Illahee State Park on Mothball List - 3/22/09

Illahee State Park on the Mothball List. There has been recent information regarding Illahee State Park being on the list for possible mothballing. We know there are a number of you who do not get the local papers or are on travel. The first article came out in the Kitsap Sun on March 11th, and the second article came out this last Thursday in both the Bremerton Patriot and the Central Kitsap Reporter. See the following links:

http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/mar/11/bremerton-park-among-33-on-states-145mothball/

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/pat/lifestyle/41532097.html

Illahee and Other County Residents Concerned. We have been inundated with questions about this issue, and have been asked what, if anything, should be done.

The Short Answer. As we understand it, this is presently a budget driven exercise to determine the options available to resolve the state's money problems. If it gets more serious there is a process that will be followed to determine which parks will be affected.

In the Meantime? In the meantime we would like to get more answers, beginning with those who are representing our area in the state legislature.

Help Appreciated. We would appreciate any help in getting more answers so we can respond appropriately.

Jim Aho

Wildlife Update - 3/20/09

We have gotten behind in passing wildlife information on and other information and will try to catch up.

Bats. We have heard some interesting bat stories this past year and thought about those when we saw a "bat box" when touring the new Fish Park in Poulsbo. We have attached a photo of the "box" and would like to publish some of the bat stories of local residents if you send them in.

Eagles. We have been forwarded a number of eagle pictures and stories and will devote a separate update to those later.

Humming Birds. We recently received pictures of a humming bird nest from an Illahee resident wintering in Arizona and have attached their comments and pictures.

I have enjoyed the wildlife pictures that have been posted by my Illahee neighbors through the winter, especially the ones about the hummingbirds. I am in Yuma right now, I winter here. I have attached a couple hummingbird pictures from here. The nest is 1 ¼ inch diameter.

Jim Aho

Kitsap Sun Article re Outfall Settlement - 3/13/09

The Sun Article. The following linked article will be in Saturday's Kitsap Sun:

http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/mar/13/illahee-developer-reach-deal-on-stormwater-pipes/

ICC Letter Sent to Newspapers. The February 25th letter from the Illahee Community Club, that is referenced in the article, was linked in the Illahee Community Update of March 5, 2009. It was also sent to all the local newspapers and the Seattle Times, so it is nice that the Sun did the article.

Two Projects Left. Some in the community are concerned that residents not forget to continue to follow through with a rain garden on Fern Street and an infiltration pit in the Illahee North detention pond which should even further diminish the amount of stormwater going to the new outfall and into the Sound.

Letter Reprinted. The two above mentioned items are described in the Illahee Community Club letter, which we are going to reprint at the end of this Update.

A Major Accomplishment. This is a significant and momentous success for the Illahee Community, and the community needs to be proud of its efforts.

But Costly. It was costly in terms of emotional energy and thousands of dollars and we would like to express our appreciation for all who helped, whether moral encouragement, letters, or financal support.

Jim Aho

Illahee Community Club

P.0. Box 2563

Bremerton, WA 98310

February 25, 2009


To: Distribution List

Subject: Illahee Outfall Settlement Support Statement

The Illahee Community Club (ICC) entered into an agreement or “settlement” with the MT Illahee Corporation, Kitsap County, and the Port of Illahee with regards to the relocation of a storm water outfall from the Illahee community dock to an undeveloped right-of-way on Berg Street, and associated area storm water improvements. Integral to the settlement the ICC agreed to issue a public statement of support for the settlement plans and has further agreed not to make public statements regarding the Sunrise Terrace or Rest/Olive/Hardt Development lot sizes.

The Illahee Community Club is very supportive of the resultant outfall agreement and feels that the settlement is beneficial and advantageous for each of the involved parties. The ICC is appreciative of the efforts by all parties to reach this agreement and the MT Illahee Corporation for working with the Illahee community. The following excerpt from a community member illustrates community sentiment:

The Illahee community strives to be a leading example in the area of responsible environmental preservation. Leading by example, both the Illahee community and the MT Illahee Corporation have shown what rewards can be produced by reaching a solution settlement that benefits all parties involved. Furthermore, the agreement is a step forward for one of the goals of the Puget Sound Partnership which is to control storm water in our waterways. For these reasons, there is strong community support for the settlement agreement.

The benefits of the agreement are many for the community, the environment, for the waters of Puget Sound, the Port of Illahee, Kitsap County, and the MT Illahee Corporation. Approximately 90 percent of the storm water that comes from our normally slow rainfall will be cleaned naturally through bio-infiltration swales and infiltrated back into the aquifers from the MT Illahee project. Only the remaining roughly 10% that comes from heavy rains will not be infiltrated because of high flow volumes and will need to be diverted to overflow outfall pipes that flow into Puget Sound.

There are a number of different aspects to the MT Illahee project that were part of the agreement. The first is the improved roadway being planned along Sunrise Terrace and the need to manage the storm water coming from the road surfaces. Bio-infiltration swales will be used at several locations along Sunrise Terrace to help clean the storm water with any overflow connecting to the existing Ocean View storm water system that discharges at the existing outfall. This is a major improvement as previously the storm water was going to be tight-lined (piped directly) to Puget Sound following the removal of suspended solids. This would have required the installation of a new storm water conveyance piping system and another outfall at the Illahee community dock.

The Illahee community at large and the Port of Illahee benefit as a new storm water outfall will not be going through the base of the Port of Illahee’s dock structure nor will the effluent be discharged at the Port’s public beach and swimming area. The Port and the community were already concerned with an existing 24 inch diameter outfall just a few feet south of where the new outfall was being proposed. Many in the community feel the discharges from the existing outfall have resulted in decreases in the fish and shellfish population. They also remembered the dock area being posted for fecal coliform pollution emanating from the existing outfall. With that history there were major concerns with another outfall that was again tight-lining storm water at the dock. The settlement agreement not only eliminates the need for new outfall at the base of the dock; it also results in a decrease in the storm water that will be discharging to the existing outfall.

The Illahee community benefits from a second outfall along the shoreline in that storm water overflows are more equally distributed into Puget Sound, rather than concentrating all the stormwater for the entire hillside to the Illahee dock area. In retrospect, it appears the existing Berg Street right-of-way should have been used years earlier for the storm water overflows from the Illahee North project. At that time there was less of a concern by the county with running large volumes of stormwater into Puget Sound and a readily accessible right-of-way existed at the community dock. Any future developments in the uphill drainage sub-basins north of Berg Street would have likely required the use of this right-of-way for a new storm water outfall to handle the overflows. The settlement agreement just initiates the use of an outfall at this location earlier rather than later.

