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Help build the Fort Ward Playground
UPDATE AUG. 17:
We did it! The Fort Ward playground campaign is complete, and the playground is coming soon.
Thank you to all who supported the campaign through the Bainbridge Island Park & Trails Foundation. Together, we are creating a wonderful new space for neighborhood connection and healthy outdoor play for kids and families.
The playground – with an exciting play structure, loop monkey bars and spinner – is now under construction in the Parade Ground park. Visit the park to see the play area take shape in the coming days.
We look forward to celebrating the Fort Ward Playground with you soon!
$1.7M planning grant for Bainbridge Island STO
The City of Bainbridge Island will receive $1.7 million in federal funding to plan the Sound to Olympics Trail from Winslow to the Agate Passage Bridge.
The award is part of a larger, $16.13 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant will plan and design 100 miles of new multi-use trails in the Puget Sound to Pacific (PS2P) corridor, from Bainbridge Island to LaPush on the Pacific Ocean.
The RAISE grant was awarded to the City of Port Angeles. Co-applicants included the City of Bainbridge Island; the Washington State Department of Transportation; the Quileute and Suquamish tribes; Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties; the cities of Forks, Port Townsend, Poulsbo, and Sequim; and the Port of Port Townsend.
The grant application was coordinated by the Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative, an initiative of the […]
Kilmer announces $16.13M grant for PS2P
PORT ANGELES, WA – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) announced that the City of Port Angeles has been awarded a $16.13 million RAISE Discretionary Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This grant will be used to plan and design approximately 34 active transportation components, addressing approximately 100 miles of gaps, community connections, and safety improvements for multi-use trails connecting Bainbridge Island on Puget Sound to the Pacific Coast.
“This is a big deal,” said Rep. Kilmer. “This investment in the Puget Sound to Pacific trail will help connect workers to jobs, local residents to essential services, and folks looking for recreation to some of our region’s natural treasures. Having the federal government provide this grant funding means we will see improved trail connectivity and better safety without the cost being borne entirely be taxpayers in our neck of the woods. That’s a huge win for our region.”
The Puget […]
Charles Schmid was at home on the Waterfront Trail
He was a product of suburban Long Island, N.Y., who found deep connection with the environment as a Northwest rower and mountaineer. An engineer for a defense contractor, who organized anti-nuke meetings during his lunch hour. A patient, owlish presence at public meetings for decades, who was never shy about keeping the City’s feet to the fire on environmental regulation.
When the Charles Schmid Waterfront Trail is formally dedicated on July 7, you could make a good case that it’s as much for Schmid’s years as the avatar of environmentalism islandwide as for his work on the trail itself.
“I think just seeing the natural beauty, the spectacular mountains around here, was a big philosophical influence on his caring for the planet,” says his daughter, Jenny Schmid. “He was so passionate about mountain climbing, and he approached that the same way he approached the Waterfront Trail – slow and steady wins the […]
In the news: Inslee presented award for trails advocacy
From the Peninsula Daily News:
BLYN — Gov. Jay Inslee was presented an award for his continued support of biking trails by an advocacy group working to build connected bike trails across the continental United States.
In a ceremony at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe headquarters in Blyn on Wednesday, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy named Inslee the 2023 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion for his support of biking trails throughout his political career.
Before attending the ceremony, Inslee biked along the Olympic Discovery Trail from Port Angeles to the campus in Blyn, a trip he made is roughly two hours.
In the news: Inslee honored by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
From The Urbanist:
A shared enthusiasm for trail networks and the unique recreational opportunities the Olympic Peninsula offers set the tone for this year’s in-person board convening of the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) in Sequim. RTC is based in the other Washington, Washington DC, and the 135-mile Olympic Discovery Trail is what lured them here.
The Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) stretches from Port Townsend to La Push across lush forests, alongside mountains, farms, and shorelines, and in 2019 it was designated by RTC as the official western end of their 3,700-mile, 12-state, multi-use trail corridor, called the Great American Rail-Trail.
In the news: Seattle to the Pacific: A Dream Bike Route Gains Momentum
From the Cascade Bicycle Club newsletter:
Within a few minutes of beginning a group ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail it became apparent that Gov. Jay Inslee loves to bike.
We pedaled hard to catch up as he sped off down the trail on a sunny weekday morning.
But Inslee was in a rush for good reason. He was scheduled to speak and receive a national trails award in two hours in Sequim, 30 miles away from our starting point in Port Angeles.
I was among a lucky group of a dozen trail advocates offered the fun task of riding to the event with Inslee. How often do you get to draft the governor on a long bike ride?
Lost Valley Trail takes a long stride forward
Twenty-plus years in the planning, the Lost Valley Trail is going to be on the map.
The Bainbridge Island City Council has unanimously OK’d the Lost Valley Trail project, a partnership between the City, the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Metro Parks.
When completed, the mile-long trail will connect the Head of the Bay area with Fletcher Bay Road, through the Cooper Creek Watershed and woodland. It’s the approximate midpoint of the long-planned Cross-Island Trail route from Winslow to Gazzam Lake and Crystal Springs.
“There’s two decades of stories behind this, and we should celebrate as a community and as the City of Bainbridge Island,” said Andy Maron, Parks & Trails Foundation board member, who has worked on the project since inception. “Things get done – they take a while – but things get done when lots of organizations and people and governments work together.”
The project dates to the 1990s, […]
Wildflowers coming to Battle Point, thanks to Montessori Country School
As you see colorful wildflowers shooting up around Battle Point ballfields this summer, you have Montessori Country School to thank.
Montessori students recently spread hundreds of “seed bombs” near the ballfields – handmade balls of powdered clay, compost, wildflower seeds like Lupin and yarrow, and water. No planting required – just throw them around, and nature does the rest.
“They have all the things they need to germinate inside the ball,” says Morgan Houk of the Park District. “They ‘explode’ out into wildflowers.”
The flowers will add color and healthy pollinator habitat to the park.
Montessori Country School is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and wanted to involve students in a community service project for that milestone, says Dorothy Mak Thompson, communications and development manager for the school.
“Our students enjoy Battle Point park regularly, often on Fridays for outdoor education, so we are excited to collaborate with the Park District on this project,” […]