Jefferson Land Trust: 25 Treasures

Can you find all the treasures within these pages?

A Vision for Jefferson County . . .

T wenty-five years ago, four people had a vision of protecting Jefferson County’s fertile farms and forests, rich salmon streams, and family legacy lands. Julie McCullough, Virginia Dignan, Stephanie Lutgring, and Doug Mason planted a seed and Jefferson Land Trust was born.

At first, the all-volunteer Land Trust mainly helped landowners looking to preserve their family lands. I was hired in 1996 as the Land Trust’s first staff member, for its first–and still ongoing–project, protecting an urban greenbelt in Port Townsend, the Quimper Wildlife Corridor.

Now the Land Trust has helped protect treasured places all over Jefferson County, from the northern tip of the Quimper Peninsula to the rich habitat of the Dosewallips and Duckabush Rivers, to rural farmland, to the Hoh River on the West Side.

It has been an honor to get to know this landscape and its rich community of people and wildlife through this work. And what exciting work! We’re addressing declines in salmon runs with partners in the Chumsortium to bring back vibrant salmon streams. The LandWorks Collaborative takes a bigpicture approach to the economic viability of farms and forests. We’ve blazed new trails, like the leaseto-buy arrangement that helped Karyn Williams start Sarah Spaeth, Jefferson Land Trust Executive Director and grow Red Dog Farm and a carbon sale on the of Quilcene. Grant funding is lined up to protect working-forest portion of the Bulis Preserve. the 256-acre Short Family Farm. Projects in the Just in the last year, we worked with Aldo Duckabush and significant working forestland and Leopold’s granddaughter and her family to protect farm conservation are also in the works. working forestland in the Tarboo watershed, and Preserving these treasures is only possible thanks we preserved and restored habitat in the Quimper to our supporters, volunteers, project partners, Wildlife Corridor, Donovan Creek, the Duckabush and committed landowners. The Land Trust is a River, and Snow Creek. Now in our 25th year we voluntary land conservation organization. We can help have protected John Boulton’s Quilcene family farm landowners preserve their properties through and are working with several farmers in the heart

Find the

conservation easements, which are legal agreements made by willing landowners to place permanent protection on the land. Conservation easements ride with the title of the land and the Land Trust is legally bound to uphold their terms.

So the landowners who work with us don’t just make This year, we are proud to conservation complete a project that has been in the wor happen in our ks for over 7 years, to protect 144 acres for agr community; they Joh iculture at n Boulton’s farm in Quilcene. are our long-time Photo courtesy of Jefferson Land Trus t partners in the ongoing care of these lands.

Thanks to the generosity of the Port Townsend Paper Corporation—a long-time Land Trust supporter and partner in conservation of the Glen Cove shoreline—we are able to share some of the stories of the land with you now. Please join us now in in a hunt for local treasures, from wild waters, to farms and forests, down to the microscopic magic of mosses.

Sarah Spaeth, Executive Director Jefferson Land Trust 1033 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-9501 • www.saveland.org

Join the Hunt!

Can you find all the treasures charted within these pages?

Treasure

Complete an activity to find one of these treasures, and make it onto our treasure map.

Send your stories, photos, videos, and artwork to 25Treasures@saveland.org. We’ll feature some of the brightest gems that you share each month in our Facebook gallery, website and newsletter. And don’t stop there: Go for the gold!

Find 15 treasures and receive one of our special bandannas with Jefferson County map design.

Find 25 treasures and join us on an exclusive, family-friendly tour of Jefferson Land Trust protected farms, followed by food and fun at Finnriver Farm and Cidery.

2 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

Jefferson Land Trust

Helping the Community Preserve Open Space, Working Lands, and Habitat Forever

Treasure #1: We Are the Key Keystone species are defined as “species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if they were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.” Most lessons on the concept list three keystone species in our region: wolves, salmon, and bears. The fact that we tend not to include humans on this list reveals the divide we feel between humans and nature.

Yet we are connected. We know that natural processes and access to natural places are crucial for human well-being. We know that humans can have catastrophic effects on the Earth. However, people can and do have the ability to positively influence this land. And we have a choice in what kind of difference we make. We can make a choice to nurture the places that sustain us.

The gems mapped in these pages reflect people’s positive impacts on places they care about; they are the legacy of people who cared enough to work together to nurture the wildlife, fields, farms, forests and rivers that inspire and sustain us.

FIND THE TREASURE: Discover the key….

in YOU! What do you treasure about living in Jefferson County? What place holds a sense of wonder, special memory, meaning, or story for you?

What place has been a refuge or an inspiration?

Photo by Caitlin Battersby

continued on pg. 4

Jefferson County, Washington, boasts a rich landscape of farms and forests, parks and streams, and communities that love and protect the land.

Many of the lands Jefferson Land Trust preserves are protected in partnership with private landowners and are not open to public access.

ABOUT THE COVER: Baby red rock crabs can be white, striped, or spotted, but become brick-red in maturity.

Cover courtesy of Noelke Design

Come for fun and ha with Dave, Pat, an nds-on learning d JLTNHS walks, talks the team with and events.

Photo by Wendy Felth am

Data sources include : Topo Sources: Esri, DeLorme, HERE, TomTom, Intermap, increment P Corp., GEBCO, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, IGN, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), swisstopo, and the GIS User Community; Aerial image: 2013 NAIP; ESRI ArcGIS software provided through ESRI conservation grant; GIS Support provided by Doug Noltemeier, Jefferson County GIS. Maps For informational purposes only. All data represented are from varying sources and are approximate.

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 3

#1 Key cont. from pg. 3

Find the

In this space, write down three words about this treasure:

Treasure

Go outside with a friend.

And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

Go for a walk with a friend or neighbor.

Join in a volunteer stewardship or citizen science project. Contact info@ saveland.org to sign up for some.

Have a picnic.

Visit a farm.

Check out the JLTNHS (jltnatural.org), JLT Geology group (quimpergeology.org), or one of the groups introduced in the following pages.

And tell us about it! One person who cares can make a difference, but when we care, and share it, we unlock the potential for a community legacy of special places and good quality of life in Jefferson County.

Tell us about the place or experience that made you care. Email your story to 25Treasures@saveland. org.

NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Inspired by Jefferson Land Trust’s Northwest Naturalist program, in 2012, nine course graduates founded the JLT Natural History Society (JLTNHS) to foster active exploration, appreciation, understanding, and conservation of the diverse natural environments of the Olympic Peninsula and beyond.

Sign up for the JLTNHS monthly newsletter announcing outings, evening events, and book club, at www.jltnatural.org.

CULTIVATING A STEWARDSHIP ETHIC: LANDS FOR LEARNING

To care for the land forever, we need people who care following in our footsteps. CedarRoot Folk School is one of the Land Trust’s partners providing education on conserved lands through our Lands for Learning program. Through this work, they are also a partner in building a community to treasure the land for generations to come.

Recognizing that building a strong relationship with the natural world is a long and slow process, CedarRoot Folk School nature-studies courses involve long-term mentoring. “Because it is essential for us to monitor the same tract of forest through the seasons for several years, the properties protected by Jefferson Land Trust become essential ‘classrooms’ for our students.” -Scott Brinton, Executive Director, CedarRoot Folk School

Treasure #2: Fish … and All Their Wild Chums When we talk about fish, it’s really more than just Pacific salmon return to the watersheds of Jefferson the fish. We’re talking about the wildlife of our whole County to spawn, die, and feed and fertilize the forest region. Salmon are a keystone species—healthy plant ecosystems. and animal populations of entire ecosystems hinge on them. Marine nutrients make it up to the highest mountain reaches via salmon carcasses, feeding the plants and animals all the way back down to the sea.

At least 22 species are known to feed on salmon carcasses, including bald eagle, bear, bobcat, coyote, crow, deer mice, dipper, stellar and gray jay, mink, pacific wren, raccoon, river otter, red-tailed hawk, shrew, skunk, and squirrel. Only mole, beaver, cougar and elk appear to abstain. Even deer may nibble!

PLACES TO SEE SALMON SPAWNING:

From late summer through early winter, native

4 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

Photo by Western Wildlife Outreach Project

dar Root Folk School

Photo courtesy of Ce

“Ultimately we want all of our students in our youth programs asking ‘what does the land need of us?’”

Justin Lake, CedarRoot youth instructor

CHIMACUM CREEK

Illahee Preserve (Summer Chum, Aug.-Oct.) Creek View Lane, Port Townsend (see map & directions page 6). The arrow marks the 800-foot trail leading down to chum spawning grounds.

Explore Illahee on your own, any day, dawn to dusk.

September 27, 2014, join us at Illahee for the Land Trust‘s Annual Bring-Your-Own Picnic for wildlife games and activities, tour of the restoration, and nature walk down to the creek to watch the chum spawning. Visit saveland.org for more information.

H.J. CARROLL PARK

(Coho, Nov.-Jan.) Rhody Drive, Chimacum. A gently sloped 50-foot trail leads to wooded coho salmon spawning habitat.

FINNRIVER FARM AND CIDERY

(Coho, Nov.-Jan.) Barn Swallow Road, 3 miles south of Chimacum Corner off Center Road. The 1/4-mile Soil and Salmon Trail (see page 13) leads continued on pg. 5

Photo courtesy of Western Wildlife Outreach Project

#2 Fish & Chums cont. from pg. 4

Salmon feed bear, coyote, and maybe deer! How else do salmon feed an ecosystem?

DISCOVERY BAY/SALMON CREEK

Historic Larrance Farm/Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) (Summer Chum, Sept.-Oct.) See location #5 on Discovery Bay map, page 7. During spawning season, WDFW operates an adult fish monitoring station here. Parking off W. Uncas Road, approximately 1/4 mi. S. of Hwy 101.

Discover Pass required.

