Wildlife Update & Meeting Info - 1/26/09

River Otters. We asked for pictures of river otters and just received one. There have been three otters seen in the area for quite some time now, and it is good to get a photo of them.

Bald Eagles. We also just received some bald eagle photos. The latest were from this past Sunday when at least 5 bald eagles were seen taking turns eating something on the beach, with one of them being an immature eagle who had to wait until after the others had finished. We were trying to figure out what the eagles were feeding on, and it appeared to be possum based on the tail, shape and color.

Plant Salvage Question. We had questions of whether there was any plant salvaging done at the construction sites along Almira. There was some salvaging done a year ago at the Illahee Preserve parking lot site where plants were moved elsewhere in the Preserve. They looked at moving some of the huckleberry bushes a few weeks ago, but there were no good candidates as only small huckleberry bushes are normally successfully moved. We don't know if there was anything done at the Keller House site.

Native Plants Available. We contacted Jim Trainer, our local Illahee forester, who noted the following:

1. Every year I giveaway between 10,000-50,000 surplus native trees compliments of Mike Driscoll of Hood Canal Nursery, Port Gamble,WA.

2. In Illahee I have a small native tree and plant nursery for sale. See Treez, Inc. website www.treezinc.com for tree and plant lists

3. 20,000 douglas fir seeds were distributed in the Illahee Preserve. Compliments of Treez, Inc. and Hood Canal Nursery.

Illahee Meeting Location. Some people have asked about the location of the Illahee meetings on Thursday evening (1/29/09). The Norm Dick's Center is located on 6th Street in Bremerton and is the 6 story government building that is only a few years old. It has a main floor conference room that is state of the art and is the location for many meetings including the Bremerton City Council meetings. The big screen projector makes this an ideal place for presentations like we are expecting on Thursday.

Parking Available. The benefit of having this meeting in the evening is that there is usually ample parking available in the area.

Questions? If you have questions, please let us know what they are as others are probably asking the same ones.

Jim Aho

Almira Construction Projects - 1/22/09

Almira. The north end of Almira between Riddell Road and Fuson Road is only a half mile long road that is usually quiet and short cut for some going north to connect with Wheaton Way or State Highway 303. However, there are two new construction sites along that section of Almira that make the trip a little more exciting these days.

Keller House. The first is utility work and clearing on the west side of Almira for the Keller House project next to and part of the Kitsap Mental Health facility. The land was donated by Kitsap County in 2007. Some of the work was on the east side of the road next to the Illahee Preserve where a curtain drain was installed that takes water coming from the Preserve and directs it to a culvert under Almira where it becomes a small seasonal stream that flows between the new Keller House and the existing mental health facilities. The first two attached photos are of the Keller House project.

Preserve Parking Lot. The second set of photos are of the other construction site that is on the east side of Almira across from the Kitsap Recovery Center. The site is being cleared is for the Preserve parking lot which is scheduled to complete in about 6 weeks (early March 2009).

Jim Aho