The ultimate goal of the Illahee community is to clean and infiltrate storm water to the maximum extent possible, such that the only the overflows from major storm events enter into Puget Sound. The storm water flows going into the settlement outfall from the MT Illahee project will also go through a bio-infiltration swale where the 90 percent of our normal rainfall is expected to be captured and infiltrated. This will help reduce the settlement outfall overflows. The community notes that there is more work to be done by the community and possibly the county, which is outside the responsibility of MT Illahee, to further clean and infiltrate the storm water going into the settlement outfall. There is a small runoff from the north Fern Street area that would benefit from a rain garden upstream of its storm water overflow pipe, and the northern most cell of the Illahee North detention pond would benefit from a possible infiltration pit. Both of these items would satisfy the goal of cleaning and infiltrating storm water to the maximum extent possible and would ensure that only overflows from major storms would enter Puget Sound waters.

The Illahee Community Club would like to again express its appreciation to MT Illahee, and specifically to its representative, Bernie Johnston, who worked with community representatives to come up with a mutually acceptable solution for all parties.

Please refer any questions regarding this agreement to the Illahee community members, Jim Brady (360-377-8345) and Jim Aho (360-479-1049), who represented the Illahee Community Club in this matter.

Barney Bernhard 

Illahee Community Club

Copies to:

Port of Illahee

Vancil Law Offices

MT Illahee (via GordonDerr LLP)

Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Civil Division

Shorelines Hearings Board

Department of Ecology

Department of Fish & Wildlife, Kitsap County

Puget Sound Partnership

Kitsap Health District

Kitsap County Public Works

Kitsap County Department of Community Development

Team 4 Engineering

Kitsap Sun

Central Kitsap Reporter/Bremerton Patriot

Seattle Times

Port of Illahee Distribution Letter - 3/6/09

Port of Illahee Letter. We received the attached Port of Illahee letter ( page 1 - page 2 ) a few days ago and forwarded the accompanying "Executive Summary" in an earlier Update. The Port's letter distributes a major report on the Illahee Creek Watershed to a number of recipients and to our website person, Laurie Jones, who is trying to figure out how to put the 500 plus page report on the community website.

Excellent Summary. We found the Port letter to be an excellent, but very brief, summary of the deteriorating conditions of the creek, the culvert, and the bay that prompted the Port to apply for the Department of Ecology grant.

Next Steps. Now that the Port and the community have scientific data that backs up their claims that Illahee Creek has some major issues that need to be dealt with they will need to determine what the next steps will be. We quote one of their closing statements:

"The Port of Illahee requests report recipients utilize the information contained herein to assist the Port, the Illahee Community, and Kitsap County to correct past mistakes and to promote the protection of Puget Sound, Illahee Creek, the Illahee Creek watershed, and the underlying aquifers for the present and future generations."

Report Information. We will begin to share information in the report periodically in future updates. We understand Kitsap County is already looking at areas where efforts can begin.

Please Read the Port Letter. The Port of Illahee needs to be commended for their interests and concerns for Illahee Creek that resulted in their efforts to secure the Department of Ecology grant that funded a major scientific study of the watershed. The next steps will be up to everyone to help with the necessary fixes. We ask each Illahee resident to read the letter and to become aware of what is needed to "correct past mistakes."

Jim Aho

Outfall Settlement Statement - 3/5/09

Illahee Outfall Settlement Statement. We have received a copy of the "Illahee Outfall Settlement Support Statement" that has just been mailed out by the Illahee Community Club (ICC) to a rather lengthy distribution list.

Background. We have not gone back to get all the dates, but we remember being aware of the MT Illahee development plans in 2007. According the "Settlement Agreement" copy we have Kitsap County issued a "Mitigated Determination of Non Significance" or MDNS ruling for the project on October 23, 2007. This was approval for a new 42" storm water outfall located at the base of the Illahee Community Dock and the storm water system and development of a roadway and 10 lots on Sunrise Terrace, along with planning for a future development along Rest, Olive, and Hardt Streets.

Port & Community Appeals. The Port of Illahee and the Illahee Community Club each appealed the project, only to have the Hearing Examiner deny the appeals.

Appeal to the County Commissioners. The Port and the Community appealed the Hearing Examiner decision to the County Commissioners, only to have Commissioners' Angel and Bauer deny the appeal on June 9, 2008 (Commissioner Brown supported the appeal).

Appeal to the Shorelines Hearings Board (SHB). The ICC filed an appeal with the SHB on July 7, 2008, feeling the County, the Hearing Examiner, and the two Commissioners did not consider all the facts.

Port Action. In addition the ICC actions, the Port of Illahee had filed a no trespass lawsuit with Kitsap County Superior Court on March 4, 2008 to prevent the developer from cutting into the dock's foundation to install the new outfall.

Settlement Option. With the pending legal hearings and costs to both sides, ICC members met with one of the developer's engineers to see if they could come up with a mutually acceptable solution.

Settlement Agreement. The meetings eventually resulted in a "Settlement Agreement" signed by the MT Illahee Corporation, Kitsap County, the Port of Illahee, and the Illahee Community Club.

Agreement Timetable. The timetable of the agreement required revisions to the Shoreline Permit and the storm water system which were recently completed and approved by Kitsap County.

ICC Required Actions. There were several stipulations or requirements for the Illahee Community Club, including completing a "Settlement Statement" and sending it to the ICC email list, posting it on the Illahee Community Website, submitting it to the County, and forwarding it to local papers.

Jim Aho

ps Attached is John Lind photo of a tugboat going through Illahee.

Grant Report Executive Summary - 2/27/09

Department of Ecology Grant Report - We are starting to distribute information we received this week. The attached link is for an Executive Summary that was an attachment to a Port of Illahee letter that we will send out with the next Update.

Jim Aho

Information On Upcoming Updates - 2/26/09

Update Frequency. It has been awhile since the last update and the inquiries as to why are continuing. We have been busy with other things and also there has not been any email inputs received that could be passed on, except for some photos and a verbal report on some owl activity. That situation is changing as you will note below.

Grant Report Distributed. The Port of Illahee has distributed the "Illahee Creek Watershed Surface Water Management Plan" that was prepared by Parametrix and funded primarily by the Department of Ecology. We have received a copy of Port distribution letter, and the report itself, and will try to get them to you and on the website soon.

