Kitsap's local TV channel.
Channel 12 - Comcast
Channel 3 - WAVE

Illahee Creek Posting Inadequate?  We just got word that a letter sized yellow sheet of paper was stapled to a telephone pole by Illahee Creek.  The posting is a "Statement of Exemption From Shoreline Substantial Development Permit Requirements."  Evidently Kitsap County wants to clean out the culvert again and deposit the material on the beach.  We understand there are some who are concerned about the continued dredging of the stream and are asking if there is a long term plan.  The yellow paper says it was posted on July 10th and needed to be appealed within 10 days of the decision, which was noted on the paper as July 6th.  Some are wondering if this is proper notice and if this provides adequate time to find out what is being planned.  We took a couple pictures of the posting and we'll let you decide. 

Jim Aho