8 Acre Woods dedication is Dec. 12

Join the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District to dedicate the island’s newest park, 8 Acre Woods, at 2 p.m. Dec. 12.

Nestled in the woods near Skiff Point, this beautiful property has been donated to the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District by a conservation-minded donor for use as a walking-trails-only park.

The owner has allowed neighbors to enjoy the property for years, and this generous gift will make it a park in perpetuity.

8 Acre Woods is located at the corner of Manitou Beach Drive and Mountain View Road at Skiff Point.

8 Acre Woods dedication is Dec. 122024-11-27T14:17:18-08:00

Land gift creates 8 Acre Woods park near Rolling Bay

The gift of a wooded parcel near Rolling Bay is creating a new 8-acre neighborhood park.

To be known as 8 Acre Woods, the park property has been gifted by a conservation-minded donor to the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District via the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.

An open house and dedication will be held at the park at 2 p.m. Dec. 12.

8 Acre Woods is located at the corner of Manitou Beach Drive and Mountain View Road at Skiff Point. It shares a property line with the Fieldstone of Bainbridge, a  senior living center.

The property owner is a longtime supporter of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and was aware of the organization’s effort to bring opportunities to the areas of the Island underserved by parks and trails.

Informal walking trails on the property will be […]

Land gift creates 8 Acre Woods park near Rolling Bay2024-12-16T14:09:02-08:00

We join the No on I-2117 Coalition

The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation has joined the No on Initiative 2117 coalition, joining more than 500 Washington environmental groups, firefighters, small business owners, doctors, labor unions, Tribal Nations, farmers and more.  

Other local groups opposing I-2117 include the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, Sustainable Bainbridge, IslandWood, Puget Sound Restoration Fund, EcoAdapt, Friends of Little Manzanita Bay, Friends of the Farms, and Climate Action Bainbridge.  

Learn more about the No on I-2117 Coalition here: […]

We join the No on I-2117 Coalition2024-12-16T14:11:08-08:00

Lovely new entryway at Moritani Preserve

If a stroll through Moritani Preserve seems a little sunnier these days, well, it’s not just that summer is finally here.

Strategic thinning of over-dense stands of fir has opened the park to the gift of sunlight from above, and a budding of healthy new understory on the forest floor.

“When you look out, you can see spacing between the trees. Sunlight is filtering in through the canopy,” said Lydia Roush, Park Superintendent for Bainbridge Metro Parks. “There’s tons of new sword ferns regenerating, tons of new osoberry (Indian plumb) coming up already. It’s exactly what we want to see. It’s beautiful.”

Park District staff and volunteers replanted the preserve’s southeast entrance in June, supported by a grant from the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.

Ferns, Oregon grape, bitter cherry, red flowering currant, mock orange, dogwood and kinnikinnick now line the entry path, along with a tumble of granite boulders. The path refresh […]

Lovely new entryway at Moritani Preserve2024-06-27T15:49:02-07:00

Weed-munching goats return to Blakely Harbor

Weed-munching goats are back at Blakely Harbor Park, for a week of environmental stewardship on the hoof funded by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.

The herd some is deployed along the park’s south trail, there to suppress ivy, blackberry and other noxious weeds as only goats can: by eating them.

The herd from Vason-based Rent-a-Ruminant is comprised of “rescue” goats always eager to do their part for park restoration. The herd has worked Blakely Harbor Park several times in recent years, most recently munching invasive understory near the park meadow last summer.

The goats are one part of a progressive ecological restoration at the signature shoreline park. Student Conservation Corps, EarthCorps and year-round volunteer programs including the Parks & Trails Foundation’s ParksCorps follow the goats with weeding, mulching and other activities.

The goats are funded by a grant from the Parks & Trails Foundation. The grant will also fund reintroduction of native […]

Weed-munching goats return to Blakely Harbor2024-06-11T08:58:44-07:00

It’s Earth Month! Get involved with great activities

April is Earth Month on Bainbridge Island, and we’re proud to partner with Sustainable Bainbridge, Bainbridge Metro Parks and other great

See the full list of activities here, or find great ways to celebrate Earth Month below:

Earth care book displays, April 1-30, at the Bainbridge Public Library and Eagle Harbor Books – Learn more about individual and systemic actions that are restorative to a healthy planet by perusing and perhaps borrowing or buying books from the displays at the library and bookstore.