Illahee Outfall Settlement. We also found out the Illahee Community Club has completed a "Settlement Support Statement" letter that describes the benefits of the outfall settlement to the community and to the developer. Once it is signed we will obtain a copy and send it out to all our our email list, which was one of the stipulations of the settlement.

Puget Sound Partnership Reps in Illahee. We have received information that several representatives from the Puget Sound Partnership will be looking at various sites in Kitsap County on Sunday (3/1/09) and one of those sites will be Illahee. They will be meeting at the Illahee Preserve for a quick tour of Illahee and are evidently interested in what is happening with Illahee Creek and the impact of the creek on the Sound.

Missed Meeting Reports. We have been asked to keep up with reporting on recent Illahee meetings as many have advised us they have other obligations and can't make all the meetings. We understand and will try to get reports out on the January and February meetings.

Short Update. Look for more information on each of these items soon. We will likely send a separate Update out on each one with a link to the actual document so you can comment on them if you want.

Illahee Information. Please send us any information you think the community should be aware of and we will pass it on.

Jim Aho

ps The photos are of the new Preserve parking lot being installed and are from John Lind.

Break-in Update, Stolen Boat, Community Meeting - 2/13/09

Illahee Road Break-in Solved. Awhile ago we reported about a house break-in along Illahee Road. Last week there was an article in the Kitsap Sun about a person admitting to breaking into 80 homes which is available by clicking on the following link:

http://kitsapsun.com/news/2009/feb/06/kitsap-detectives-solve-80-cases-8212-with-help/

We just got notice that this was the person responsible for the break-in on Illahee Road. The person had about 75 jewelry items stolen and was able to recover 13 of them.

Boat Stolen. We also got notice of a boat being stolen this weekend. Below is the email we received. If you know of this stolen boat, please call the sheriff, or if you want we will pass any information on to the boat owner.

I have once again had a theft at my house. This time a boat taken off the beach sometime over the weekend. (I noticed it was gone on Sunday morning.)

It is an aluminum rowboat - a 14 foot Klamoth WN8479LD. Since there were no oars or motor with it, I don't think it got far, but who knows. I think it would have taken a couple of people to turn it over and carry it to the water. I am passing this on for two reasons. First, it may show up on someone's beach, and I can get it back, and also, because a lot of our neighbors have boats on their beach and they may want to check that nothing of theirs is missing. I have reported this to the police. At this rate, I am going to be on a first-name bases with all the deputies!

Community Meeting on Saturday. The Illahee Community Club will hold its first quarterly meeting of 2009 on Valentines Day, February 14, 2009 from 1:30 - 3 pm, at the Sylvan Way library. This is an important meeting as they discuss an Illahee Community Advisory Council that would report to the Kitsap County Commissioners, the status of the Replacement Illahee Outfall, whether to appeal the anticipated appeal rejection by the Hearing Examiner of the Timbers Edge project, and the status of the Illahee Creek culvert that continues to fill with sediment, and possibly other issues.

Jim Aho

Miscellaneous Items - 2/9/09

Illahee Website. The Illahee website was established for the Illahee community to have ready access to local issues and events, and to be able to communicate with each other.

Blog Site Established. The communication vehical is via a blog site, which is something the younger generation is more familar. We have had the blog site up for some time but the useage has been limited.

Website Advisory Committee Decision. There is an Illahee Community Website Advisory Committee that met last fall and suggested the Community Updates be linked to the blog site.

Why Do This? That was the question and the answer is that it allows others to quickly respond to any of the Updates and everyone can see the responses.

How Does It Work? The other day we put out an Update mentioning owls, and we ended up getting two great responses back. We haven't gotten them back out in an Update, but if they had sent them in as comments to the Update, they would have been available to anyone who wanted to look at them right away.

Illahee Community Club Meeting on Valentines Day. The Illahee Community Club will hold its first quarterly meeting of 2009 on Valentines Day, February 14, 2009 from 1:30 - 3 pm, at the Sylvan Way library. This is an important meeting as they discuss an Illahee Community Advisory Council that would report to the Kitsap County Commissioners, the status of the Replacement Illahee Outfall, whether to appeal the anticipated appeal rejection by the Hearing Examiner of the Timbers Edge project, and the status of the Illahee Creek culvert that continues to fill with sediment, and possibly other issues.

Illahee Owls. We received the following report of Illahee owls a few weeks ago:

Last night around 6:15, during our weekly pickle ball match, we heard this continuous very loud high pitched hooting to the Southwest near Sunset Ave or Hicks Street. Then we all noticed the back and forth series of hooting coming closer and to our amazement two Barred Owls flew right over the house and pickle ball court, 20-25 feet off the ground, hooting at each other as they flew. One was trailing the other by about 12 feet. At first, I thought there may have been more than just the two, but this is all we clearly viewed. The two owls flew toward the east and perched in some trees near East Blvd. They continued their hooting for another 45 minutes. Last year a barred owl perched in an alder tree watching our pickle ball match for nearly three hours in the bright court light. The owls seemed to be curious of the fast moving pickle ball.

March 12th Owl Presentation. Kitsap Audubon speaker for March 12th was covered in the following Seattle Time's article on Jan 29, 2009:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2008682771_nwwowls290.html

Thursday Meeting Questions - 1/28/09

Thursday Evening Meeting Questions. We have received a few questions about Thursday evening's meeting at the Norm Dicks Center to present the approved Illahee Community Plan and hear a presentation by Parametrix of their study of the Illahee Creek watershed.


Why the Norm Dicks Center Instead of the Library? First of all the library was not available and it is harder to schedule because of the cutback in the library hours. Secondly, the Norm Dick's Center is a state of the art facility for presentations. And, by having the meeting in the evening, parking is readily available.


Why Brief the Approved Community Plan? We have found that there are a number of Illahee residents who are not familiar with all of the aspects of the Community Plan, including some of the boundary changes made at the last minute by the County Commissioners. We felt this would be a good opportunity to combine two meetings to make it more efficient for community members. There is also a question of whether there is a need for the Citizen Advisory Group to continue.


Is the Watershed Report the Grant Report? The quick response is Yes. The long response is the Port of Illahee received a Department of Ecology grant of $181,000 to complete a basin assessment and to develop a Surface Water Management Plan. The report was issued in late 2008 and is just getting ready for distribution. This will be the first public presentation of the findings of the report.


Why Was the Grant Needed? There are a number of issues with Illahee Creek and the watershed. They have to do with problems with:

• Surface Water Runoff
  
• Landslides
  
• Reduced Aquifer Recharge
  
• Water Quality
  
• Filling of the Illahee Creek Culvert
  
• Degraded Salmon Habitat

Are There Solutions? That is what the Parametrix report is supposed to do, tell us what the solutions are to the above problems.