DUCKABUSH RIVER

Duckabush Oxbow Preserve (Summer Chum and Coho, Sept.-Oct.) 251 River Road, Brinnon. For map and more information, see page 9.

DOSEWALLIPS RIVER

Dosewallips River Road. Travel to the end of the Outreach Project

to restored habitat used by coho at this organic farm.

QUILCENE RIVER

Photo courtesy

of Western Wildlife

(Summer Chum and Coho, Sept.-Oct.) In Quilcene, WDFW has a marked, 25-foot easement on the north side of the river that extends about one mile below Highway 101, with public access to fishing and a trail from Fremont Street to the river mouth. This area is can be crowded with anglers in spawning season.

Treasure #3: Chumsortium:

People Working Together to Recover Wild Salmon

In the 1980s, the summer chum run in Chimacum Creek hit rock bottom. Extinction. And other salmon populations in many other local watersheds were close behind. Strong salmon runs are important to our landscape, wildlife, heritage, and to our future, so locals pitched in to restore them. In doing so, they spawned a conservation movement with ripples in thriving salmon streams all over our region.

The Chumsortium is a collaboration of public and private groups working together to protect and restore salmon and wildlife habitat

in East Jefferson County. Successful salmon habitat conservation is more than one group or organization can accomplish on their own.

Together, the “chums” develop regional strategies, in concert with on-the-ground habitat protection and restoration, to achieve the best results for salmon and wildlife.

MEET THE CHUMS

Chumsortium partners include: Hood Canal Coordinating Council Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group

Illustration by Amanda Kingsley

road. After a few places to pull over on the way, it ends in collapse at the river, leaving an open view of fresh cutbank providing gravel for spawning salmon.

Find the

Watch the salmon spawning.

Witness the natural cycle for yourself. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

Visit one of the viewing spots listed here, or one of your own.

Can you observe two salmon Treasure competing for a prime redd spot?

(Do you know what a redd is? Find out at wdfw. wa.gov.)

Can you find the carcass of a spawned-out salmon?

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Jefferson County Jefferson County Conservation District (JCCD) Jefferson Land Trust North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife WSU Jefferson Co. Extension

PARTNERS ON THE GROUND: NORTH OLYMPIC SALMON COALITION

NOSC is a non-regulatory, nonprofit organization that performs salmon habitat restoration on the North Olympic Peninsula. NOSC continued on pg. 6

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 5

#3 Chumsortium cont. from pg. 5 was formed in 1990 by community volunteers as one of the state’s Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups. Working directly with willing landowners, government agencies, and local communities, they have spent the last 23 years restoring salmon habitat.

Through volunteers, NOSC increases the odds of wild salmon survival, fosters community stewardship and promotes youth education.

opens a door and allows conservation partners to go back and forth through it, to do the right thing for the habitat,” says Kevin Long, NOSC project manager.

“Salmon habitat restoration depends on land on which to work; the Land Trust, WDFW, and private landowners have all been keys to our success in restoring salmon habitat on the Olympic Peninsula.”

Help the salmon!

And tell us about Many salmon restoration projects it at 25Treasures@ would not be possible without the saveland.org. partnership between NOSC and Jefferson • Clean up garbage Land Trust. “By protecting parcels with or invasive plants high conservation value, the Land Trust along a creek or Treasure stream.

• Join the Stewardship Crew at Jefferson Land Trust; contact info@saveland.org.

• In the spring and summer, help NOSC clear invasive plants.

• August through December, sign up with NOSC to walk the creeks conducting fish surveys.

• In winter, join NOSC planting native trees streamside to improve and restore habitat.

NOSC volunteers help to monitor adult returns to Visit nosc.org, call (360) 379-8051 local creeks and rivers; this is just part of the work that or contact info@nosc.org to learn more goes into restoring salmon populations.

Photo courtesy of WDFW about NOSC programs.

FISH AND LAND

Find the

Treasure #4: Chimacum Creek Stretching Beaver and Center Valleys down to Irondale Beach, Chimacum Creek is the biggest name in salmon habitat in local lore. Decades of habitat destruction, compounded by a disastrous culvert blow-out, resulted in the extinction of the creek’s Summer Chum. An enormous community effort began. Volunteers helped repopulate the Creek with salmon reared from the Chimacum run’s closest relatives in Salmon Creek. The work they took part in revived the salmon here and spawned the Chumsortium.

For many visitors, the eagles and herons patrolling the shallows at the Creek’s mouth are the only indication of a vast protected area surrounding most of lower Chimacum Creek and the nearby shoreline. With over 258 acres held by WDFW, 23 acres by Jefferson County, and 21 acres held by Jefferson Land Trust, lower Chimacum Creek now supports near-historic levels of Endangered-Species-Act-listed summer chum salmon.

Trail placement is approximate.

Please stay on trails to minimize impacts to wildlife and plant community.

Friends of Chimacum Creek

By Susie Learned

In 2007, Sarah Spaeth at the Land Trust wanted to put together a group of folks who could care for Chimacum

The Chinook word “illahee”means “Earth” or “country” or “homeland.”

Photo by Wendy Feltham

Creek. She invited my husband Howard and me to tour the creek, and compiled a list of neighbors having an interest in conservation. That is how the Friends of Chimacum Creek (FOCC) got started.

Matt Tyler, Director of Jefferson County Parks System, called me in 2009 and asked if the Friends would be willing to maintain the beach at Chimacum Creek estuary for a couple of years. The county had budget shortfalls and needed support.

Since 2009, the FOCC has helped maintain the Jefferson County Irondale Beach Park.

The big bonus in forming FOCC was that the beach has become a focal point for our neighborhood, and now we are getting to know each other and share the love of this place.

In 2012 the Department of Ecology did an extensive restoration project.

It changed the shape of the beach, created more open space, and revealed more brick ovens that were used to make pig iron in the late 1800s and early 1900s. continued on pg. 7

Habitat protection and restoration has been the key to salmon returns in Chimacum Creek. Visit a gem on its path: Illahee Preserve is located off of Prospect Rd. (Kala Point area), Port Townsend. Please enjoy this property with respect for wildlife and neighbors, dawn-til-dusk. Turn right on Creek View Lane; drive slowly to parking at the Land Trust sign at the end of the road. Look for the big wooden arrow marking the trailhead to the steep path down to the creek—a great salmonwatching spot!

This graph shows the return of adult Summer Chum salmon to Snow, Salmon, Chimacum and Jimmycomelately Creeks since 1989. Hood Canal Summer Chum are listed under the Endangered Species Act, but after years of strategic, collaborative conservation efforts, the Summer Chum are now bouncing back.

6 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

#4 Creek cont. from pg. 6 The Irondale Beach Park is on the National Historic Register and is a wildlife refuge with a saltwater creek. It’s open to the public and is jointly owned by WDFW and Jefferson County Parks. To learn more about FOCC, contact Susie Learned at sb@seacraftclassics.com or (360) 531-0167.

Explore Chimacum Creek Estuary. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org • Dip a toe—or maybe a kayak paddle—in the mouth of Chimacum Creek.

• Discover remnants of the mill.

Treasure • Or come help clean the beach with FOCC on the first Saturday of each month from 10-11 a.m.

Find the

After extensive restoration, the estuary at Chimacum Creek estuary is a natural refuge again–for people and wildlife.

Photo courtesy Jefferson Land Trust

Treasure #5: Snow Creek, Salmon Creek, and Discovery Bay

Since the lows of the 1980s, the Discovery Bay length of stream. Visitors may explore this site (great watersheds of Salmon and Snow Creeks have rebounded for viewing salmon in the fall!), now owned by with a growing population of chum, coho, steelhead, WDFW. and cutthroat trout. The Land Trust has played a 6. Snow Creek Riparian Restoration. NOSC’s WCC pivotal role here, purchasing properties as they have crew prepped the site by removing a 15-foot wall of become available, holding them or transferring them to blackberry and scalping invasive reed canary grass.

Chumsortium partners, and opening the door to habitat School groups and community volunteers helped restoration. plant over 5,500 native trees and shrubs at the site.

This WDFW property is open to the public.

Discovery Bay Restoration Map

By North Olympic Salmon Coalition Staff

1. Water Line Relocation. In spring 2014, NOSC will relocate the private water line from the railroad grade and trestles to clear the way for habitat restoration.

7. Snow Creek Estuary Restoration. In a partnership with JLT, WDFW, and private landowners, NOSC will remove fill, three railroad trestles, berms, and a septic field along Snow Creek, reconnecting the creek to adjacent saltmarsh and restoring tidal processes on the marsh. This area will be publicly accessible when restoration is complete.

2. Maynard Nearshore Restoration. Beginning summer 2014, NOSC will restore 1,800 feet of shoreline impacted by an abandoned railroad grade to 8. Septic System Relocation. The septic drainfield for improve habitat conditions. This WDFW property is the Valley View Motel is located on land slated for open to the public. habitat restoration. Jefferson Land Trust owns the property, and the septic field sits in an easement on 3. North Site Estuary Restoration. In 2008, NOSC the property. Through the motel owner’s significant removed 25,000 cubic yards (2,000 dump trucks!) of waste and industrial fill from the saltmarsh, where sawdust and veneer chips disposed of in the mid1900s created toxic conditions for sea life. This WDFW property is open to the public.

4. South Site Estuary Relocation. To replace saltmarsh habitat destroyed by Highway 101, in 2008 machines excavated down to saltmarsh elevations to connect new marsh to Salmon Creek and Discovery Bay. This WDFW property is open to the public

5. Salmon Creek Channel Restoration. In 2003– 2004 JCCD re-meandered 2,500 of Salmon Creek at the historic Larrance Farm. NOSC installed logjams and native plants. The site is currently enrolled in the Conservation District’s CREP program. 18,000 trees were planted on a 29-acre buffer along a 3,500-foot

Graphic by Sarah Doyle, North Olympic Salmon Coalition

efforts and cooperation, NOSC can now relocate the drainfield at an upland site.

