Everybody has a favorite park – that one with great features, a special memory attached, or just the one down the street.
For Pete Jones, it’s the park right next door.
A resident of the historic Victorian Lane condominiums – built around 1910, as officers quarters for a then-remote Coast Artillery Corps post at “Bean Point” – Jones has only to step outside, cross a green threshold and lose himself in the 137 acres of Fort Ward Park.
“One of the reasons we moved in was because of the park,” says Jones, who relocated to the island from California’s Carmel Valley three years ago. “I’ve been hiking in this park since day one, almost every single day.”
No surprise that Fort Ward Park is Jones’ “absolute” pick as a founding volunteer with Park Stewards, a new program of the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District.
Volunteering in parks is nothing new, but Park Stewards takes the idea to another level. A cadre of select, specially trained volunteers will choose their favorite park, and make a one-year commitment of personal stewardship.
Duties will vary by park – keeping trails clear, tugging out invasives like ivy and Scotch broom, or tending garden beds.
Park Stewards can work on their own schedule, and the number of hours is up to them. The Park District asks only that they stay in regular contact to report on their work.
“We want everyone to pick their favorite spot,” says Morgan Houk, volunteer coordinator for the Park District. “If you don’t have one, I have lots of favorite spots. They’re probably going to be the places that need lots of help.”
Park Stewards will also be “eyes and ears” for the Park District, keeping track of park conditions and reporting back on bigger needs and opportunities.
Houk knows Bainbridge Island parks better than anyone – she already manages three or more organized stewardship events every month – but concedes that park users bring a level of awareness to which she can only aspire.
“I talk to people all the time who do the same loop every single day, and see things I would never see as I’m running through a park trying to spot the ivy and then running on to the next project,” Houk says. “We’re excited for people to really get to know, in an even deeper way, the places they already know and love.”
PARK STEWARDS GET KITTED OUT
With 1,600 acres of largely natural parks and now 44 miles of trails, the Park District makes no secret of the need for volunteers to help with ongoing stewardship and restoration.
The need came into acute focus when the pandemic shut down regular volunteer events. Houk used that time to put together Park Stewards, essentially a super-volunteer program for the most committed.
Each Park Steward will be kitted out with an official safety vest, and a program-branded backpack loaded with work gloves and hand tools. The kits are funded by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation’s Community Grants program.
“Regular park volunteer events have the same ritual of unpack tools, use tools, pack tools back up, and off they go with the truck” says Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. “Giving Park Stewards their own tool set will let them work independently, on their own schedule.
“It’s an exciting program to support, and will leverage our community’s intense passion for parks into a new level of care.”
Park Stewards will receive extensive training in native plant identification and management, knowledge that Houk says many volunteers already come with.
“I often say volunteers are more qualified to do my job than I am half the time, there are so many amazing people here on Bainbridge Island,” she says. “We really are excited to teach others some of the things we learn day to day.”
Thirty Park Stewards are sought for the program’s first year.
Applicants must prove their mettle by showing up to three of the district’s regular work parties at Moritani Preserve, Red Pine Park, or a rotating conservation event.
This week, Jones put in two hours at Red Pine in Winslow. Around 10 volunteers turned out to root out bindweed from the flower beds, and two were Park Stewards hopefuls.
Jones hopes to soon be wearing the blue Park Stewards vest at Fort Ward Park. He’s interested in keeping trails clear in the upper park, and sharing the park’s cultural history – how the little fort at Bean Point became a beloved local park – with passersby.
Jones continues to be amazed by islanders’ love of their parks and trails and commitment to stewardship.
“I was so blown away by the parks when I moved here,” Jones says. “You can tell people just take such good care of them. I see whisk brooms hanging on park benches and I go wow, that would never happen in California.”
BECOME A PARK STEWARD – Level up your love for your favorite park through Park Stewards, a new volunteer program of Bainbridge Metro Parks. The program requires onsite orientation and training, demonstrated interest at three volunteer work parties, and a one-year commitment. Apply by emailing morganhouk@biparks.org.