Fingers Pointing at Facts

An image from the presentation entitled 'Respecting the Kah Tai Legacy' by the Friends of Kah Tai to the Rotary on 27 July 2010.

The pointing hand highlights the signatures of then-City Mayor Barney McClure and then-Port Commission President Stacey Thompson as equal 'Contracting Parties' agreeing to the terms of the grant contract with the Interagency Committee on Outdoor Recreation to develop a 78.5-acre park. Note also that the Port and City shared an attorney in 1981, suggesting an excellent working relationship between the two bodies at the time of the grant submission.

A View of the Park

Park Boundary Defined: Just the Facts

The National Park Service states that the permanent, protected boundary of any park created with federal LWCF funds is established by two facts: who signed the grant proposal and what property did those signers own at the closing of the grant? Further, if ANY parcel of land included in a park is purchased with federal funds, ALL parcels are equally subject to federal protections. The 1981 acquisition grant to purchase private lands around the perimeter of the Kah Tai Lagoon was signed by the City and the Port of Port Townsend as equal co-sponsors. At the grant's closing in 1985, all the colored lots in the City's 2010 map (shown) were owned by the Port (purple), the City (blue) and County (orange). The City subsequently purchased all County lots in 2004. The permanent boundary seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it?

Nature, Brought to You by Our Partners in Progress

It's a little worse for wear but still holding up after more than two decades. The sign on the Kah Tai picnic shelter indicates the sources of government funding received by Port Townsend to acquire private lands and develop the Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park. The Department of the Interior (NPS), the Washington State Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC) and the incredible generosity of many local citizens created our oasis of tranquility. Let's honor those commitments and protect the Park in perpetuity for future citizens.

Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park Didn't Just 'Happen'

Excerpted from The Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program Manual: "The LWCF Act of 1965 was enacted...to assist in preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility...to outdoor recreation resources...to increase the number of protected state and local outdoor recreation resources and to ensure their availability for public use in perpetuity."

LWCF is intended to encourage sound planning and long-term partnerships to expand the quantity and to ensure the quality of needed state and local outdoor recreation resources. The LWCF State Assistance Program provides matching grants to States, and through the States to local governments, for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas and facilities.

Excerpted from the Project Description for the 1981 LWCF grant co-sponsored by the City of Port Townsend and the Port of Port Townsend that funded the purchase of private properties to develop the Park: "This acquisition project of approximately 78.5 acres through donation, land transfer, and purchase, is designed to consolidate under the ownership of the City the contiguous land along the perimeters of Kah Tai Lagoon, thereby enabling the City to plan and develop a municipal passive park around the Lagoon."