Prevent Food Waste display, April 1-15, Bainbridge Public Library – Food tossed in the trash is one of the biggest causes of methane emissions from landfills. Check out the lobby display case created by Kitsap Solid Waste for tips on making food last and using it up before it goes bad.

Attract Predatory Insects to Protect Your Garden, Tuesday, April 2, 6:30-8 pm on Zoom – Meet the many insects that protect […]

It’s Earth Month! Get involved with great activities2024-04-01T14:01:52-07:00

Join us for Superpowers of Our Parks & Trails

Dr. Howard Frumkin shares the “Superpowers of Our Parks and Trails” April 25, for youth, family health and wellness 

Our parks and trails deliver an astonishing range of physical and mental health benefits – and the science behind this nature-health connection has blossomed in recent years.   

Join us as Dr. Howard Frumkin presents “Superpowers of Our Parks and Trails,” a dynamic presentation for families and parents at 7 p.m. April 25 at the Bainbridge High School Theater. The event is co-sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Youth Services. 

Learn about the link between parks and positive health outcomes for those who use and enjoy them regularly. Sample the latest research, consider what this means for family lifestyle choices and broader policies, and explore ideas to integrate parks and trails time into our busy lives. 

The event is free, but […]

Join us for Superpowers of Our Parks & Trails2024-04-01T16:47:32-07:00

Day of Remembrance was one to remember

The Day of Remembrance was one to remember. 

The annual stewardship event brought more than 100 volunteers from the island, Seattle and beyond to tidy up the grounds of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial at Pritchard Park. It marked the 82-year anniversary of federal Executive Order 9066, which on Feb. 19, 1942, authorized the wartime incarceration of citizens of Japanese ancestry. 

The stewardship event – a prelude to the March 30 Exclusion Day observance – was hosted by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, and co-sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District. 

Ellen Sato Faust, BIJAEMA executive director, thanked all for their participation. 

“Young and old, rain or shine, volunteers play a crucial role in furthering our mission and ensuring that the stories and experience of those affected by the […]

Day of Remembrance was one to remember2024-02-23T08:39:47-08:00

Rain can’t stop rowers in Waterfront Park stewardship

Rain means nothing to rowers. They are, they’re glad to remind you, out on the water five days a week, come what may from the skies above.  

“The only time practice would be canceled is if there’s whitecaps or really extreme weather,” says Hayley Ransom, a junior in her third year with Bainbridge Island Rowing. 

Adds junior Bennett Hay: “But then we’d just go inside (the boathouse) and work out. We’re out here no matter what.”  

No surprise then that a contingent some 60 strong turned out for the club’s latest ParksCorps volunteer stewardship event at Waterfront Park – under soggy winter skies, and on Super Bowl Sunday at that. Not to row, but to steward the park. 

Site of the new Stan Pocock Rowing Center, Waterfront Park is home ground for the rowers. The club has adopted the park environs in turn, and the […]

Rain can’t stop rowers in Waterfront Park stewardship2024-02-23T09:49:59-08:00

Give to Moritani Preserve, in the heart of our community

To say it’s been an exciting 12 months at Moritani would be an understatement. Thanks to your help, the Preserve In the Heart of Winslow has received so much extraordinary care and – it’s Valentine’s Day, so yes, we’ll say it – love!

Your support through the Parks & Trails Foundation funded intensive, weeklong work sessions by EarthCorps and Student Conservation Corps, who concentrated on restoring the park’s east boundary. These teams worked with Bainbridge Metro Parks to revive an area that not long ago was overrun by vines and invasives, but this spring will be newly abloom. Visit the park and see!

Some 350 volunteers of all ages turned out through the year, offering 400-plus person-hours of spirited work at the Preserve. Volunteers planted 90 hardy native shrubs and trees (funded with your support), established new “habitat piles” of fallen sticks for the forest’s littlest critters, and spread many, many yards […]

Give to Moritani Preserve, in the heart of our community2024-02-14T10:59:00-08:00
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