Find the

Follow the map to Discovery Bay. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org • Walk the public shores.

Treasure

Buildings were removed in the first phase of restoration at Snow Creek Estuary Preserve. In phase two, relocation of a septic system (See #8 on map) will protect water quality in Discovery Bay. Photo by Caitlin Batterby

• Discover one of the gems of restored habitat.

• Witness the transformation of diamonds-in-the-rough to jewels through active restoration projects.

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 7

Treasure #6: Quilcene Bay, Donovan Creek Over 130 years ago, the Quilcene Bay estuary was rich in vegetation and wildlife. Streams and rivers flowed from mountain snowfields through ancient forests to the sea. The bay’s saltmarshes and tidal flats were enriched by fresh water and the cleansing tide, keeping clam and oyster populations healthy.

Wildlife flourished in the flats and marshes.

But to cultivate the land, people had to control flooding, so they straightened rivers and installed dikes and culverts. The natural action of the rivers and the tides was impacted, and the unintended consequence was a bay filling in with silt—bad for wildlife and the oysters for which Quilcene is famous.

Now restoration of its natural processes is benefiting the bay, thanks to a long-term effort to restore a thriving ecosystem. Twenty years ago, the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, the Land Trust, local landowners, and state and federal agencies partnered to preserve and restore the Quilcene Bay watershed and estuary. The work is paying off. After recent restoration of Jefferson Land Trust’s preserves here, along Donovan Creek, coho

“Helping protect habitat for the long-term is an intrinsically rewarding experience. It feels good to know that life stories on these preserves can continue through our help: wrens and sparrows can make nests that will be undisturbed by development; beavers can raise their young; migrating birds can find a haven.”

–Dave Rugh, Donovan Creek Preserve Steward (Pictured, right, on the preserve with stewardship crew.)

returned to the stream for the first time in 20 years.

Lower Donovan Creek Preserve

River otter are among the wildlife inhabiting Donovan Creek preserves.

Photo by Western Wildlife Outreach Project

Contributed by Dave Rugh, Donovan Creek Preserve Steward Conservation and restoration on Donovan Creek in recent years is contributing to the health of Quilcene Bay and wildlife in its watershed. Lower Donovan Creek is predominately marshland with wild grasses.

This wet marshland is managed as habitat with no trails or access, but it can be viewed nicely from East Quilcene Road. The northern reaches of Quilcene Bay are also visible from there. The Olympic Mountains stand grandly to the west.

Birds that winter there include marsh wrens, song

Restoration of the Quilcene watershed is helping the Olympia oyster, beavers, river otters, harbor seals, and thousands of resident and migrating water and shore birds to thrive.

sparrows, golden-crowned sparrows, and crows.

Mammals that left tracks just in fall and winter include coyote, deer, bobcat, gopher, moles, river otter, and beaver.

Visit Quilcene Bay watershed.

And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• Visit public land at the mouth of the Big Quil.

• Try finding the scenic overlooks we have mapped: Treasure 1. Pullout on Linger Longer Road looks across private conservation area and recovering habitat of Heron House Conservation Easement 2. Bridge over Big Quil on Linger Longer Road– great salmon viewing 3. Pullout and fish monitoring site in restoration area on Little Quil 4. Donovan Creek and conservation areas

Find the

Treasure #7: Wildlife on Wild Rivers

Amphibians such as rough-skinned newts and red-legged frogs, plus insects, birds, mammals and micro-invertebrates rely on stream zones.

Photo courtesy of NWI

8 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

Rivers and streams aren’t just for the fish. They are contiguous natural habitat corridors for a host of animals. In fact, natural waterways are crucial for a majority of the wildlife of our region.

87 percent of birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals in western Washington rely on stream zones at some point in their life, or seasonally.

TRACKING 101

Contributed by Scott Brinton, Executive Director,

CedarRoot Folk School Imagine wandering one of the wild lands the Land Trust protects. You see some fresh tracks along the creek while out at the Duckabush Oxbow Preserve (see map below). You know nothing about tracking animals, but are intrigued about who is sharing this area with you. Tracking wildlife is easier with a halfempty cup. Approaching a set of tracks and asking continued on pg. 9

#7 Wildlife continued from pg. 8

simple questions makes the world rich with stories.

At our wildlife tracking class, we start each investigation answering who, what, where, when, and why.

Who is Photo courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust this animal?

This question is best answered with at least five possibilities. If you think that you know something for sure, then you lose many subtleties.

What was this animal doing? Are the tracks spread out or close together? Is there great action and energy behind each track or simple movement?

Where is this animal coming from and going to?

What is the greater ecology of this area?

When did this animal pass here? Look for clues of weathering (tide marks, wind-blown debris, rain drops) and deduce based on the past week’s weather patterns.

Why was this animal here? Animal movements are seldom random, and this question brings out the intelligent decisions behind each deliberate track. We may ask ourselves, “Why are we here?” The tracker

watches all tracks, even the ones that they leave behind.

As you leave this place that you and your grandchildren will enjoy into the future, you might reflect that this piece of land is one giant track left behind by the supporters of the Land Trust’s work.

Other resources: Mammal Track and Sign, by Mark Elbroch, Bird Track and Sign, by Mark Elbroch, Reading the Forested Landscape, by Tom Wessel, and Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, by David Moskowitz

DUCKABUSH OXBOW PRESERVE

Directions: 251 River Road, Brinnon. From south on Hwy 101, turn right onto Duckabush River Road, travel 0.7 miles, then take third left at onto River Road. Travel to end of River Road—please drive slowly and be considerate of neighbors. Park at the Land Trust sign. Preserve open dawn-dusk.

Tracking is investigating more than footprints: What animals visited these trees on the Duckabush?

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust

FIND THE TREASURE:

Go tracking. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

Find some animal track or sign—stream banks, beaches and estuaries are good spots to check—and ask yourself: What stories might they be telling?

Learn tracking techniques at CedarRoot Folk School’s tracking club, first Sunday of the month.

Contact cedarrootschool@gmail.com for details.

Test your skills with the Land Trust this fall,

Trail placement shown is approximate. Please stay on trails to minimize impacts to wildlife and plant community.

Map courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust

Oct. 19, at a Cybertracker evaluation led by David Moskowitz. See saveland.org.

Visit the Duckabush. Check the Duckabush Oxbow Preserve (see map) on your own, or with the Land Trust on June 26, 2014. See saveland.org.

Treasure #8: Bird Language

“A new world opens up when we realize that birds communicate what is happening in the forest.

Bird vocalizations can be broken down into 5 simple groups: song, territorial, juvenile begging, companion calls and alarm. Learning to decipher these calls is a challenge at first, but with a little practice we can soon detect the movement of hawks, owls, weasels, coyotes and bobcats. Learning to find owls by listening to what the robin is saying is very exciting. All of sudden we become less of a spectator and are immersed in the stories surrounding us in natural world.”- Scott Brinton, CedarRoot Folk School

Find the

Treasure

Open your ears to the birds’ conversations. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• Catch the dawn chorus. How many different bird songs can you discern? Can you hear a bird that says its own name? What else are they saying?

• Try a lesson in bird language from CedarRoot Folk School; next one is May 18, 2014. Contact cedarrootschool@gmail.com for details.

• Learn about birding by ear from local naturalist Ken Wilson and the JLTNHS, June 5, 2014, 7 p.m. at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St, Port Townsend. jltnatural.org • Come to the Duckabush with Jefferson Land Trust, June 26, 2014, for birding and exploration. Visit saveland.org for details.

Photos from left: black-capped chickadee sassing; red-winged blackbird singing and white-crowned sparrow: Some say they sing, “You…See… Pretty-Pretty-Girl”.

Photos by Western Wildlife Outreach Project

Varied thrush: Territorial call is a long, quavering whistle and a pause, followed by a note on a higher or lower pitch.

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 9

Treasure #9: The Salish Shore

At the shoreline, processes crucial to the bioproductivity of our whole region take place.

Wind, tides, and fresh water flowing out from rivers to the sea exchange sediments and nutrients which feed life on land and in the ocean. Feeder bluffs crumble, maintaining sandy beaches and the tidelands where clams and oysters thrive.

Shorebirds, shellfish, seaweed beds, plankton, forage fish, salmon, marine mammals—all ocean life ultimately hangs in the connections between land and sea. For many species, the area between high and low tides is a high-stress refuge from natural enemies not well-adapted to the tidal fluctuations, salt spray, wind, sediment movement, and wave action.

The diverse shoreline of Jefferson County includes rugged Pacific coast, high-bank bluffs, sandy points, steep forested bluffs and rocky shorelines. Intertidal zones range from sand and cobble to sediment-rich muddy banks or stable rock.

Search the shores. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

• Walk any shoreline at a low tide.

What do you see? How many seaweeds and critters can you find? What birds are there?

Treasure • Try turning over debris or some rocks; take a close look. Can you find something that swims? Something with legs?

Find the

Protection Island is shrinking as its bluffs erode away.

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Battersby

With a shell? With a foot? With hundreds of feet?

• Where can you find an example of sandy shoreline? Bluffs? Rocky and muddy shores?

• Places to explore include: Irondale Beach County Park and Oak Bay Park in Port Hadlock Indian Island County Park and South Indian Island Park Fort Townsend and Fort Flagler State Parks Fort Worden State Park boasts the best resource around for marine science and conservation—the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Check ptmsc.org for details.

The treasures in the Port Townsend Marine Science Center trove include amazing marine exhibit and touch-tanks, natural history exhibit, Protection Island cruises, citizen science projects and hands-on classes for Photo courtesy of Caitlin Battersby school groups.

Bright red legs and feet distinguish the pigeon guillemot, a member of the auk family.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Cunliffe, Amiralty Images

Treasure #10: The Tarboo Watershed

The pristine Tarboo watershed isn’t just a single treasure, but a string of gems from the headwaters down to the bay.