Do You Need Help? We have not asked for help yet, but we would like to ask for some via this email update. We would like to have some reference tables at the back of the room for those wanting information regarding the Illahee Forest Preserve and the Illahee Community Club. Our resident photographer has another engagement and we would like to have someone take photos of the meeting and another person to operate a video camera. We have the camera, but not a tripod. We have the conference room from 5 pm to 9 pm and will start setting up at 5:30 pm for those who may be able to help.


Thank You for Your Questions.

Jim Aho
PS - Ten signs were placed throughout the Illahee Community. The one in the attached photo was on Sunset. We often have the signs at the end of McWilliams taken down by someone so there may be only nine out there.

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

Press Release - 1/23/09

Important Meeting on 1/29/09. The following Press Release was sent to local papers today regarding briefings that should be of interest to all Illahee residents and others in Kitsap County.

ILLAHEE CREEK WATERSHED FINAL REPORT BRIEFING
      &
ILLAHEE COMMUNITY PLAN BRIEFING

The Illahee Creek Watershed Surface Water Management Plan final report briefing by Parametrix, and a briefing of the adopted Illahee Community Plan by Kitsap County, will be held at the Norm Dicks Government Center on the evening of January 29, 2009 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.

Speakers will be: Erin Nelson, the Parametrix Project Manager for the Port of Illahee / Department of Ecology Centennial Clean Water grant; and Katrina Knutson, Senior Planner with the Kitsap County Department of Community Development.

The Parametrix report is funded by a grant obtained by the Port of Illahee from the Washington State Department of Ecology and includes basin assessments, an aquifer protection plan, and specific recommendations to correct identified problem areas. The briefing will provide an overview of the assessment findings and then concentrate on the identified recommendations and projects needed to fix the problems. The Parametrix report is related to ongoing water quality testing and stormwater planning supported by Kitsap County Health District and Kitsap County Public Works.

The Illahee Community Plan was recently adopted by the Kitsap County Board of County Commissioners and represents a collaborative effort between Kitsap County and the Illahee Community to develop a plan that meets the needs of both Kitsap County and the Illahee Community. The briefing will cover the revised community boundaries, the new Green Belt Zone, the View Protection Overlay, and a brief discussion of whether the Citizens Advisory Group should continue.

The presentation schedule is as follow:

6:30 pm Illahee Community Plan Briefing

7:00 pm Parametrix Briefing

A question and answer session will follow each presentation.

Questions? If you have any questions, the point of contact is Jim Aho @ 479-1049.

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

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 Photos - 1/19/09

Pictures of Illahee Wildlife. Many of you have told us that you enjoy the wildlife updates and especially the photos of local birds and animals. We would like to get some of the river otters that frequent the area and any other animal or bird that we haven't sent out photos of. We will pass them on if you send them to us. If you want credit, please note that.

Previously Sent Fox Photo. We had a biologist send in the following comment regarding one of the fox photos we sent out last week: The second picture looked like the fox may have had mange.

Baby Fox Photos. John Lind sent in a couple of baby fox photos he took a few years ago.

Hairy Woodpecker. Last weekend during the Rotarian work party a Hairy Woodpecker was sighted along the new trail that was being built.

Common Mergansers. A frequent sight along the Illahee shoreline areas are groups of Common Mergansers swimming along the shoreline. Mergansers are fish ducks and are avoided by hunters and as one reference book says "the ire of fisherman and hatcherymen." When they encounter a school of fish the whole group becomes active diving after the fish. The group seen here is a little less than a hundred and are most often seen during high tides. We haven't seen as many of their cousins this year, the Red-breasted Mergansers.

Jim Aho

Miscellaneous Items - 1/16/09

Gilberton Creek. There is water flowing in Gilberton Creek from the new culvert to Puget Sound. Most of it appears to be from groundwater flow that is piped to two vertical concrete pipes upstream of the culvert.

Gilberton Creek Bank Washouts. We were surprised to see the washout areas from a moderate rainfall. The first photo is looking toward the culvert inlet and it taken from upstream. The second and third photos are looking back toward the culvert outlet and at the plastic cover that has been placed over the roadway bank washout area.

Gilberton Creek Restoration. A grant has been applied for to restore Gilberton Creek. We are waiting to find out if the Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC) is successful in obtaining the grant. They were supposed to know by January 2nd, but an email to them this week indicated they had not received any confirmation. We found out about the grant when the GPC put out a position announcement to hire a "Gilberton Creek Community Restoration Project Coordinator." Applications are to be in by 1/16/09 and are dependent upon the receipt of grant funding.

Illahee Creek. The report from Illahee Creek is little change was noticed from the last snow and rain events. It was noted however that sediment has nearly filled the area excavated by the county in the fall.

Illahee Preserve Parking Lot. Work should begin the next week on the new Preserve parking lot along Almira. We will try to get some photos.

Last Weeks Preserve Work Party. If anyone drove along Riddell Road by the Preserve last Saturday morning they were aware of a large Rotarian Work Party, along with some Illahee residents, working on trails within the preserve. Lots of wood chips were moved in the area along Thompson Lane, and a new trail was established. Some are probably aware that Thompson Lane serves about 14 home sites in the center of the Preserve area. One of the Rotarians stayed late to finish up some work and had his car sideswiped as it was parked along Thompson Lane. We have included his writeup of the event.

I suppose I should let you know about an unfortunate incidence which occurred after our work party at Illahee Forest Preserve last Saturday. I went back down to our trail project to do some additional sculpting and packing of the fill materials along the trail where East Bremerton Rotary and other volunteers had earlier been working. I took my car because it had my tools, plus it was a lot quicker to drive than walk from the Riddell Road parking lot. As I've done so many times during dozens and dozens of work sessions in Illahee Forest, I parked my car along the driveway. There was a wide spot in the driveway which allowed my car to be well off the road. From there I joined Lori Raymaker and Jim Aho to walk over to the proposed parking lot area along Almira Drive. When I got back an hour later someone had done a surgical sideswipe of my car. The ground was wet and soft so you could see where someone had swerved way over to hit my car. They targeted the driver's rear view mirror. Bingo! They just nicked the trim on my side. I think I'll be able to clean it up. However the mirror is beat up. I'll need to replace it.

I thought others would want to know.

