all together now, say 'thank you'

For once, the news in the Leader is so complete that it's been hard to find anything more to add. The news is also incredibly hopeful.

On May 21st, the City Council and Port Commission will hold a joint meeting at the Cotton Building at 7:30 pm, to vote on the peace treaty worked out by their respective staff and elected members. Once passed, the treaty places all relevant parcels and other real estate into escrow until every detail has been completed. When escrow closes, the 6(f)(3) boundary of Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park, as affirmed by RCO and NPS, will be intact.

We can call this effort historic. The last time the City and Port undertook this level of compromise was just over three decades ago, when majorities of both bodies agreed to create Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park.

It is always useful to reinforce good acts with acknowledgement, whether or not the motives for those good acts are entirely altruistic. Both the City and Port could use a 'thank you' from members of the public at the meeting.

a force of nature

Eleanor Stopps died on Wednesday morning, 25 April 2012. Information can be found at both the Leader and the Peninsula Daily News.

Her friends and family are planning a memorial/tribute sculpture in her honor and with her agreement. More information will be posted as it is forthcoming.

UPDATE: an account has been established for donations to commission a sculpture honoring Eleanor. Follow this link for the latest news.

this island is for the birds

The Peninsula Daily News reports that Eleanor Stopps has terminal pancreatic cancer. If you don't know who she is, you might want to read the article at the link below. She founded Admiralty Audubon in 1977 and is responsible for the establishment of Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge.

What the article does not say is that Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park also benefited from her advocacy. As one small example, back in 1978-79, she and Bernard Beck, the first president of Admiralty Audubon, did a year-long bird survey at Kah Tai that documented bird populations for the LWCF grant proposal. Her efforts placed Kah Tai on the list of 'important wildlife habitats in the state of Washington' that was compiled by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978.

And you might also not know that the motto for the Protection Island campaign was 'This island is for the birds'. There is a bumper sticker in town these days that says 'Kah Tai Park is for the birds'. The sentiment has a rich history.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120418/NEWS/304189989/wildlife-advocate-terminal-moved-to-care-facility

Her family indicates that she would appreciate letters and cards, which can be sent to Eleanor Stopps at Harbor Place at Cottesmore, 1016 29th St. N.W., No. 20, Gig Harbor, WA 98335.

The Myth of the Toxic Lagoon: Much Ado About Nothing

ECY sampling locations, 2001 (click to enlarge).

We've all heard the rumors. Trees die at Kah Tai because of toxins. The park is unsafe - it's just toxic dredge spoils. The lagoon is contaminated by - pick your source: a former auto repair shop, a former lumber yard, an old wire and nail company, trains dumping old batteries off the trestles.

All those rumors are based on a curious primary source - a single 1986 heavy metals study performed at the request of the Port of Port Townsend by a group of Shoreline Community College students. The students analysed samples from the lagoon and the boatyard. But what they did not sample was the park uplands.

When fragments of the 1986 report were uncovered by City staff in 2000, there was no map with the data. It wasn't clear where the samples were collected. City staff sent the disjointed information they did have to the State Department of Health (DOH). DOH staff did a preliminary evaluation of that information and in early 2001 recommended further sampling to determine if the park uplands were indeed contaminated. In 2001, the State Department of Ecology (ECY) prepared a sampling protocol and planned a rapid response. Locally, it was suggested in the media that remediation would be cheaper if the uplands were used for industry as contamination standards were less stringent than for a park.

And then, the record went silent. Calls to DOH suggested that they hadn't followed up. Were samples taken? It wasn't clear. People moved on. The park's reputation remained clouded. Local media were quick to leap at the contamination story, but not so agile at following it to the truth.

In March 2012, a complete copy of the 1986 report was unearthed in the archives maintained by the Friends of Kah Tai. It contained a sampling map. No samples had been taken from the park uplands by the college students. The 'serious' cadmium contamination consisted of a single, unreplicated sample taken in a corner of the lagoon itself, and that concentration was notable against a freshwater background, but not against seawater. The lagoon is brackish.

Emails to DOH brought back copies of the same preliminary 2001 reports and recommendations, plus one new document - a list of samples collected in 2001 by ECY.

ECY responded: there's nothing here at headquarters. Maybe in our southwest archives facility?

SW ECY responded: there's a two inch pile of documents in the archives; do you really want copies of all of it?

The summary of the full report states, "...the Kah Tai Lagoon site does not pose a threat to human health or environment." No further action was advised. The full report demonstrates that Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park uplands are not contaminated by heavy metals or anything else measured by DOH or ECY. Modern analytical methods show no contamination of human or ecological significance anywhere in the lagoon, wetlands or uplands. Another urban myth bites the dust.

and the work continues

late winter (2012) at Kah Tai. Photo by J Jaman

In 1985, a staff member of the Burke Museum was asked to comment on a shoreline variance permit request for the development of Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park.  Dr. Dennis R. Paulson, Affiliate Curator, examined the vegetation zone management plan and found it 'conceptually valid'. He expressed considerable familiarity with Kah Tai's unique history and with the difficulties of 'planning habitat management for wildlife and for educational purposes'.