The Tarboo Watershed Project

Contributed by Peter Bahls, Northwest Watershed Institute Since 2002, Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI), Jefferson Land Trust, landowners, and more than 40 cooperating organizations have worked to conserve the Tarboo watershed from the headwaters to the bay. Goals of this landscape-scale effort are to restore abundant salmon runs, protect habitat and water quality to sustain the outstanding shellfish and wildlife of Dabob Bay, and conserve forestland as part of a sustainable economy for this region.

TARBOO CREEK

Tarboo Creek supports spawning and rearing salmon, and wildlife from western toads to black bears and

10 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

mountain lions. NWI and partners are working with landowners to protect and restore the entire 6-mile stream corridor of the creek, from its headwaters near Tarboo Lake and the Olympic Music Festival to TarbooDabob Bay. To date, NWI, the Land Trust, and local landowners have protected more than 500 acres along the creek with conservation easements.

One of these conservation easements protects the Tarboo Wildlife Preserve (TWP)—316 acres of restored streams, wetlands and forest in the lower Tarboo Valley, visible beside Dabob Road for one and a half miles. The preserve is owned and managed by NWI. Starting in 2003, NWI, landowners, and partnering organizations began restoration on the preserve— re-meandering miles of Tarboo Creek and its tributaries that had been straightened and ditched, replacing 12

Keeping sustainable working forests like the Tarboo Forest (pictured) from subdivision and development are crucial to the Tarboo-Dabob watershed conservation project. Photo © Keith Lazelle Nature Photography, courtesy of Northwest Watershed Institute

continued on pg. 11

#10 Watershed continued from pg. 10 culverts that blocked fish passage, and planting trees. In the last nine years, NWI’s field crew and groups from five local schools have planted more than 90,000 native trees and shrubs that are revitalizing stream and wetland areas.

Visitors to TWP often remark on the hundreds of large dead trees or standing “snags,” thinking they may be the result of a wildfire. Actually, they were installed with an excavator as wildlife habitat. When the newly replanted forest grows up around these snags, wildlife here will already have a head start.

quality of Tarboo Creek and Dabob Bay. NWI and Jefferson Land Trust’s Tarboo Forest Project, an effort due for completion in 2014, will conserve 236 acres through conservation easements for sustainable forestry and wildlife.

Find the

DABOB BAY

Dabob Bay, renowned for its shellfish and spotted shrimp, includes two “arms.” One reaches to Quilcene Bay and the other east to Tarboo Bay. With its steep forested slopes, pristine salt marsh spits and deep water, Tarboo-Dabob Bay is one of the richest salt marsh estuary habitats remaining in Puget Sound. In 2009, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) expanded the Dabob Bay Natural Area to 6,128 acres, including the forested and unstable slopes around the bay. Within this proposed boundary, DNR, Jefferson Land Trust, NWI the Nature Conservancy, and others are working with willing landowners to preserve critical habitats, with over 2,500 acres protected to date.

TARBOO FORESTLANDS

Over 4,000 acres in the Tarboo are used for timber production, mostly owned by DNR or Pope Resources.

Keeping these forestlands from becoming subdivisions in the decades ahead is essential for protecting the water

Treasure

Explore the Tarboo.

And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.

Tarboo Bay, looking upstream, viewed from above org.

This map reflects Tarboo-Dabob conservation Photo courtesy of Lowell Johns • Join the Land Trust and lands. Many of the lands in the Tarboo-Dabob watershed are protected in partnership with private NWI July 12, 2014, for a guided tour of thre protected landowners and are not open to public access.

Tarboo properties, from the Tarboo-Dabob Bay forest to the shore. is one of the least • Take Dabob Road past TWP. How man standing snags developed salt marsh can you count? estuaries in Puget Sound.

• Check it out on the ground: Visitors are Photo © Keith Lazelle Nature welcome by prior permission, solo or in group field Photography, courtesy of Northwest tours.

Watershed Institute Please contact NWI at nwwatershed.org to arrange a visit.

In general, no dogs, hunting or fishing permitted in the Preserve.

Treasure #11: Bounty of the Seas

beds and send it shoreward to beaches. Look The Salish Seas serve up seafood galore, including FIELD NOTES- Description: This easily identified a veritable salad of edible sea-veggies. Go get your seaweed can measure 100 ft. or more and grow 2 ft. a for firm, uniform seaweed and shellfish license from WDFW, because day. The hollow whip-like stipe (stalk) terminates in a brown stipes expert forager Jennifer Hahn is sharing some salty large bulb crowned with long brownish-gold ribbon- (hollow stems) lacking white, secrets. like blades (leaves) that reach 14 ft. Fertile leaves rotted spots. show dark brown spore “footprints.” The bulb and BULL WHIP KELP Whenever you stipe buoy the leaves up to the sun, and a root-like Nereocystis luetkeana holdfast made of overlapping fingers anchors kelp to forage, sustain Dried bullwhip kelp tastes like the sea itself— wild populations the ocean floor. bright with minerals and a salty zing. Dry the blades, by harvesting no Location: Thrives from Alaska to California in then crumble into tight, lidded jars. Sprinkle over more than one in moving water, 40 to 60 ft. deep below average low omelets, tomato or Caesar salad. twenty, whether tide, with a rocky sea floor to grip. Edible parts: For a crisp, delicate condiment, fry pieces of dry it’s flowers from Blades, stipes, bulbs. kelp in peanut oil for a few seconds on each side, then a patch or berries HARVEST CALENDAR – Blades/leaves: Peak Big bull whip kelp bladder and blades. flake over pizza, or on watermelon-avocado-scallion from a bush.

Photo courtesy of © Chris Moench late spring and summer salad with a squeeze of lime. Grind kelp flakes with Adapted with Cut kelp blades at least two feet up from the toasted sesame seeds for gomashio powder. A 5-foot permission from: length of bull whip kelp stipe is ideal for pickles, bulbous float to ensure leaves keep growing after you Pacific Feast, a West-Coast Guide to Foraging Wild chutney, or salsa. Or stuff large, kelp bulbs with meat paddle away. Stipes/Stalks: Never cut living stipes.

Edibles, by Jennifer Hahn. or nut loaf, bake, and slice into rings.

Fall and winter storms tear up annual bull whip kelp continued on pg. 12

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 11

#11 Bounty continued from pg. 11

Savor the sea. Taste a bite of bounty from the ocean. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

Research, find, and taste a sea-bean or other sea or shore vegetable. How many of them can Treasure you identify?

• Try making bull-kelp pickles, sea-lettuce salad or chowder, or cheesy sea puffs! Email 25Treasures@saveland.org for the recipes.

Find the

• Taste some of the shellfish that make our tidelands famous.

Dig them yourself, or support local businesses by enjoying the bounty of aquaculture. Try clams, oysters, mussels, crab…

Or if not shellfish, how about sea cucumber?

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is illegal to cut living Bull Kelp stipes.

Please, remember, these macro algae provide habitat for fish, otters, seals, and even whales.

Cut stipes into “O’”s for Bull kelp pickles. Email us at 25Treasures@saveland.org for the recipe!

Photo courtesy of ©Jennifer Hahn

Treasure #12: Farms You can get food, fiber, flowers and more right from the farms all over the county. And it’s clear that local farms and food are important to county residents.

That’s why Jefferson Land Trust added “working lands” to our conservation mission in 2007, and we have protected over 420 acres of working farmland to date—with 400 more soon to come in 2014.

There are many people supporting the success of local agriculture. In the Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative (JLWC), community organizations work together strategically to keep our rural landscape economically viable. Each member organization contributes its expertise to provide access to land, resource conservation, lending capital and business consulting, access to markets, training, research, and development for working farms and forests.

JLWC partners are: Jefferson Land Trust, Craft3, Port Townsend Food Co-op, Jefferson Conservation District, Jefferson County Farmer’s Market Association, Northwest Natural Resource Group, and Washington State University, Jefferson County Extension

Find the

Treasure

Support farms in Jefferson County! And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

Here are just some ways to pitch in: • Buy local!

• Browse the Farmers Markets.

What’s the most surprising product you can find?

• Get a CSA from a local producer. Do they provide an ingredient you have never used

Kateen Fitzgerald of Compass Rose Farm worked with Jefferson Land Trust to protect her 40-acre farm in 2007.

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust

before? What did you do with it?

• Volunteer for work-trade at a local farm.

• Put boots on the ground in the WSU Jefferson County Farm Tour, September 13-14, 2014. Visit jefferson.wsu.edu/agriculture/farm-tour/.

Treasure #13: Soil and Salmon Local farmers work hard for a sustainable, thriving landscape. And farmland can thrive for people and wildlife. Salmon-bearing Chimacum Creek and its tributaries wend to their headwaters through forest and farmland, so salmon conservation on the upper reaches of the creek goes hand-in-hand with farmland protection.

The 2009 restoration of over seven acres of creekside habitat buffer made a big difference at Finnriver Farm and Cidery. Co-owner Crystie Kisler observes, “This

12 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

piece of earth had been made dysfunctional for nature and wildlife. Now workers, visitors and volunteers share the farm with migrating salmon and swans, eagles and herons, otters and hawks. Come out to the farm, walk the Soil and Salmon Trail down to the bridge over Chimacum Creek, and witness how this restoration has renewed a vital piece of wildlife habitat in a relatively short period.”

CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Blue tubes protect young seedlings that will improve the wildlife habitat by providing shade and cover for salmon, birds, and other animals.

(CREP) provides federal funds for landowners to improve habitat conservation on environmentally continued on pg. 13

#13 Bounty continued from pg. 12

sensitive portions of private land. During voluntary agreements with 10-15 year contract periods, the Jefferson County Conservation District works with willing landowners to establish conservation buffers along creeks and streams. CREP provides funding and support to install fences to keep livestock out of streams and tributaries, to plant buffers of native trees and shrubs that will improve wildlife habitat, and to maintain those buffers. In Jefferson County the Conservation District has installed 121 river miles of conservation buffers in cooperation with farmers and landowners.