Dates to Save. Please save the evening of January 29th for a presentation of the final Parametrix report on Illahee Creek issues. We are also planning to have an overview of the approved Illahee Community Plan. On February 14th the Illahee Community Club will meet at the Sylvan Way Library at 1:30 pm. We will provide more information on these meetings later.

Jim Aho

Fox Photos & Timbers Edge Info - 1/13/09

Mottled or Cross Fox? Some are asking for more information on exactly what a mottled fox is and are wondering if it isn't a cross between a dog and fox. We did some more research and found the more common name is a Cross Fox. "Cross foxes are a color variant of the Red Fox Vulper Vulpes. Other color variants are the silver fox and black fox. A litter of kits (baby foxes) can have all the variants. The cross fox gets its name from the cross on its back. There is a black stripe that goes from the top of the head to the tail and a second stripe that runs across the shoulders forming a cross." (from the website CrossFox.Info)

Photos. John Lind was able to get some photos a few years ago, which are attached. About that same time period we noticed a differently colored fox heading north along the beach very early in the morning, like he had strayed too far at night and was hurrying home.

Fox Report. We just received the following report as we were working on this Update.

Jim, last fall we saw two foxes stalking the neighbors cat one evening. One was typical red in color, the other one was charcoal grey/ black in color. I went out to rescue the cat and the black one was about twenty feet away, not wanting to give up on the cat. This was 11 PM, on Canoe Trail NE. Thunderbird Park.

Timbers Edge Legal Documents. We have been providing the closing argument documents of the Timbers Edge appeal and we wanted to provide those prepared by the Timbers Edge lawyer, Ron Templeton. We sent Document #4 out and are having problems sending out Document #5. It is only 8 pages but it was sent out as a very large pdf file of 2.3 megabytes and too large for many on our email list to receive. We will try to send it on to you if you if you desire to see it; simply respond to this email. We are sending out the final document which is Document 6, which we found very informative and provided a nice conclusion to many of the previous documents.

Document #1. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with County Code (Sent out on 1/10/09) (NOTE: large file to be sent upon request)

Document #2. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) (Attached)

Document #3. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Attachments (Attached)

Document #4. Timbers Edge Closing Arguments (Attached)

Document #5. Timbers Edge Rebuttal to the Illahee Community Club's Closing Briefs (NOTE: 2.3MB file to be sent upon request)

Document #6. Illahee Community Club Reply to the Timbers Edge Rebuttal (Attached)

Timbers Edge Legal Fund Status. We will try to get a report of the status of the Timbers Edge legal fund and find out what is planned for the future and include it in a future Update.

Jim Aho

Wildlife & Timbers Edge Info - 1/11/09

Peacocks in the Preserve? If you are wondering if there were really peacocks in the Illahee Preserve we have two photos that show evidence of the demise of one next to the Preserve parking area on McWilliams Road. On Saturday, while looking at the trail work done by the Rotary and some Illahee residents, we could hear a peacock's call in the Preserve. Evidently, someone on the south side of McWillams Road raises peacocks, according to a recipient of our Updates.

Mottled Fox Sighted. There have been mottled foxes along the shoreline area of Illahee for years. They are noctural animals and not often seen. When they are seen they can easily be mistaken for a dog because of their mottled coloring. We had to go to some detailed fox books a few years ago to verify that there really are mottled foxes and that was what we had in that area of Illahee. We have seen red foxes in the Brownsville area, and red foxes have been seen in the area around Illahee State Park and the Preserve. So far it is just the one area where the mottled foxes have been seen.

Photos? We have heard of one person who has photographed some of the mottled foxes and hope to get ahold of them and get some pictures to share.

Timbers Edge Legal Documents. We have been providing the closing argument documents of the Timbers Edge appeal and now it is time to provide those prepared by the Timbers Edge lawyer, Ron Templeton. There will be two documents which will be Document #4 and Document #5.

Document #1. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with County Code (Sent out on 1/10/09) (NOTE: FILE IS TOO BIG TO UPLOAD)

Document #2. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) (Attached)

Document #3. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Attachments (Attached)

Document #4. Timbers Edge Closing Arguments (Attached)

Document #5. Timbers Edge Rebuttal to the Illahee Community Club's Closing Briefs

Document #6. Illahee Community Club Reply to the Timbers Edge Rebuttal

Lots of Information. We understand this is a lot of information to comprehend. There are many people who will be affected by the Timbers Edge development and so we want to provide them the necessary information. Newspapers do not the the space to cover extensive projects like this so this is likely the only place this information will be available, except for the files at the county.

Jim Aho

More Questions & Timbers Edge Info - 1/11/09

More Questions. There are questions regarding the Illahee Creek culvert and the new Gilberton Creek culvert.

Illahee Creek Questions. What is happening with Illahee Creek? Did the County's excavation of all the sediment in the culvert work? Were there any problems with the December storms? We heard the culvert is filling back up with sediment - is that true?

Gilberton Creek Questions. We heard there is a grant being applied for to restore Gilberton Creek? Are you going to post any pictures of the small bank washouts upstream and downstream of the new culvert? Is the Great Peninsula Conservancy trying to buy Gilberton Creek adjoining properties? We heard that the southern portion of the Gilberton Creek watershed and the culvert is within the Illahee Community boundary, but not the lower portion of the stream? Who is the point of contact for Gilberton Creek questions?

Timbers Edge Legal Document List Update. It turns out we did not list all the legal documents in our previous Update. We left off the "attachments" to the Illahee Community Club closing arguments (now Document #3) and failed to note the Timbers Edge closing arguments (now Document #4). We think the following list of documents is now correct. (NOTE: SOME OF THESE DOCUMENTS ARE TOO LARGE TO BE UPLOADED AT THIS TIME)

Document #1. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with County Code (Sent out on 1/10/09)

Document #2. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) (Attached)

Document #3. Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Attachments (Attached)

Document #4. Timbers Edge Closing Arguments

Document #5. Timbers Edge Rebuttal to the Illahee Community Club's Closing Briefs

Document #6. Illahee Community Club Reply to the Timbers Edge Rebuttal

State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Appeals. We don't know much about these appeals except they seem to be subjectively decided. The issue seems to be what is a "significant" impact. The developers deny their project will have a significant impact and are good at finding engineers who agree with them. After all, it is a matter of someones interpretation of "significant."

County Generally Sides With Developers. The county normally tries to work out the best deal they can for the environment, to a point. However, when the developer's engineers come in with documents that say there will be no significant impact of a project they need to generally agree since these documents are signed by registered Professional Engineers. That is unless there is conflicting information.

