Kitsap Peninsula Forest/Bay Victory!
Port Gamble
A purchase and sale agreement was signed in late May for the 535-acre Port Gamble Shoreline Block that includes 1.5 miles of marine shoreline and extensive connected forest. The sale is expected to close by August with Kitsap County taking ownership of all but the tidelands which will revert to Department of Natural Resources ownership. The sale price is $4.65 million, the appraised value.
This is an important victory for the Kitsap Forest & Bay Project, a community-wide effort that has been working to conserve nearly 7,000 acres of forest and 1.8 miles of shoreline on the Kitsap Peninsula. With Port Gamble Bay at its heart, the land has been used to grow trees and produce lumber since 1853 by Pope Resources, which is selling of its land.
Funding will come from a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant ($1 million); Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant ($1.25 million), Washington Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account grant ($1 million) with most of the remaining funds comng from Washington Department of Ecology, including $175,000 for long-term stewardship of the land. The Coalition is still seeking matching funds from local resources.
www.greatkitsapforestbay.org/default.htm;
http://earthfix.opb.org/land/article/deal-struck-to-preserve-peninsula-shoreline-and-fo/