Treasure #14: The Chimacum Renaissance Chimacum is in a rural revival, seeing farm and food businesses grow. Young and long-time farmers are coming together to continue a proud agricultural heritage. The Chimacum farmland is special, but it’s the people investing in a vibrant future here who are making Chimacum thrive.

A clear sign of this renaissance is in the warm greeting from Chimacum Corner Farmstand at the crossroads, “Welcome to Chimacum: A Historic Farming Community. We Grow Food for YOU!” Since the Farmstand opened in 2010, the crossroads where Center and Beaver Valleys converge has become much more than a stop sign.

“Now the Chimacum Corner is a hub for rural residents to connect, gather, and celebrate. We have a place to run into our neighbors and forge deeper relationships. Not only is it a place to gather, but it provides and supports rural jobs—and the opportunity for local employment is important. And now when you come into Chimacum, it says Chimacum. We’re growing a sense of identity and purpose related to the agricultural heritage of this place.” – Crystie Kisler, Finnriver Farm

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Contributed by Rob Story, General Manager, Chimacum Corner Farmstand When I arrived in Chimacum in 2006 Tiny’s Fruit Stand closed down, and what is now the Chimacum Corner Farmstand went vacant. Zach & Haley of Dharma Ridge Farm were just striking out on their own. Keith & Crystie of Finnriver Farm had a vision for a cidery, but were not clear on how to do it.

The land where Red Dog Farm thrives under Karyn Williams’ hands was sitting fallow. Sunfield Farm and School property had just been bought. SpringRain

SALMON AT SPRINGRAIN FARM “When we bought the land, we donated a conservation easement on the property to Jefferson Land Trust to ensure that its potential as an organic farm is maintained forever. One of the reasons we did so was our desire to protect Chimacum Creek and the salmonid habitat. We participated in CREP, and continue to work with volunteers to restore the stream and wetlands on our farm.” - Roxanne Hudson, SpringRain Farm

Find the farm-salmon connection.

And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

• Dig for the answer to this question: Why is the soil in Chimacum’s Center and Beaver Valleys so fertile?

• Visit or volunteer at a salmon-safe Treasure farm.

• Walk the Soil and Salmon Trail at Finnriver Farm and Cidery (open 12-5 daily, 62 Barn Swallow Rd, Chimacum).

• Visit SpringRain Farm on September 14, 2014 (187 Covington Dr., Chimacum), for Jefferson Land Trust-led activities at Chimacum Creek during Farm Tour.

Find the

Farm and John and Roxanne were soon to come. Compass Rose farmland was waiting for Kateen.

The main crossroads in downtown Chimacum was not very inviting and there was a distinct void.

Roll forward and today Chimacum and the surrounding areas are vibrantly alive. Why? I believe this agricultural and socioeconomic renaissance is directly due to the work of Jefferson Land Trust and the community support for their work. It has helped build a stable foundation from which great things are rising.

The Chimacum Corner Farmstand came into being out of a desire to support these farmers, promote a sustainable local economy, and share the bounty of fresh local foods with a larger audience. What excites me even more than conserving land is how all this has engaged our greater community. We are participating in Rich peats soils—a gift from Chimacum Creek—mean farming and salmon habitat go hand-inand have a connection to a story larger hand in Chimacum and beyond. Chimacum farms protected by Jefferson Land Trust to-date include SpringRain, Brown Dairy (see Treasure #15), Glendale, Red Dog, and Finnriver. And we’re working than ourselves. to complete a conservation easement protecting the 256-acre Short Family Farm in 2014!

Did you know we live in a community where: stay on in our community?

First-time visitors to the peninsula Farmers embrace cooperation, and so-called and store often leave astounded by the local bounty competing businesses are working together to ensure within as well as by seeing a real farmer, muddy boots success for all? and all, dropping off product and grabbing a cup of Older farmers have an audience of younger farmers coffee? and interns who want to listen, learn, understand, work Local residents and visitors have offered their time the land and carry the torch? and money to the Corner Farmstand so they can be a And the list goes on. part of a vibrant community gathering place?

I feel very grateful to live and work in this community, Local businesses, newspapers, and citizens came where there is trust, respect, support, encouragement and together to rebuild a farmer’s barn lost to a fire? the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves. I These local farms attract young people from across thank the people of this community for setting an the country eager to learn about farming, many of continued on pg. 14 whom work part-time at Chimacum Corner and then

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 13

#14 Renaissance cont. from pg. 13 example we can all be proud to be a part of.

Find the

Treasure

Hang out in Chimacum. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

• Come out for a community event, gathering, or project in the Chimacum area.

• Stop for some local flavor at a downtown Chimacum eatery, like Farm’s Reach Café & the Big Squeeze on Beaver Valley Road, Chimacum Café on Chimacum Road, or at the Corner Farmstand, right at the crossroads.

• Visit the Chimacum Farmers Market at the Corner Farmstand on Sundays (June 2-Oct. 27).

Photo courtesy of Joe Baier

Treasure #15: Brown Dairy, Yesterday and Today

Adapted with permission from original article by Phil Vogelzang, Chimacum Corner Farmstand Gloria Brown was a Chimacum resident for over 50 years. And she saw a lot of changes in those years.

But one of the most significant is taking shape thanks to her vision for the revitalization of 50 acres of the historic dairy farm that she and her husband BG (“Brownie”) bought in the early 1950s and ran for 40 years. The farm, known both as the Brown Dairy and the Chimacum Dairy, is located right at the Chimacum crossroads. It is one of the oldest working farms in the county. Most Chimacum residents are familiar with the classic farmhouse (next to Bill’s Garage on Center Road) where Gloria and Brownie raised their family together.

The changes are taking shape quietly and behind the scenes, but they will dramatically impact “downtown Chimacum.” Gloria and BG always had a love of farms and the local agricultural landscape. BG passed away in 2001, and in 2007, Gloria sold a 23acre parcel of their land to the Land Trust and Karyn Williams, of Red Dog Farm. When Gloria began to consider moving from the dairy into something a little easier for a woman of her age,

she began talking with her friend Sarah Spaeth at Jefferson Land Trust. Sarah worked with Gloria to preserve the 50-acre dairy property in 2009 through a conservation easement, ensuring that it would be protected for agriculture forever.

Along with the conservation easement, Gloria gave the Land Trust an option to buy the property. The Land Trust and Jefferson Landworks Collaborative partners brought together a group of investors to exercise that option, purchasing the land from Gloria, and providing bridge ownership while working with local agricultural businesses to develop a vision for the future of this land. It’s an exciting vision of building business partnerships to increase the vitality of local food enterprises by bringing production operations to the former dairy. Now that Gloria has passed on, her legacy will continue with the farm she loved remaining a Chimacum cornerstone.

RED DOG FARM

In 2007, Karyn Williams was ready to put down roots on her own farm. She found 23 prime acres, previously part of the Brown Dairy, for sale in Center Valley. Financing the land purchase would

“Jefferson Land Trust was instrumental in making this farm a reality, giving me the opportunity to set up my business and ease into farm ownership.” - Karyn Williams Photo courtesy of Debra Elizabeth Swanson

have been difficult at that time, so the Land Trust bought the property and sold it to Karyn through a lease-to-buy arrangement.

Find the

See how the old Brown Farm still feeds us today. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

• Enjoy a trip south along Center Road for a half mile after the Treasure Chimacum Crossroads for views of 165 scenic acres of the historic Brown Dairy land.

• Visit the Red Dog Farmstand, open dusk-til-dawn, seven days a week (406 Center Rd., Chimacum).

Can you find something vegetable, something animal, and something mineral? How about a purple carrot?

• Or taste the terroir—Can you find Red Dog produce at a restaurant? At a market? Sign up for a CSA? Contact the farm at reddogfarm.net for details

The historic Brown Dairy is located right at the Chimacum Crossroads.

14 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

• Come out to Red Dog for Farm Tour, Sept 14, 2014.

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust

Treasure #16: Planting Seeds for Future Farmers

The deep roots of local agriculture now nurture the growth of a new generation dedicated to working the land. Farmers are working with schoolchildren, hosting interns, sharing their expertise, leading workshops, and cultivating an enduring future for our farms. Here is just a taste of this work – there are more active participants in agricultural education than we have room to introduce here!

SUNFIELD

In 2002, Sunfield Education Association and the owners of a former dairy property approached the Land Trust with a vision for an educational center on conserved farmland. Grant funding awarded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and Jefferson County Conservation Futures Program made this vision come true.

“The fields, forest, and wetlands at Sunfield serve a healthy balance between nature and human needs and invite us to be stewards of the land. We are grateful to Jefferson Land Trust for the preservation of the 81-acre property that is now home to the Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School campus. Congratulations on 25 years of preserving our community’s working landscapes!” – Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School

WSU FIELD PROGRAM

For the more advanced student, there’s the Farm Innovation, Education, and Leadership Development (FIELD) program. The WSU Small Farms Team, a partner in the Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative (see page 12), works with local farmers to combine formal instruction in sustainable agriculture with field-based internships on Jefferson County farms. Each FIELD intern is paired with a host farmer for comprehensive instruction in the operations of a farm. This on-theground learning is supplemented by weekly intensive workshops in topics like humane animal slaughter, water law, farm construction, and marketing.

Lisa Painter (right) protected her farm in honor of her parents, Carl and Muriel Painter, and her late partner, Jeanne Clendenon. This would not have been possible without the loving help of Rita Kepner, PhD. (left).

At Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School, children learn to care for the land while working side by side with farmers. Programs enliven a love of nature and sense of wonder, and blend academics with arts and community. During growing season, interns prepare to become the future caretakers of sustainable farms.

