North Kitsap Trails Association
Building Trails for Our Future
Pope Resources’ Timber Harvest in Port Gamble Heritage Park
Since 2007 Pope Resources has been working with a broad coalition of stakeholders as part of the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project to conserve forestland in North Kitsap, and prevent development. In 2014 Pope Resources sold 535 acres (the Shoreline Block) to Kitsap County for conservation and development into the Port Gamble Heritage Park. That purchase included both land development rights and the standing timber on the land. In December of 2016, Pope Resources sold Kitsap County an additional 1,360 acres of land in the Port Gamble block, increasing the Park to about 1,900 acres total. However, in this second sale, Pope Resources retained the right to harvest the standing timber for 25 years. After Pope Resources harvests the existing timber and replants new, the new trees will belong to Kitsap County.
ORCA airfield / Uplands Trailhead Closed
The ORCA airfield / Uplands Trailhead near Port Gamble will be closed through the end of the year due to the Port Gamble Bay restoration project resulting in no through access in this area.
Accordking to the Kitsap Sun, "Contaminated sediment pulled from the bay was heaped at the old mill site, forming an artificial hill on the waterfront. Pope Resources, which spent more than $20 million on the cleanup, will truck the mountain of soil to a field just south of town, where it will be spread out and capped with clean dirt."