He concluded his 31 July 1985 comment to the Jefferson-Port Townsend Shoreline Management Advisory Commission:

"It will be very important to selectively remove plants from and add them to the site, as it is developed, both on a species and an individual basis, and I think the plans to accomplish this are in agreement with the stated permit goals. I am pleased to see such an enlightened treatment of an area that could easily have been discarded as a weedbed of no value to the community or, conversely, developed for active recreational use with no regard for its natural value."

Nearly 30 years later, the work continues. On 25 February 2012, 50 more native trees and shrubs were planted at Kah Tai, using as guidance the twelve-zone vegetation plan reviewed by Dr. Paulson. Nearly 30 years later, he is described online as an 'internationally respected ornithologist and former director of the Slater Museum of Natural History'. The PT Leader press release for that planting event, as well as an interesting (and classically Port Townsend) thread of comments, can be found here.

City Workshop about Parks Plan, 23 February 2012, 6:30 pm

The Port Townsend Planning Commission and Parks, Recreation and Tree Board will hold a joint workshop (February 23, 2012, 6:30 pm, City Council chambers) to accept public comment on the second draft of the Parks Functional Plan update. The Parks Plan must be consistent with our City's Comprehensive Plan.

The format of that public comment is not clear, as it will be facilitated by City staff (see agenda and associated documents at http://cityofpt.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=70). One of the concerns that staff intends to address is in Agenda Section V.3.d.: "Given the purpose of the parks plan, how much descriptive text and history should it contain?"

This concern may be related to efforts by the Friends of Kah Tai Board to insert relevant park history into the draft Parks Plan. You may examine a part of that editing effort at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1je4Ck28FVV3_00ONxUEiO4pvnieAo29k0q9V_JulAr4/edit

City staff should be reminded that we are all in the middle of this current exercise BECAUSE the history and unique standing of Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park was forgotten by both the City and the Port, and all local government's copies of relevant documents were not safeguarded. If the City and Port had been diligent stewards of history, they would not now be on opposing sides in a lawsuit that extends to the National Park Service, trying to resurrect Kah Tai's history and determine our park's future.

You can support this process by attending the meeting and/or by emailing your concerns to the City about the following points:

For the Parks Plan update:

1. Language should be inserted in the Parks Plan to clarify that any proposed future use for Kah Tai allow only 'passive outdoor recreation that is compatible with wildlife habitat'.

2. Longterm planning should include the transfer of the Port's Kah Tai land to the City.

3. Park history belongs in the parks plan in order that City staff and the public can be reminded of what is, and is not, appropriate for a park given its history and status.

For the Comprehensive Plan update:

4. Add to the Comprehensive Plan Glossary the definitions of four park categories that are now in the draft Parks Plan update: pocket/mini parks, neighborhood parks, community parks and natural/open space parks.

If you would like more information or to be emailed copies of the relevant documents, please send an email.

revisionist history

The intent of the 1981 City/Port LWCF acquistion grant was to purchase all available private parcels and transfer all public parcels at Kah Tai to City ownership. When the grant closed in 1985, the public parcels had not yet been transferred, but the PUD and County parcels are now in City hands. The City and Port were grant cosponsors but the Port's land has still not made it into City ownership.

Things were pretty quiet for a decade or so after park creation, but in 1996, the City completed its Comprehensive Plan, designating Kah Tai as Public/Open Space (P/OS) as it had been since 1968. The Port cites City Resolution 97-08 as confirmation from the City that the Port can file for any redesignation it chooses for its Kah Tai land when a 1982 lease expires in July 2012. The implication is that the Resolution arose as an outcome of a Port appeal before the Western Washington Growth Management Board against the City.

A few facts are missing from that rendition of history. The Port did not apparently file a GMHB appeal against the City. Petition no. 96-2-0029 was filed by Jefferson County Homebuilders against the City on 13 September 1996. The Port filed to intervene on 11 October 1996, just prior to the prehearing conference. GMHB documents indicate that the Port didn't submit a brief on its concerns at the hearing on 14 November 1996.

To appease the Port, the City agreed to language stipulating that like any other landowner, the Port had a right to ask for a redesignation at the end of the lease and also that any future Council was not bound to approve a redesignation. The agreement was sufficient for the Port to withdraw its intervention from the appeal in January 1997. This was unfortunate, because the GMHB found in favor of the City shortly thereafter.

The mystery is how the City and Port managed to go before the GMHB and never once mention that all the Kah Tai land in dispute had been committed by federal grant to a park more than a decade earlier. One wonders what the GMH Board might have said to the Port if it knew the Port was trying to redesignate federally protected park land for commercial use.

Some would like us to believe that since the City does not own the Port parcels at Kah Tai, those parcels are no longer part of the park come August 2012. The reality is more interesting. In August 2012, our park will managed by a two-headed monster,  two municipalities at odds and with no lease agreement between them. But both will be required to manage the park by LWCF standards.

If you have concerns about threats to our park or believe that it is not being protected as required by LWCF rules, contact our National Park Service field office (Seattle 206-220-4123, Federal Grant No. 53-00486) or our Washington State Agency (360-902-3000, State Grant No. 81-043A).