Photo courtesy of Sunfield Education Association

TWIN VISTA RANCH

In 2012, Lisa Painter donated to Jefferson Land Trust a conservation easement on the 26-acre Twin Vista Ranch that has been her home on Marrowstone Island for decades, ensuring the land will remain undeveloped and available for agriculture. And she donated the farm itself to WSU, where it is now in use as a FIELD program research facility.

“I hope a lot of young people learn from the land here. …The farm will provide a learning experience for young people, and they will be able to grow new tasty plant varieties that are appropriate for local agricultural conditions.” – Lisa Painter, Twin Vista Ranch

• Get a taste of Sunfield by signing up for their weekly CSA of fresh organic vegetables and fruits, May until November. Contact nwitham@ sunfieldfarm.org.

• Get out on the land with a farm tour, or summer camps beginning in June 2014. Call 360-385-3658 or email info@sunfieldfarm.org.

• Take home a treat and plant a seed by picking from the Sunfield pumpkin patch this fall.

Look to the future; plant some seeds. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• Plant some seeds in your own garden; chart their growth. What’s the fastest-growing seed? The slowest? Why might one seed be Treasure so slow, and another so fast?

• Help grow future farmers by giving your time and support to the groups, Farm crews at SpringRain and many other local farms include FIELD interns businesses and individuals invested in their future. studying under their hosts’ expert mentorships. Photo courtesy of Spring Rain Farm

Find the

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 15

Treasure #17: A Bite of Local Bounty Treasure the sweet burst of berries right from the farm or garden; enjoy fresh veggies, cheese, meats, eggs, grains, honey, and more. Local fare is available all over the county, at farmers markets and farmstands, numerous local groceries and eateries, in schools, food bank, and hospital. The hardest part is choosing which gourmet repast to enjoy next!

4

SAVOR THE FLAVOR AND SAVE THE LAND

Two of the great local places to visit for a bite of bounty, the tasting room at Finnriver Farm and Cidery and the Fireside Restaurant at the Resort at Port Ludlow, are our very first partners in the Save the Land program. Participating businesses collect an optional donation of one percent of each sale to support our work to preserve the land that sustains our community. Those pennies-per-sale add up to make a big difference.

The Fireside is renowned for its local cuisine.

And as the resort’s General Manager, Debbie Wardrop, explains, “It only makes sense that we be fully engaged in this effort as it supports our vision of providing food (and beverage) from the farms, fisheries, and artisans in our community. We are, in large part, able to change our dinner menu on a daily basis because the products are available. This would not be the case if the land was not available. So, the circle of life through food (and beverage) continues.

This is our legacy to our community—one memory at a time, one morsel at a time.”

DHARMA RIDGE FARM BEET AND MYSTERY BAY GOAT CHEESE NAPOLEON

Ingredients: 3 large Cioggioa beets 6 oz. Mystery Bay goat cheese, softened

Photo courtesy of Dan Ratigan Photo courtesy of Nicole Pierce

tsp. minced fresh chives 2 tsp. minced fresh thyme 4 turns, freshly ground black pepper 12 oz. Finnriver cider 1⁄4 cup. granulated sugar 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt, to taste Preparation: In a handled pot, cover beets with water and cook until just done. Cool just enough to handle. Using a clean towel, rub the skin from the beets and chill until cool all the way through.

Bring cider and sugar to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce until it coats a spoon.

Let cool. Transfer to a squeeze bottle.

Using a mandoline, slice beets to approximately 1/4-inch thick.

Using a round cookie cutter, cut out 12 of the beet slices.

Stir goat cheese together with the chives thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl. Set aside.

Presentation: Put 1 beet slice in the same round cookie cutter; spread with goat cheese, and top with another slice of beet. Continue this process until you have three to four layers. Transfer to 4 plates. Drizzle cider reduction over each plate; garnish with toasted hazelnuts. Serve with mixed greens, if you like.

From the kitchen of Chef Dan Ratigan The Fireside Restaurant, Port Ludlow Resort portludlowresort.com Enjoy a bite of local bounty. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@ saveland.org.

• Try the recipe we shared here, or prepare one of your own.

• Can you make a whole meal of cuisine from here?

Treasure • Can you eat your way through every color of the rainbow?

• Can you taste all five “basic tastes:” salty, sweet, bitter, savory, and sour?

What’s your favorite local food or dish?

Find the

Treasure #18: Forest Jefferson County forests are iconic and fundamental to our community heritage, identity, economy, and way of life. From native habitat for plants and wildlife to recreational trails and natural refuge for people, from keeping air and water clean to sequestering carbon, from scenic beauty to the economic importance of working timberlands, our forested landscape is fundamental to the quality of life—for all things!—in Jefferson County.

TREE ID

Tree species have their own personalities. Local

16 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

naturalist and wilderness guide Heather Harding introduces some ways to identify and remember some common characters from the forest.

Douglas fir Doug fir is an entrepreneur. It likes to take root out in the open without much soil, like the business person who starts new companies in new fields. Douglas firs are Grooved bark of a stand of Douglas fir. the first to take over a meadow and are Photo courtesy of Guy Sharf continued on pg. 17

Horizontal lines make the Western hemlock “hemmed in.”

#18 Forest cont. from pg. 16

rarely found growing on stumps or thick soils. A Doug fir in an old growth forest likely got started during a “gap event” created by fire or wind blows.

The bark is deeply grooved, especially on old trees, so I give it the nick-name “Groovy Doug,” with the image of the rich entrepreneur sitting on the beach in the sun enjoying his riches.

Doug fir wood from working forests is used for veneer, plywood, and structural/construction lumber.

Western hemlock The Western hemlock is a secretary. It depends on trees to grow around it, much like a secretary needs a business to exist to have a job. Western hemlocks are often found growing out of stumps or fallen logs in densely forested or shady areas.The bark is lightly “hemmed” with vertical lines around the trunk like you would see in the hem of a shirt sleeve, so I nickname it “hemmed-in hemlock.”

Western hemlock from working forests is used for boxes and crates, pallets, plywood, and structural/ construction lumber.

Western red cedar The red cedar is a doctor. It takes a long time to reach maturity (i.e., the financial and time resources to become a doctor) and it provides many services to people. Cedars grow very slowly, as their strategy is to pour resources into manufacturing chemicals that resist rot, insects, and fire. Characteristic buttresses at the base of the tree, prevent it from toppling over in strong winds: another indication that this tree strategizes for a long life. The cedar is the “Tree of Life” to the Coast Salish, which inspires me to nickname this tree “Sacred Cedar.” The red papery bark and scaly leaves are so distinguishable that I usually don’t need tricks for this tree.

Western red cedar from working forests is used for

Its scaly bark makes some call Sitka spruce the “potato-chip tree.”

Wide buttresses and bark of distinctive, papery, peeling strips on Western red cedar.

shingles, exterior siding and lumber, boxes and crates, and musical instruments.

Red alder The red alder is a gardener. This tree prepares unusable ground into a lush soil for other trees to grow in. It has nodules on its roots that fix nitrogen from the air, adding a nutrient to the soils that plants need to survive. The red alders also stabilize river banks and loose ground so other plants can take hold. “White bark” is the nickname I give this tree because it is one of very few trees in our area with this appearance.

Red alder from working forests is used for veneer, plywood, furniture, cabinetry, millwork, pallets, electric guitar bodies, and chip/pulpwood.

Sitka spruce The Sitka spruce is a big-league pitcher for several reasons. A baseball pitcher is a very small field of occupation, like the Sitka spruce’s small native habitat, between Alaska and northern California along the coastal fog belt. We occasionally see it on the Quimper Peninsula in wet or fog-prone areas. Also, a baseball pitcher has a short-term, boom-and-bust career and makes a lot of

Treasure #19: Working Forest Heritage & Landscape Working forests are important to our economy, heritage, and landscape, and they are at threat by fragmentation and development as large working forest companies divest of their holdings in our area. Jefferson Land Trust has been collaborating with a host of large timberland owners, timber economy professionals, and conservation partners for preservation of working forest landscapes in Jefferson County.

CHANGE IN THE FOREST

Contributed by Mike Cronin CF, Cronin Forestry

In the mid-1970s most logging on the Olympic Peninsula centered on Forks-area old growth. By the late 70s the importance of second-growth logging of naturally regenerated Douglas fir stands, which were approaching economic maturity locally, was increasing.

In 1980 I was a young DNR forester in East Jefferson County. Crown Zellerbach, Pope and Talbot and Washington Department of Natural Resources held the majority of the forest lands in the Olympic rain shadow and our management plans were closely

Alder is one of very few local trees with bark that can appear white amid the forest’s deep greens.

money in that time. A Sitka spruce is similar— growing fast, getting huge, and dying relatively young, absorbing massive quantities of water to do so. Finally, if you sit on a Sitka spruce log on the beach, you‘ll get “pitch” on your seat! The bark is very distinctive, decorated with roundish chips which earn it the nick-name “potato-chip tree.”

Spruce from working forests is used as pulpwood for paper, construction lumber, millwork, and crates.

Visit a forest and meet the trees. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• There are other common local trees that we didn’t introduce here. What might be a Madrona tree’s profession? How about a Treasure Bigleaf maple? Grand fir? What could be the roles of other plants and trees in the forest ecosystem?

• Have a sleepover! Spend the night outside in the company of trees. If you’re brave, try spending the night in a shelter you construct yourself. If you’re very brave, put the tarp away, and spend the night in a shelter constructed of materials gathered on-site.

Find the

aligned. Crown had an office in Sekiu and an office in Hadlock with a staff of foresters in each. Pope had several foresters working in east Jefferson County.