Community Involvement Needed. That is where communities need to be vigilant because there are developers, engineers, and expert witnesses out there who will provide answers not necessarily for the benefit of the community or the environment.

Illahee Involvement Example. An example of how the Illahee community first became involved with Timbers Edge project was when large concrete detention vaults were being proposed to be installed on the steep slopes of Illahee Creek. Briefly, the developer's geotech firm said it wasn't a problem, so the community hired a geotech firm to do an independent study and they concluded there were problems. That situation then required a third party independent study that agreed there were problems. If the community had not gotten involved they would likely be living with the detention vaults, along with all the county taxpayers would have inherited paying for any future problems.

Another County Reason to Side With Developers. Another reason the county sides with developers is if they deny a project and the developer challenges it in court and is successful, the county ends up paying all the court costs along with damages. So with those possible financial liability concerns, county officials are likely advised to side with the developers and very rarely do they find "significant" impacts that would warrant an environmental impact statement or EIS.

Another Problem for Communities. Another problem communities have is they do not have equal status once the county has made a determination there is no significant environmental impact or that the impact can be mitigated to not be a significant impact. The county environmental officer's decision is weighted or given extra authority over that of the community. The only possible way to prevail is for the community's expert witnesses to be so good or compelling that Hearing Examiner is somehow swayed to rule against the county officer. It then becomes a situation of the Hearing Examiner's ability to understand the issues and rule appropriately. In Kitsap County they have rarely, if at all, over-ruled the environmental officer's decision.

Why The SEPA Appeal Then? That is a good question for the Illahee Community Club. We have heard they felt they had no choice. They have told us that they feel the possibility of losing Illahee Creek as a salmon stream was a significant environmental impact that the Hearing Examiner could not ignore.

SEPA Arguments. That was a long introduction from our non-legal background and possibly uninformed perspective of the SEPA issues. The particulars of the Timbers Edge SEPA appeal are in the attached document. The attachments to the SEPA appeal are in the second attached document.

Comments Appreciated. We have given you our best understanding and appreciate any alternative interpretations and comments.

Jim Aho

Questions & Timbers Edge Information - 1/10/09

Questions. We have been getting questions on a number of items we present in our Illahee Updates.

Examples. What are the new Illahee community boundaries? What was a peacock doing in the Preserve? Why were you glad to see the commercial corridor removed from the Community Plan? What are bio-infiltration swales? What is tightlining and why is it bad? Where is Illahee North and its detention pond? What is happening with Timbers Edge and what are the legal issues? Where is Timbers Edge? When is the sewer going to be installed? Are they still dumping untreated stormwater at the Illahee dock? When are you going to put in my wildlife report? What is happening around the Illahee Preserve by the Mental Health facilities? We saw some flagging on Almira - is it for the proposed Preserve parking lot?- is it going to be built soon? When is the final updated Illahee Community Plan going to be issued? Are you going to have party to celebrate? Is the Citizens Advisory Group going to disband or keep meeting?

These and many more are questions residents have asked and we would like to start answering them as best we can. If anyone would like to try and answer any of these, please feel free and we will pass them on.

Timbers Edge Response. Timbers Edge items are the most often asked questions. First of all, Timbers Edge is a proposed development going in along the ridge south of the main fork of Illahee Creek. Residents in the area of the development are concerned about the small legacy sized lots (many are 3400 square feet), and the traffic impact on Fir Drive, which is not being upgraded. Others are concerned about the impact to Illahee Creek fearing further loss of the base flow in the creek will result in it no longer being a viable salmon stream. Those concerns were substantiated by studies paid for by community residents several years ago that cost approximately $14,000. This past year the Port of Illahee/Department of Ecology grant report also substantiated the concern of the residents regarding the base flow in the stream.

Residents Not Against Development. The residents in the area are not against development, just the high density development being proposed, and the detrimental impact to Illahee Creek.

Compromise Recommended. Resident representatives met with the developer and recommended larger lots with septic systems as being acceptable to the community, but were told that the cost of putting in sewers was small in comparison with the anticipated profit, and therefore the developer rejected the idea.

Legal Battle In Progress. The community met and agreed to hire a lawyer to contest some of the development issues. Most importantly, they provided the dollars necessary for the legal battle. This was on top of the legal costs associated with the Illahee Outfall Project that was appealed to the Shorelines Hearings Board and is currently going through a settlement process. Those costs in 2008 for both appeals amounted to a few dollars short of $20,000; mostly for lawyer fees and expert witnesses.

Legal Costs Continue. The legal costs for Timbers Edge continued with written closing arguments and the Illahee Community Club urgently needs contributions to its legal fund, which will be substantial again in 2009.

Legal Documents. We have received copies of the legal documents and are going to send out them out over the next few days. We have found them well written and interesting. There are four documents so far with the latest being sent out on Friday 1/9/09.

Document #1 Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with County Code (Attached)

Document #2 Illahee Community Club Closing Brief Regarding Lack of Compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)

Document #3 Timbers Edge Rebuttal to the Illahee Community Club's Closing Brief.

Document #4 Illahee Community Club Reply to the Timbers Edge Rebuttal

Legal Appeals Costly. As a person reads these documents the high costs become evident. A synopsis of the comments of many residents is something like this: "We will live here for many years, possibly our lifetime. If we don't stand up for what we think is right, we will end up with a mismatched development, road/traffic problems, a degraded or failed salmon stream, among other things. This appeal is the only opportunity we have to try to get this development done right and if you don't do something now we only have ourselves to blame."

Large pdf Files. These documents are large pdf files and many email providers do not allow these large attachments, which is one of the reason we are sending them separately. Even this first email Update may not be received my some and may have to be resent with out the attached file. We would then look at putting it up on the website. NOTE: These files are too large at this time to be posted on the website.

Jim Aho

Important Items - 1/8/09

Minor Illahee Oil Spill. Anyone walking by the Illahee North detention pond early this week noticed green and white oil absorbent pads placed at the stormwater outfall coming into the pond, and green pads placed at the overflow outlet where water was leaving the pond. Emails to the Health Department found the pads were placed by Kitsap County Public Works personnel in response to calls from Illahee North residents who reported an oil sheen visible on the pond waters. The county was unable to determine the source of the spill which evidently was visible just as the pond was freezing over but not reported until the ice left. See the attached photos showing the white and green absorbent pads.

