North Kitsap Herald, Oct 19 2011

PORT GAMBLE — Cascade Land Conservancy has 18 months to raise money to buy some or all of Pope Resources’ 7,000 acres of North Kitsap forest and 1.8 miles of shoreline along Port Gamble Bay.

The agreement between the conservancy and Pope Resources is being unveiled Wednesday afternoon at the Port Gamble Pavilion. Participants include Port Gamble S’Klallam Chairman Jeromy Sullivan; Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman; Kitsap County Commissioner Rob Gelder; Jon Rose, president of Olympic Property Group, Pope’s real estate arm; and leaders of the Cascade Land Conservancy and Great Peninsula Conservancy.

“This is a huge deal,” Rose said. “It’s the first time in my memory that the biggest land owner in the county, two tribes and county government are all working together on something, cooperatively.” The conservancy and Pope announced the proposed purchase and sale in early September; Wednesday’s event celebrates the terms reached and the beginning of fundraising.

If successful, the purchase would preserve from development the land and 1.8 miles of waterfront on the west side of Port Gamble Bay, keep it available for public access, and free Olympic Property Group to concentrate on making Port Gamble a more viable year-round destination.

Rose envisions the construction of up to 200 homes and a hotel on Port Gamble’s 120 acres. He also envisions redeveloping the old mill site into an environmental learning center. He said his company will be filing a project application with the county to develop Port Gamble according to current zoning standards. He said the development could be done by Olympic Property Group or a new owner.

If fundraising is successful, the purchase would accomplish what Olympic Property Group had hoped to accomplish through the North Kitsap Legacy Partnership, which fizzled after County Commissioner Steve Bauer, a proponent of the partnership, resigned. Olympic Property Group proposed giving the 7,000 acres to Kitsap County in exchange for denser development rights in Port Gamble. That proposal was opposed by Port Gamble S’Klallam, which was concerned about the possible impacts of development on Port Gamble Bay. And county officials were concerned about the cost of maintaining 7,000 acres of public land and trails.

The latest effort is “just going a different route that requires more public finances and fundraising,” Rose said in an earlier interview.

The acreage consists of five segments: 4,000 acres south of the Port Gamble townsite, 2,000 acres in Hansville, 650 acres in the Miller Bay watershed, 560 acres along the Port Gamble Bay shoreline, and 366 acres adjacent to Heritage Park on Miller Bay Road.

It’s not known how much all or any segment of the acreage will cost. Once the fundraising period is completed, appraisals will be done on each segment.

Michelle Connor, executive vice president and chief program officer of Cascade Land Conservancy, said the shoreline acreage will be the priority. In separate interviews, she and Rose said it will be easier to raise money for the shoreline acreage, because there is a variety of grants designated for purchase or protection of coastal and nearshore areas.

The upland acreage is more complicated. “It has tens of millions of dollars of real estate and timber value, and there’s not any one place you can go to fund this type of purchase,” Connor said. She envisions “some type of financing strategy combined with grants” to purchase the upland acreage.

The agreement unveiled Wednesday represents the largest single conservation effort in Puget Sound, according to the conservancy. Each year, these lands are enjoyed by thousands of residents and other users from the Puget Sound region for a variety of outdoor activities, such as biking, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, and wildlife viewing. The trails contained on the acreage are included in the North Kitsap String of Pearls trails network, which is part of a larger trails network that stretches across the state.

The agreement means Cascade Land Conservancy can now work with local officials, organizations and key stakeholders such as tribal governments to develop an outreach strategy to attract funding to acquire the property, conservancy president Gene Duvernoy said in a press release.

“If our efforts are successful, we can look forward to spectacular natural forestland and shoreline that serve as the backbone to a regional land and water trail system, giving residents and visitors educational and recreational opportunities extending throughout Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas.”

Duvernoy said the influx of tourism, support for shellfish operations, the attractiveness of the area for businesses seeking to recruit employees and the significant cost savings from not serving additional rural development could bolster the economy of Kitsap County in years ahead.