Changes began as Crown Zellerbach recognized the increasing land values of their holdings just outside Port Townsend, and soon the forestland was being subdivided. Pope and Talbot still operated a sawmill in Port Gamble and supplied the mill largely with their own timber when the Japanese export market drove State timber sale stumpage to all-time highs in the late 70s. Then, demand in Asia declined and the timber market crashed in the early 80s. As local mills had difficulty buying affordable logs, the State passed legislation prohibiting the export of raw logs from all government lands. With the listing by USFS of continued on pg. 18

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 17

#19 Heritage cont. from pg. 17

the Northern Spotted Owl under the endangered species act in 1990, harvest from the National Forest was further reduced.

By the early ’90s conversion of Puget Sound forest lands to rural residential became cause for alarm. The Growth Management Act of the mid-’90s was meant to keep the commercial forest lands intact. Rather than stop the residential development of forestland it changed the nature of the land-buyers. Some large-lot forest residents practice forest management on their lands, but a majority of the timber supply now comes from industry-managed lands. Today the age of economic maturity for private forests is about 45 years. After a very slow recovery, the timber market is up again and harvest of planted third growth stands is economically Photo courtesy of Guy Scharf

A huge amount of land in Jefferson County is working timberland (See the county map page XX). Sustaining the local timber economy is crucial to maintaining our forested landscape, or timber companies will be compelled to divest of their land-holdings for conversion to residential development.

Photo courtesy of NNRG

important in East Jefferson County.

DBH

DBH denotes tree diameter at breast height – 4.5 feet above the forest floor on a tree’s uphill side. DBH is used in estimating the amount of timber volume in a single tree or stand of trees.

DBH is usually measured with a girthing tape, which converts the circumference, around a tree, to its diameter, straight through it. If you don’t have a girthing tape, you can still determine DBH: just measure the tree’s circumference, and divide by pi.

Trees marked for timber harvest in a Jefferson County forest.

Photo courtesy of Guy Scharf

Look into lumber from tree to timber. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• Find the biggest tree you can find. What’s its circumference?

What’s its DBH? • Can you find an old stump from Treasure early logging? Look for deep notches cut into the stump.

What were they for?

• Join Jefferson Land Trust Summer 2014 for a tour of the Bulis Working Forest timber harvest.

Details to come. Contact info@saveland.org.

• Can you find locally sourced forest projects on the local market? Where?

Find the

Treasure #20: Bounty of the Forest Adapted with permission from: Pacific Feast, a WestCoast Guide to Foraging Wild Edibles, by Jennifer Hahn Most of us have probably tasted a wild berry or chanterelle mushroom. But how about nettle pesto?

Rosehip soup? Doug fir tips? Soopallalie? The woods abound with wild edibles—some obvious, and some very unexpected. Expert forager Jennifer Hahn shares some foraged morsels from her wild pantry.

WAYS TO MUNCH BIGLEAF MAPLE

Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) FIELD NOTES – True to its name, leaves spreading to 15 inches are five-lobed fans, shiny dark green above, pale below. At 20 years old, fragrant yellow flowers grow in drooping clusters like grapes from branch tips.

Winged seeds, called samara, whirl like little helicopters in the autumn. Shaggy moss can cover this tree’s bark from crown to root, providing a carpeted condo for licorice fern tenants. Edible parts: Sap, flower buds,

18 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

young shoots, seeds HARVEST CALENDAR – Early spring: Sap, just as leaf buds are forming Spring: Blossoms, shoots Fall: Seeds CULINARY USES – Blossoms: Try maple flowers in fritter batter, as tempura, in creme brulee, or candied like rose petals. Seeds/Shoots: First Nations people sprouted, boiled, and nibbled seeds and ate raw shoots in spring.

Sap: Bigleaf maple sap makes a mild-tasting syrup delicious as East Coast sugar maple syrup. .BIGLEAF MAPLE SYRUP-MAKING

“My husband and I used a l/6-inch hand-operated auger to drill through the bark and cambium layer of a half dozen maple trunks. Instead of drilling straight in, we sloped the core so the sap ran easily. We pressed stainless steel pipes, cut four inches long and beveled at the tree end, into the tree to direct the sap toward our buckets. We hung yogurt containers with continued on pg. 19

There’s no mistaking the giant palmate leaf of the bigleaf maple.

#20 Bounty cont. from pg. 18

makeshift wire handles from small grooves filed in the pipes’ tops.

Every morning, as the thermometer rose above freezing, we made our rounds. Most of the tapped maple trunks bestowed us a half quart of sap each day. But there was one gusher down in the wetland that provided several quarts in twelve hours.

A broiler pan set atop a two-burner hot plate was our evaporator. It’s tricky to judge the sap’s evaporative time, so we eyed the pan frequently.

The sap level lowered; every half hour, we poured more fresh sap in to get enough liquid to concentrate Jennifer Hahn taps a bigleaf maple with a tree-saving tap. into syrup. Take care: evaporation time speeds up as Photos courtesy ©Jennifer Hahn and Chris Moench the sap boils down.

After days of tending our maple pan, we got one Find the Take a bite of wild bounty. And precious quart of syrup from ten gallons of bigleaf tell us about it at 25Treasures@ maple sap—close enough to the typical ratio of Vermont saveland.org. sugar maples of forty gallons of sap to one gallon of • Try some maple blossom fritsyrup. Our local-made syrup tasted as good as anything ters! Email us at 25Treasures@ you could import from thousands of miles.” saveland.org for the recipe.

Adapted with permission from: Pacific Feast, a Treasure • Cook a meal with a foraged Cook’s Guide to West-Coast Foraging and Cuisine,

by Jennifer Hahn

When bigleaf maples form buds in spring , the sap rises and it’s time to tap.

ingredient, or sample a wild edible right where it grows.

• Try five foraged things you’ve never tasted before!

Join the Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society (jltnatural.org), or the Friends of Old Fort Townsend (see page 21) and Washington Native Plant Society for a fall mushroom walk.

Treasure # 21: Quimper Wildlife Cooridor and Cappy’s Trails It’s a forested greenbelt across the northern Quimper Peninsula, where people and animals alike find natural refuge right in the city of Port Townsend.

This corridor of wildlife habitat connecting six wetlands is called the Quimper Wildlife Corridor, Hundreds of bird species, mushrooms, and native plants abound, and even animals like bobcat, mountain beaver, bear, and cougar have been reported here. This is a place where the lives of wildlife and people overlap. Portions of the Corridor are woven This map shows Cappy’s Trails in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor, with places named by CedarRoot Folk School students from some of their experiences with miles of popular trails, and these areas have on the land.

Map courtesy of Jefferson Land Trust another name: Cappy’s Trails.

Cappy married his wife, Vallie, in 1950. They he was able to make ends meet and helped dozens CAPPY’S TRAILS: THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME lived at the “Rockery” house, at the corner of 47th of others who were less fortunate and would come by “Cappy’s Trails” are named for William Capriotti. and Grant Streets west of the fairgrounds. The house, for something to eat,” said his brother Carl of Tahuya, Born in 1905, Cappy grew up in Port Townsend. He built by Vallie’s father, is near one of the popular Washington. left in the ‘30s when he worked aboard a freighter, gateways into Cappy’s Trails.

Cappy and Vallie knew the woods that bear their and again during WWII when he worked a Standard A salvage dealer until he died in 1982, Cappy ran name. The area had legendary blackberries, which Vallie Oil tanker. But he always came back to Port to Seattle a few times a week to sell scrap and fulfill baked in pies for her husband and the inmates at the Townsend, growing to appreciate the place even more metal orders for customers back home. “During the after his travels. continued on pg. 20 Depression my brother Bill worked night and day;

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 19

#21 QWC cont. from pg. 19

County Jail, where she was a cook. Cappy once said, “There’s all kinds of berries I like to pick, but none better than those wild blackberries.” Vallie also kept horses and rode the miles of trails that began at their doorstep. If the Capriottis were with us today, they might be pleased to see that significant parts of the woods they knew still remain, and that locals still treasure this special refuge known as Cappy’s Trails.

RE-STORY MAP OF QUIMPER WILDLIFE CORRIDOR

Long-term observation and experience of a place makes it rich with our stories. Eventually, we share our story with the places we really know, where we spend time. CedarRoot Folk School engages children in learning on conserved lands through the Land Trust’s Lands For Learning program—and these kids have a lot of stories to tell.

“To re-story our landscape is to be changed by it.

Our experiences in wild places allow us to connect to the ‘more than human’ world. CedarRoot Folk School nature studies students have thousands of stories from their experiences in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor.

This Cappy’s trail map includes place names created by CedarRoot students. These names represent stories that have permanently etched patterns in the minds and hearts of these children. Some, like coyote dens and Cooper’s hawk nests, represent hundreds of hours of patience, determination, research and learning to see wildlife patterns and habits.” -Scott Brinton, CedarRoot Folk School Trail placement is approximate. Only main trails show; other trails may cross into private land. Use

“If you tell me, it’s an essay. If you show me, it’s a story.” – Barbara Greene.

CedarRoot students have many a tale to tell from all they’ve seen.

Photos courtesy of CedarRoot Folk Sshool.

caution to stay on public right-of-ways, and stay on trails to minimize impacts to wildlife and plant community

DISCOVER A SIT-SPOT

Find the

The woods are full of surprises, even for the CedarRoot students who know them intimately.

Make a story map!

And tell us your stories at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

• What place do you call by a name of your own?

• What place has a story you can tell?

• Adopt a sit-spot to really get to

Find a comfortable spot at a nearby, easy-tovisit natural place--maybe Cappy’s, or your own backyard. Settle in; be still and quiet for 20 minutes.

Treasure (After you arrive, it takes a while for animal life to resume as usual). Try listening for every whisper know a place. of the woods, watching for every movement and change. What dramas unfold around you? Visit daily • Try sketching or journaling in your sit-spot • Try using each one of your senses in turn, and writing for a week, a month, a whole season—or years! down everything you can see, hear and feel. If you’re a Notice patterns and changes. What stories do you practiced observer, you’ll be at your sit-spot all day! see and take part in?