Tightlining. The stormwater system in Illahee North tightlines the 20 acre development's stormwater into the detention pond where the water is detained and the overflow is then discharged at the Illahee community dock. The problems with this type of stormwater system is there is no aquifer recharge or bioinfiltration close to the source of the stormwater. Experts have determined that the earlier requirements for these ponds were inadequate and that there are now better methods and systems for taking care of stormwater. Also, when there is a contamination problem like a sewage spill or oil spill, overflows from the pond are tightlined directly to Puget Sound.

Illahee Outfall Mailing. On Wednesday many Illahee residents received a "Shoreline Permit Revision" notice from Kitsap County. This is the settlement outfall that better distributes overflow stormwater to Puget Sound rather than concentrating it all at the Illahee community dock. We have presented the details of the settlement in previous Updates which are also available at the website illaheecommunity.com.

Bio-Infiltration Swales. The new Sunrise Terrace development is using bio-infiltration swales which will process 90 to 95% of our normal rains back into the aquifers and only the overflow will be directed to Puget Sound. This is the direction the Department of Ecology and the Puget Sound Partnership is recommending for handling stormwater and is a great improvement over the tightlining system discussed earlier.

Cost of Legal Challenges. The "Settlement Outfall" was a compromise agreement between the Illahee Community Club, the Port of Illahee, and the MT Illahee Corporation. The end results are improved methods for handling stormwater. But, it also comes at a substantial cost in dollars for the Illahee Community and the Port of Illahee, not to mention to the developer. Just the Community Club's legal costs of the Outfall appeal and the Timbers Edge appeal were $20,000 in 2008.

Timbers Edge - Waiting on Hearing Examiner. The Timbers Edge project appeal is waiting on the Hearing Examiner's decision. The community just received the attorney's bill for the closing argument portion of the hearing and they find themselves $3,000 short.

Volunteer Donations Needed. The Illahee Community Club urgently needs donations to its legal fund in order to continue to work for agreements such as the Settlement Outfall. The Hearing Examiner hearing the Timbers Edge appeal has a nearly 100% record of siding with the County so they expect further appeals may be needed. This is a situation where the community voted with its contributions in 2008 and will need to do so again in 2009 if things are to proceed.

Revised Illahee Boundary Map. We are waiting for a revised Illahee Community Plan Boundary map from the county and will send it out when we receive it.

Jim Aho

Miscellaneous Items - 1/7/09

Vic Ulsh. We received the following information from Vic Ulsh. Vic is an amazing guy who wears many hats. Vic heads up the East Bremerton Rotary work parties in the Illahee Preserve. The Rotary is instrumental in much of the volunteer work in the Preserve including paying for signs and picnic tables. Vic is also one of the co-chairs of the Illahee Preserve Stewardship committee and if anyone wants to help in the next work party, the information is available below. As you will gather from his writeup below, he is an Audubon member and leads bird outings.

KITSAP AUDUBON: Schedule change for Kitsap Audubon. The Kitsap Audubon meeting is tonight, Wednesday, January 7th starting at 7PM in the lower level of Poulsbo Library. Award winning nature photographer and conservationist Paul Bannick will talk about his recent book "The Owl and The Woodpecker" in a presentation which promises to be woven with spectacular photography, stories, and good information about these two fascinating types of birds. Public is welcome. No charge.

Note: Wednesday's Kitsap Sun noted the Audubon meeting was on Thursday rather than Wednesday. Evidently there was a scheduling problem at the Library and the Audubon meeting was moved up to Wednesday. Pass the word to any who might might interested.

WORK PARTY: We are having a work party this Saturday, January 10th at Illahee Forest Preserve to move wood chips onto trails. Meeting time this Saturday is 8:30 AM at the Thompson Lane entry into Illahee Forest Preserve, located "at the top" of Riddell Road. Parking is available on Riddell Road or Olympus Drive. Wheelbarrows, gloves and pitchforks are most helpful. Members of East Bremerton Rotary will be in attendance. We are excited about putting wood chips onto a new trail section at the north end of Thompson Lane. This will connect Thompson Lane to the Fuson Road Trail. Anyone who cares to join the fun is welcome. Call Vic Ulsh with questions daytime 479-6900 or evenings 373-4824 or vic@bradleyscottinc.com.

BIRD COUNT: First, we completed the Audubon bird count for Kitsap yesterday. Rather difficult conditions for man and bird. Attached is the rough summary prepared for East Bremerton. A few of the viewing points included Illahee State Park - dock and forest, Illahee Community Dock, Illahee Forest Preserve, and Brownsville Marina. Highlights included hermit thrush, varied thrush, ruby crowned kinglets, and a flock of golden crowned kinglets, all on the ground in one parking lot at Illahee State Park. It was magical. The cold weather seems to have brought the kinglets out of the treetops and down to the ground searching for food.



GATE MALFUNCTION: The gate into Thompson Lane at Illahee Forest Preserve was inoperable on Saturday when I visited to do some advance work in preparation for next week's work party with East Bremerton Rotary. The gate was stuck wide open. It would not respond to a gate key. I reported the malfunction via voice mail to County Maintenance supervisor Jim Stoll and to Lori Raymaker. It appears a repairman will be visiting the site this week, but not sure of the date.



PEACOCK: About half way down the Thompson Lane driveway in to Illahee Forest Preserve I encountered a peacock walking toward me on the road. What a dumbfounding experience that was. I parked my car and walked along with it for 100 yards. Very tame. Very docile. I called several area folks to see if anyone knew anything about someone with a missing peacock. I also tried to call you, but no answer. Finally I called Kitsap Humane Society, but they had no thoughts or suggestions other than for me to take the peacock home for the weekend until a KHS officer was available to assist. They were very cordial, but under-staffed and under-equipped for such an inquiry. The peacock finally went into the woods. I fear a coyote or one of the multitude of off-leash dogs will be the demise of this beautiful bird. I'm still struggling to believe what I saw. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the peacock on Sunday to include it within the Audubon bird count.

Keep the Information Coming. Thank you for providing us with information we can pass on.

Jim Aho

Lost Dog Found & Photos - 1/5/09

Lost Dog Report. When we found out about a lost dog, Laurie Jones our web manager put the information on the illaheecommunity.com website and we also sent out the information on an Illahee Community Update email that goes out to about 300 recipients. It appears the email did it this time. Alison O'Sullivan, a biologist with the Suquamish Tribe, forwarded the following:

Happy Ending!!

I forwarded your email to a friend of mine who still works at the shelter. She went out and checked the kennels and sure enough the dog was there. She called them and they came and got the dog @1p Friday.

Local Seals Resting Photo. There are a number of local seals that use area floats to get out of the water. There have been reported more than twenty seals on this float at one time. It is also used by river otters, cormorants, shorebirds, seagulls, and bald eagles.

