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Parks & Trails Foundation funds 9-acre addition to Strawberry Hill Park with $1.1M gift

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — A $1.1 million grant from the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation has funded a 9-acre addition to Strawberry Hill Park.

The grant funds acquisition of the former Comcast property on High School Road by the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District.

The lightly wooded property is adjacent to Strawberry Hill Park along its east boundary, making it a natural acquisition to expand the park.  A concept planning process for the newly expanded park is now underway.

The Comcast property expands Strawberry Hill Park to 38 acres, following the acquisition of another adjacent 10-acre parcel, the former Hayashida property northwest of the park, in 2022. That property was acquired for the planned Strawberry Hill Bike Park and an expanded dog park.

Strawberry Hill Park has now more than doubled in size, from […]

Parks & Trails Foundation funds 9-acre addition to Strawberry Hill Park with $1.1M gift2024-04-22T15:58:37-07:00

Trillium Trail Run returns May 11

Run for the trails! The Trillium Trail Run 10K/5K and Kids’ Fun Run returns to Bainbridge Island Saturday, May 11, a benefit to acquire, build and maintain new Bainbridge Island trails.

Runners and walkers will enjoy a scenic course from Battle Point Park, along the Forest to Sky Trail, looping among the great firs of the Grand Forest and over scenic Hilltop meadow. Kids can enjoy a FUN RUN as part of the morning activities.

The event is hosted by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.

Register at www.trilliumtrail.run.

Trillium Trail Run will launch the Foundation’s “Trails Connect Bainbridge Island” campaign, to acquire, build and maintain new trails around the island including: the Lost Valley Trail, nexus of the east-west, cross-island trail route from Winslow to Gazzam Lake; Dolphin Drive to W. Port Madison Trail; Sunny Hill to Nutes Pond Trail; and the […]

Trillium Trail Run returns May 112024-04-03T14:10:08-07:00

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

Dig Deep! Strawberry Hill Bike Park campaign launches, March 22-24

Dig deep! The Strawberry Hill Bike Park campaign launches March 22-24 with a weekend of events for families and riders of all ages, sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.  

Proceeds from all events support construction of the island’s first-ever dedicated bike park at Strawberry Hill Park for riders of all ages. The 8-acre bike park will feature 1.5 miles of riding trails with challenging features like jumps, flyovers and berms. A special skill-building area will welcome new riders or those honing their bike riding skills.  

The Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District hope to break ground on the Bike Park this fall. The Foundation is about halfway to the $450,000 fundraising goal, and donors at all levels are encouraged to give today to support the Bike Park.  

“Bainbridge Island is a biking community that generously supports […]

Dig Deep! Strawberry Hill Bike Park campaign launches, March 22-242024-04-01T11:06:01-07:00

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

Forest thinning underway at Strawberry Hill

Even a skinny tree makes quite a WHUMP when it hits the ground. 

As we are there to hear it, an age-old philosophical question remains unsettled. In any case there are the echoes, reverberating through the misty morning and across the island to herald that forest thinning at Strawberry Hill Park has, in fact, begun. 

WHUMP.

“It’s a shocking sound for such a small tree, isn’t it?,” reflects Lydia Roush, Parks Superintendent for Bainbridge Metro Parks. “But they’re so dense, and Douglas fir is heavy.” 

It’s a first-of-its-kind project on the island: restoring an overdense, profoundly unhealthy forest through aggressive thinning and strategic replanting, while at the same time carving out chute-like paths for the new bike trails that soon will criss-cross down the hillside. 

About 40 percent of the trees are coming out. In the shadow of those […]

Forest thinning underway at Strawberry Hill2024-03-05T07:51:43-08:00

Thanks for an inspiring MLK event Blakely Harbor

Tremendous thanks to all who made MLK Day of Service at Blakely Harbor Park a grand success!

 Much mulch was spread, many nasty weeds tugged out of the frozen ground as together we made it a wholesome and spirited Day On, not a Day Off for volunteer service and park stewardship.

Who turned out? Tim Burke and son Beckham:

“We live up the street and use this park all the time, so we wanted to give a little bit of our time to help out the park that we frequent,” Tim Burke said. “Our family runs here, we play on the beach, we swim in the water. It’s a special place.” 

And Liz Springer: 

“It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions, to volunteer in parks more, because I use the trails,” she said. “And I really hate invasives. I have them in my […]

Thanks for an inspiring MLK event Blakely Harbor2024-01-25T16:59:58-08:00

Sign up for Winter Work Parties

There’s a full slate of  winter work parties in Bainbridge Island parks and trails ahead. Sign up today!

Conservation Work Party

Where: Blakley Harbor Park, NE Country Club Road

When: Saturday, Feb. 10 and March 9 (2nd Saturdays), 10:00a-12:00p

What:  Join the Park District, IslandWood, and the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation every second Saturday this winter in the ongoing restoration of Blakley Harbor Park! Thousands of volunteer hours have already been logged, helping transform the site of the former largest mill in the world. Volunteers will help remove invasive species, spread mulch to discourage regrowth, and plant native species where invasives have been controlled.

Well suited for children ages six and up who are comfortable using small hand tools and walking off trail on uneven surfaces.

REGISTER HERE

Trails Work Party

Where: Fort Ward Park (Upper Parking Lot), Fort Ward Hill Road

When: Saturday, Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 16 (3rd Saturdays), 10:00a-12:00p

What: Join the […]

Sign up for Winter Work Parties2024-02-07T10:57:50-08:00

$15K in Community Grants, more than $1M given this year

The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation has awarded Community Grants totaling$15,000 to six park and recreation clubs and programs.

The Community Grants cap a big year for the Foundation, which has given $1.020 million in total support to the Bainbridge Island Metro Park District in 2023 for park and trail projects, programs and parkland acquisition. 

Community Grants were awarded to purchase new kayaks for the Bainbridge Metro Parks recreation department; tools and equipment for Gear Grinders youth bicycle club, for their volunteer work on public trails; new sculling oars for Bainbridge Island Rowing; educational signage for a heron rookery along the Charles Schmid Waterfront Trail in Winslow; educational signage for dog owners in local parks; and support for future tennis courts at Sakai Park. 

“This is why we’re here,” said Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. “Island neighbors and clubs […]

$15K in Community Grants, more than $1M given this year2023-12-15T15:04:12-08:00

Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation

Mail:
PO Box 11127
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Office:
The Marge Williams Center,
221 Winslow Way West, Suite #104
Phone:
206.842.4971
Email:
info@biparksfoundation.org

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© Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.
Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Tax ID# 91-1855049
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