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January News

 

'Tis the season!

It's the season of gift giving, and your generous year-end gifts (which exceeded our $40,000 goal) have helped secure a bundle of newly protected lands to celebrate!

 

Filucy Bay Preserve Expansion

The Filucy Bay Preserve is expanding again! GPC has acquired a crucial 9 acres, pushing this preserve into the triple digit acreage. This addition will protect 300 feet of shoreline habitat, which is vital to our salmon and the ecosystems in which they are a part.

Filucy Bay is accessible by water, so take your kayak or other hand-powered watercraft in for a picnic, and enjoy this scenic spot.

 

Rocky Creek Preserve Expansion

The East Fork of Rocky Creek

The Rocky Creek Preserve is also expanding. GPC acquired the last piece of the puzzle to connect the separate parcels of this preserve and make them one huge habitat at almost 200 acres. Now wildlife and humans alike can celebrate the conservation of this open space.

 

Hansville Greenway West

Hansville community members tour the 100-acre property with viewpoints of the Olympics.

Something amazing has been happening in Hansville over the last few months. Community members in the area came together to raise $2,150,000 towards the purchase of a huge, 100-acre expansion of their beloved and renowned Greenway.

Great Peninsula Conservancy stepped up to support this inspiring, community-led campaign and will complete the acquisition at the end of this month. We couldn't be happier to see such passion for conservation!

 

Events

 

Final Invasive Species Removal Work Party!

Saturday, January 8th from 9am to 11am

We are looking for 10 more volunteers to help us pull blackberry and Scotch broom this Saturday at the Klingel-Bryan-Beard Wetland and Wildlife Refuge in Belfair! This is our final push to clear the site of invasive plants to make room for native tree planting later this month. Tools and snacks will be provided. Dress in warm layers and bring hand saws and loppers if you have them.

 

10 Days of Native Tree Planting!

January 21st – 30th 
Monday – Thursday, 9am – 12pm
Friday – Sunday, 9am – 12 pm & 12:30 – 3:30pm

GPC is restoring a native, climate-resilient plant community in vital salmon habitat by planting 5,000 native shrubs and trees in January 2022! We will be at our Klingel-Bryan-Beard Wetland Wildlife Refuge from January 21 everyday through January 30th, and we need your support to get these plants in the ground. Instruction in proper tree planting technique specific to this site will be provided at the beginning of the work party. Experts and novices welcomed. Bring along friends and family!

Remember to dress in warm layers and pack rain gear. Bring a wheelbarrow if you have one!

Tools and snacks will be provided.

Sign up on our Events page.

 

AmeriCorps Opportunities

We're hiring for three new positions!

 
 

AmeriCorps Housing

In February, three new AmeriCorps VISTA members will move here to give a year of service to GPC, and to our community. It can be difficult to find housing in and around Bremerton — so these VISTAs may need your help!

Have an available mother-in-law unit? Know of subsidized housing? If you can help support these public-service oriented volunteers as they serve our community, then please reach out! E-mail Claire Voris for more details. 

 

Partner Spotlight

Bruce Bennett
Senior Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley

Bruce Bennett, our Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley, has worked with Great Peninsula Conservancy for years to handle our members' stock donations. We are so grateful to work with him. Thank you, Bruce!

 

In Memoriam

 

Janine Dolezel, 1946 - 2021

Janine Dolezel at GPC's 2019 Spring Dinner.

Janine's involvement in environmental causes goes back to the early 70s, when she was a charter member of an environmental group at Stanford and worked in environmental law. Janine was passionate about connecting kids to nature and supported the various iterations of GPC's Land Labs programs over the years. Janine was also a member of GPC's Legacy Society with a generous bequest to support land conservation and educational programs well into the future. Read more about her dedication to her community in her obituary.

 

Sidney Knutson, 1925 - 2021

Photo by Lenna Himmelstein from a Kitsap Sun article featuring Sid in 2008.

Sidney Knutson was one of the founders of the Hansville Greenway and dedicated his retirement years to making the Greenway and trail system a special place for the community. "Beginning in 1991, the Greenway took much of Sid's time and energy for almost two decades . . . These efforts included numerous studies, fund raising, property acquisitions, and trail development and resulted in a beautiful nature preserve that protects an ecosystem of forests, beaver ponds, and wetlands on over 250 acres." 

 

Gary Parrott, 1943 - 2021

Gary, pictured with his wife Celia, on the steps of their former home on Hood Canal.

Gary and Celia Parrott are conservation champions and founders of the Hood Canal Land Trust, which merged with three other regional land trusts in 2000 to form Great Peninsula Conservancy. They donated a conservation easement on their land, which is part of GPC's Klingel-Bryan-Beard Wildlife Refuge. Read more about Gary's life story here.

 

December Memorial Gifts

Anonymous in memory of Gary Cunningham
Anonymous in memory of Tex Lewis
Linda Andersen in memory of Gary Parrott
Connie & Dennis Anderson in memory of Gary Parrott
Wendell Bailey in memory of Gary Parrott
Brad Bortner & Sandra Staples-Bortner in memory of
Janine Dolezel and Gary Parrott
Cristy Caldwell in memory of Glenda Caldwell
Jill Gravunder in memory of Boyd Gravunder
Gayle Helseth-Kenison in memory of Sidney Knutson
Nancy Houghton in memory of Todd Houghton
Roger & Carolyn Knutson in memory of Sidney Knutson
Will & Chapple Langemack in memory of Gary Parrott
Michael Matz in memory of Janet & Lane Holdcroft
Steve & Corene McDaniel in memory of Gary Parrott
John Nelson in memory of Gary Parrott
Bernadette Olson in memory of Thomas J Barto
Jody & Dan Piper in memory of Gary Cunningham
Janice Pittman in memory of Donna Cooper Pepos
Jacqueline Seda in memory of Clarence Pedersen
​​​​​​​Ken Shawcroft in memory of Sid Knutson
Melinda & Paul West in memory of Charlene Haug

 

Banner photo by Don Paulson.

We hope you enjoy our monthly news — help spread the word and share this email with a friend.

Great Peninsula Conservancy

423 Pacific Avenue, Suite 300
Bremerton, WA 98337
membership@greatpeninsula.org
(360) 373-3500

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