Snow Goose Photo. Every now and then a snow goose is seen with the Canada Geese. This photo shows the snow goose on Sunday (1/4/09) eating along side the Canada geese and wigeon ducks.

Squid Fisherman in the Snow Photo. Last evening (1/4/09) during the snow storm we were surprised to see two hardy squid fisherman at the Illahee Community Dock.

Other Bird Sightings. A female loon on 1/5/09, which are usually seen only in the fall and spring. And the following:

Pileated woodpecker at our suet feeder this morning (10:40) AM. Also, a downy woodpecker.

Jim Aho

Missed Miscellaneous Items - 1/2/09

Seattle PI Guest Columnist. We were forwarded the attached article from the Dec 14th Seattle PI and asked why we have not passed it on. The column appear first in the Olympian and then in the Post Intelligencer. The link to the article is http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/392115_firstperson15.html

Robins Here are Not Local. We sent out an Update yesterday that stated the robins being observed this winter were local. We were wrong. According to the Audubon experts, they are not local Robins as noted in the attached response received, but rather migrants.

Hey Jim:

By the way, an interesting note from my aunt. The robins we have here in the summer are not the same as the ones we have here in the winter. They all migrate north/south during those seasons. Our winter robins spend summer season nesting further north of here. Our summer nesting robins spend winter further south. Robin behavior dictates they flock-up during winter, then pair up for nesting activity in spring.

Other Wildlife Notes. We were also remiss in not noting that one of the local ravens appears to have a cold or something because of his strange cawing. They are mostly heard around the Illahee Preserve.

Some seals were reported working the shoreline after corralling some kind of fish and one of the bald eagles was able to get a fish in the process. There were even a river otter trying to get in on the action.

A red breasted sapsucker was sighted when the persons cat became interested in a nearby tree. One of the sounds made by the red-breasted sapsucker is a meow like a cat. They didn't hear the "meow" sound but surmised that something attracted the cat to the tree.

More Snowbrush Bush Information. Attached are two websites with more information on Snowbrush bushes, which are native plants in this area.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CEVE

http://www.cwnp.org/photopgs/cdoc/cevelutinus.html

Thank you for keeping us informed. We get a number of emails everyday and sometimes get behind. We don't mind reminders. We especially like emails where can simply paste your comments.

Jim Aho

Miscellaneous Items - 1/1/09

New Years Greetings!

Lost Dog Report on 1/1/09.

We lost our female, great pryenees (big white dog) on a walk on the beach 1/1/09 about half way between the Illahee dock and the Brownsville marina. Her name is Koda and she is very friendly. Please call 360-633-7224 if you see/find her.

Thank you, Josh Jablonski

Website Used. Josh used the illaheecommunity.com website email address to post his lost dog notice. We want to send it out via email as not everyone monitors the website. Website posts are forwarded to several of us so if you want to get something out to the community quickly, send it to the website and it is likely someone will respond soon.

More Hummingbird Items. We continue to be amazed at the number of hummingbirds that winter over in our area, and the response we had to our email updates. Attached is the most authoritative we've received, from our blog:

fieldguidetohummingbirds has left a new comment on your post "Miscellaneous Items - 12/21/08":

The wildlife rescue person misinformed you. The commercial hummingbird "food" sold in most stores (a.k.a. "instant nectar") contains no extra nutrition. It's just overpackaged, overpriced sugar with unnecessary dyes, flavorings, preservatives. There is a complete artificial diet for hummingbirds, but it's very expensive, not sold in ordinary pet stores, and only necessary for long-term captive hummingbirds.

Free-living wild hummingbirds get the bulk of their nutrition from eating insects and spiders, and while there are not many of those to be had when the temperatures get very cold, your local Anna's Hummingbirds are tough and cold hardy and can get by on sugar water until the weather gets back to normal.

You're already doing the best thing you can do to help them survive unusually cold weather by to making your sugar water a little stronger than normal. A solution of 3 parts water to one part sugar will give them extra energy as well as freezing at a lower temperature than the standard 4:1 solution. Any stronger than that it it starts becoming too syrupy and hard to drink. See my blog for more. http://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/helping-hummingbirds-through-winter-weather/

Robins. We received the following email and can respond that there are a number of robins that winter here. We're not sure what the red berried bush is though which is visible in the first attached photo. There were a number of robins and varied thrushes observed near the Illahee Preserve during the snow. They were working the underbrush areas where the snow had not accumulated.

Robin or not ... we love our wildlife, and just a few days ago, a 'flock' of about 6-8 "robins" appeared in the yard. Their target was a rigid bush growing up the chimney which was full of red berries. Don't know what the bush is.. but the birds picked the branches clean and then went on their way ... isn't it too early for robins ??

Maybe your addressees might know what kind of bird this was ..

Snow Issues. We know that a number of Illahee residents were snowed in until this past Sunday. The most surprising for some was View Crest Drive, and at this time of year it is often referred to as Candy Cane Lane, when they went to view the Christmas lights on the evening of the 25th and found the street had not been cleared and they were barely able to get through. Evidently neither did the mailman for over a week to the disappointment of many residents.

Roosevelt Street. Roosevelt is probably one of the steepest roads in Illahee and one of the residents sent in the following snow comment to us early on, and probably wishes we had sent it out earlier:

Snowbound as we are near the top of the hill on NE Roosevelt, and with snow still falling, and with the prospect that we may not be able to get out by car until late this week, or whenever we have a significant thaw, I started wondering if there might be other Illahee residents who might want to contract for snow-removal service in the future. Maybe we won't have another snow like this in our lifetimes, but the idea seemed worth bringing up.

Snowbrush. One of the more interesting shrubs around is the Snowbrush which is a native evergreen, it was especially susceptible to the heavy snow. Several residents went walking in the snow by Audrey Boyer's residence on Ocean View during one snowy night during the storm and found Audrey working on trying to get several fallen Snowbrush branches out of her driveway. They helped her cut them up and haul them aside. We have attached some photos of Snowbrush shrubs in case you are not familiar with them. There are a number of them on Rest Place that came down as shown in the last photo.

Keep Passing on Information.

Jim Aho

LOST DOG - 1/1/09

To whom it may concern,

We lost our female, great pryenees (big white dog) on a walk on the beach 1/1/09 about half way between the Illahee dock and the Brownsville marina. Her name is Koda and she is very friendly. Please call 360-633-7224 if you see/find her.

Thank you.

Josh Jablonski