Miscellaneous Items - 4/16/09

Illahee Car Prowling.  A reminder that there are car prowlers around.  We highlighted Terry's last sentence as it is a good reminder that Illahee is not immune to problems.  See the following:

 

You may want to send a reminder out to the community to be diligent in their efforts to keep their homes secure.  I live on the Rest Place off Roosevelt.  On Thursday night, I had a GPS unit and a few CDs stolen out of my truck.  I had planned on taking my daughter to Girl Scouts that night so didn’t lock my truck.  Ended up my wife took her so I didn’t get back to my truck.  Anyway, when I came out in the morning, I found my center console opened and my notebook lying on my seat.  The  GPS unit and CDs were gone. They didn’t bother with my baseball glove or umbrella so they were selective about what they took. 

My guess is that either it was a kid, or just someone walking the road at night that looks for open vehicles.  Even though we think our community is safe, there are those out there that shake up our lives and remind us that we are not a secure as we hope.

 

Timbers Edge Post Cards.  The county sent out about 600 post cards to "persons of record" noting that the Timbers Edge project was "approved with conditions."  Most of those receiving the cards had signed petitions opposing the development, which is why the number was so high.

 

Decision on the County Website.  The post card went on to say the "Decision" could be viewed at the county website which was given as:  www.kitsapgov.com/dcd/he.  Many had problems locating the decision and tried to use the Application Numbers given on the Notice.  The decision was down on the list and was noted as "Case 080828-068."  They certainly don't make it easy to find the decision, much less to read and understand it on a computer monitor. 

 

Non-Computer Users.  There are a number of people who do not have access to computers or the internet and have been unable to access the decision.  We have suggested they call the county for paper copies.  We don't know what the county response has been.

 

Appeal to be Filed.  The Illahee Community Club will be filing an appeal to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on behalf of Illahee residents, which now has a new deadline of April 24, 2009.  They are collecting money to pay for the appeal and would appreciate any help residents can provide. 

 

Bird Reports.  The American Wigeon (ducks) left the area in late March and early April.  The ravens have been seen venturing toward the shoreline area, but they only stay a short while as the crows, that seem to be concentrated along the shoreline, create quite a raucous when they see them, and seem to chase them away.

 

Deer Reports.  Not many deer reports coming in, but that should change soon as the local gardeners start planting their gardens and the deer discover them.  And as soon as we wrote the above we had the attached photo emailed to us.

 

Jim Aho

Illahee Preserve Items - 1/21/09

Parking Lot Construction. Construction has begun on the primary parking lot for the Illahee Preserve. The new lot is off of Almira, just south of the intersection with Fuson Road. BLEWS Construction out of Spokane is the construction company. We met with Martha Droge, the lead Parks Planner with the Parks Department, Larry Achibald, the Project Manager, and Cheryl, the Superintendent this morning to discuss the project, which will complete in about 6 weeks, pending on the weather cooperating.

Parking Lot Design. The design of the parking lot has been going on for a number of years. It took about two years for the Stewardship group to settle on a final location and rough design, and another two years of discussions with Park's planners, and then another two years of getting a final design and money into the Parks Department's budget. Pat Fuhrer of MAP Ltd in Silverdale is the engineer who took the rough concepts and plans and developed the parking lot drawings, which will sometime in the future include nearby restrooms.

Ecological & Functional Design. The design of the lot features a rain garden where stormwater will be directed at the center of the parking area with any overflow going to a bio-retention stormwater facility. The retention facility will be planted with wetland types of grasses and will hopefully, because of a seasonal relatively high ground water level, provide water for the Preserve wildlife during wet periods. The Stewardship group has talked about providing a fountain or other system in the pond area to provide water for wildlife during dry periods. During high rainfall times the overflow from the bio-retention facility will go into the County's storm drain system.

New Sign From The Rotary. The East Bremerton Rotarian's are providing the sign that will placed by the parking lot. The sign is being built by Sign Man Archie out of Silverdale and is reported to be half finished. It will be similar to the other Illahee Preserve signs.

New Trail Photo. Near the end of Thompson Lane is the new trail that was built a couple of weeks ago as can be seen in the attached photo.

Raven Photo. Also attached is a picture of a couple of the Ravens who have been inhabiting the Illahee Preserve. They are seen on the top of the North Perry Reservoir at the top of Riddell Road.

Request To Apologize. We have been asked to apologize for the comments in the email we attached about the car damage received by one of the work party volunteers who parked their car on Thompson Lane and it appeared to be deliberately sideswiped. The email seemed to denigrate the whole group of residents living at the end of Thompson Lane. The Update was passed on to someone who knows most of the residents and they were sure it wasn't any of their acquaintances. And so we apologize for not properly editing the email.

Responses Appreciated. We appreciate any and all responses, especially corrective ones.

Jim Aho

Wildlife Update - 12/6/08

Wildlife Updates. We have added some new email addresses and need to explain that feedback tells us that wildlife reports are what people like most about the updates. We depend on your passing the information on to us and we thank those who passed on this information. If you want credit for your stories and pictures, let us know as we presume anonymity.

Seals. Last year we had about 20 seals on one of local floats, this year a few less with about 15 seen every morning. As the seals leave the float the cormorants take their place.

Sea Lions. We have only seen one sea lion this year, whereas last year there were many seen feeding on small salmon.

Ravens. Periodically the ravens can be seen flying near the shoreline. We haven't seen them fly over the water yet and we mostly see them around the Illahee Preserve.

Mergansers. Only a few Red-breasted Mergansers have been sighted this year along the Illahee shoreline.

Scoters. The Surf Scoters are back in about the same numbers as last year. They are the ones that make the whistling noise when they take off. They are usually out in deeper water as they are deep divers and feed on shellfish.

Mallards. There is a flock of about 30 mallards that seem to be making the Illahee North detention pond their winter home.

Wigeon. The American Wigeon are common visitors to the nearshore area and local ponds. We used to see big numbers at Schutt's Point and they could be seen flying away whenever an eagle would fly over.

Golden Eyes. This area seems to be a wintering spot for both the Common Golden Eye and the Barrows Golden Eye. We had a report on Saturday of a large flock of the Barrows Golden Eye along the northern Illahee waterfront. Earlier in the week we had a few Common Golden Eyes north of the Illahee Community Dock.

Cormorants. The cormorants are back this winter, as stated earlier, spending most of the day on area floats.

Bald Eagles. There are at least two regular Bald Eagles frequenting the Illahee waterfront. We had a report a few weeks ago of a Bald Eagle chasing down a seagull. This was a first for that long time waterfront resident.

Deer. At the County Commissioners' hearing for the Illahee Community Plan our planner, Katrina Knutson, noted that she saw an albino deer while looking over the area for the View Protection Zone. We just had a picture sent to us earlier this week of two deer, one of which is partially white, which we are attaching.

Send Reports and Pictures. Please send us your reports and pictures of wildlife and we will try to forward them on.

Jim Aho