Treasure #22: Forest Understories

Beneath the trees, the layers of the understory are full of life. Shrubs, berries, wildflowers, and the tender “sunfleck species,” sprouting where rays of light penetrate to the forest floor, are just as important as the forest’s trees. Each understory layer has its own community of plants and wildlife with their own stories to tell.

-they have internal vein structures to transport water and nutrients throughout the plant, but they do not produce seeds or flowers. They reproduce via spores which are contained in sori on the underside of the leaf.

There are many different types of ferns in our area, but the following eight are the most common locally.

These species are easy to identify by asking. yourself FERNS the following questions.

Contributed by Pat Rothman, Jefferson Land Trust Does the fern grow in a clump with the fronds Natural History Society arising from a central point, or do the fronds grow Ferns form a lush understory that provides food singly? and shelter for small creatures, and strikes a delicate Are the fronds divided one time, into simple contrast to the trunks of the towering trees above them. leafl ets, or are the leaflets further divided into Ferns are among the oldest plants on Earth, dating compound leaflets? to about 450 million years ago. These leafy plants continued on pg. 21 grow in very moist areas. Ferns are vascular plants-

20 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

Top photo: Bracken fern’s tall leaves die back in winter. Bottom photo: Deer fern, Blechnum spicant, has smooth-edged leaves.

Photo courtesy of Joe Baier

#22 Understories cont. from pg. 20

Is it an evergreen plant, or is it deciduous, dying back in the winter?

What is the overall shape of the frond? Is it wider in the middle or wider at the base?

Are the leaflet edges toothed or smooth? Is the fern growing on the ground or on trees? Is the lower portion of the stem smooth or scaly?

If the fern you are looking at is a large evergreen plant that grows in a big clump, has simple leaflets with toothed edges and a little “hilt” on the top side of each leaflet, it’s a Sword fern, Polystichum munitum, one of the most common ferns in the forest.”

If your fern is medium-sized, grows from a central clump, has simple leaflets with smooth edges and grows on the forest floor, it’s a Deer fern, Blechnum spicant. This fern has two types of fronds; the tall, narrow fertile fronds are deciduous and the lower, spreading sterile fronds are evergreen.

A small to medium-sized fern that grows individually, rather than in clumps, has simple leaflets with smooth edges, and can be found growing on trees, is a Licorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza.

If it’s a large, robust plant that turns brown and dies back in the winter, if the fronds are divided into compound leaflets, if the plants arise individually from the ground, it’s a Bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum. This is the most abundant fern in the world. Oak fern, Gymnocarpium dryopteris is similar

Lady fern.

Simple leaflets and sori on a Sword fern Licorice fern gets its name from the sweet, licorice Spiny wood fern.

Photo by Fred Weinmann (Polystichum munitum) Photo by Pat Rothman like taste of its rhizomes.

Photo by Joe Baier Photo by Fred Weinmann

to Bracken fern, but much smaller and more delicate, with yellow-green leaves held horizontal to the ground.

If your fern is deciduous, grows in clusters, and has compound, lacy leaves, it is either a Lady fern, Athyrium felix-femina, or a Spiny wood fern, Dryopteris expansa. The shape of the frond is important here. A frond that is wide in the middle is a Lady fern; a frond that is widest at the base is a Spiny wood fern.

WASHINGTON NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

The Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS), Olympic Peninsula Chapter is a great ways to learn about local plants. WNPS’s goal is to appreciate, conserve and study native plants and habitats; they offer plant walks (especially in wildflower season), restoration projects, and evening programs in winter months. All skill levels are welcome, and walks are

generally leisurely. Contact Sharon Schlentner at sschlentner@waypoint.com for details.

Discover the flora of the understory. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland.org.

Find the • Can you find all eight ferns we described here?

• Take a botany walk with the local Native Plant Society (wnps.org) or Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society (jltnatural.org).

Treasure • From the base of a tree, work your way out and see what plants you find. Can you find plants with leaves growing in groups of two, three, or five? One with a tender stem and one that is woody? One that is low-growing and one that stands upright? Which plants seem to like the most light? The most water?

Treasure #23: Parks and Public Lands

At the heart of Jefferson County, Olympic National Park’s wild reaches are world-renowned.

But gems of forested parkland are tucked all around the County.

FORT TOWNSEND STATE PARK: WILDERNESS AT YOUR DOORSTEP

Contributed by Fred Weinmann Fort Townsend State Park is a little-known treasure of the Quimper Peninsula. People who have lived in the area for 20, 30 or more years often do not realize the uniqueness of the Park’s natural history or the diversity and unusual nature of the native plant flora.

This 400-acre park is the heart of over 800 acres of contiguous green space. The Land Trust’s 120acre Bulis Preserve borders the park’s west side. To the north is a 300-acre conservation area including publicly accessible marine shoreline with protections granted to State Parks by the Port Townsend Paper

Corporation. Friends of Fort Townsend State Park maintain nearly 7 miles of trails here, including bluff trails with panoramic views of Mt. Baker, the Cascades, and Port Townsend.

Because the Park has been in public ownership for 200 years, first as a military site and then a State Park, much of the land has not been cut on a large commercial scale. Instead, trees were gradually selectively-harvested by the military. The result is a mixed-age forest ranging from 50 to over 300 years old. A major disturbance here was a forest fire which swept the area about 150 years ago. Today we see the natural forest response to that fire. As a result, the Park represents the best example in the greater Puget Sound area of a mature Douglas fir, Western red cedar and hemlock forest with an understory of Pacific rhododendron and evergreen huckleberry.

The park’s central 110 acres have been designated a “Natural Forest Area” by State Parks based on a study by The Nature Conservancy.

Coralroot

Photo courtesy of Joe Baier

SOME OF THE JEWELS IN THIS TREASURE CHEST: Old-growth forest: With over 200-year-old trees and a closed canopy, the park functions as an oldgrowth forest—the closest place to Port Townsend continued on pg. 22

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 21

#23 Parks cont. from pg. 21

where one can see many big old trees and treesized rhododendrons, which are spectacular in May. Wildflowers: Over 200 species of flowering plants have been recorded at Fort Townsend, including, pink and purple Calypso orchids with two-inch blooms, prolific in April. Two of the best places to see calypso orchids in the park are Bluffs Trail and Madrona Trail. The trilliums, twinflower, and Solomon’s seal bloom in April and May. Parasitic plants: A variety and abundance of parasitic flowering plants occur in the park, such as Hooker’s ground cone, candystick, Indian pipe, gnome plant, pinedrops, coralroot, and pinesap.

These plants, growing in the low light of the forest floor, have no chlorophyll (they are white, yellow or pink) and rely on fungi and trees for their nutrition, consuming other organic material just as animals do. Fort Townsend State Park is a mecca for these species. Try the Huckleberry Hill Trail.

Hooker’s ground cone and coralroot can be seen as early as May, while candystick and some others can still be found in August.

Tunnel Creek Trail in the 44,000-acre Buckhorn Wilderness. What’s your favorite public trail?

Photo courtesy of Wendy Feltham

Find the

Treasure

Visit a park or walk a trail you’ve never tried before. And tell us about it at 25Treasures@saveland. org. Try exploring: • State Parks – check out Dosewallips and Duckabush Gems like Gibbs Lake County

Indian pipes

Photo courtesy of Fred and Ann Weinmann

Park and Anderson Lake State Park in Chimacum • Fort Worden and Fort Townsend in Port Townsend • Can you find a pocket park?

Treasure #24: The Hoh Rainforest

The Hoh Valley is known for the deep, mossy, 332,155 acres of rainforest. temperate rainforest—one of the last still intact on Find the Experience the rainforest for Earth—surrounding its namesake river. Of over yourself. And tell us about it at 250,000 rivers in the continental U.S., the Hoh is 25Treasures@saveland.org. one of the few remaining unspoiled rivers, flowing • Try the Hoh River Trailhead virtually intact for 56 miles from its source high at the Hoh Rainforest Ranger in the Olympic Mountain range into a marine Station. From 101, travel east on sanctuary along Washington’s Pacific coast. The Upper Hoh for 18 miles to the Hoh’s rich, diverse habitat ranges from old growth Treasure Visitor Center. 360-374-6925 to second-growth forest, rivers and streams, forested • Can you find the Hall of Mosses Trail? The Spruce wetlands, and working forest. Taken together, the Nature trail? Mineral Creek? The Mt. Tom Trial? Hi lands protected and stewarded by the Olympic Ho Bridge?

National Park, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Hoh River Trust and Jefferson Land Trust • Can you find a tree with a trunk wider than your arm span? One so shaggy you can’t see any bark? conserve nearly the entire length of the river, and

Much of the private land along the Hoh River’s course, from Olympic National Park to the Pacific, is conserved by Hoh River Trust and project partners.

Graphic courtesy of Rodger Schmitt

22 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

The Hoh River is known for its glacial meltwater colors.

Photo courtesy of Rodger Schmitt

The rainforest meets a wild river in the valley of the Hoh. Photo courtesy of Hoh River Trust

Treasure #25: Majestic Moist Ferns and Mosses A verdant moss backdrop carpets many moist Northwest forests. Mosses’ distinctive jewellike greens are fine-tuned to absorb light filtering through the forest canopy, and they are specially adapted to life in the still, moist “boundary layer” where earth meets air.

arrangement of its branches. The current year’s growth arises from near the middle of the previous year’s branch, producing “fronds” in the form of a staircase. A new level is produced each year, so you can estimate the age of a plant by counting its steps. No other moss has this stair-step growth.

Introduction to Mosses

Wavy-leaved cotton moss (Plagiothecium undulatum) Large, flattened mats of pale green moss on shady logs, stumps, and moist soil characterize this plant.

Also known as snake moss, it can resemble lots of small snakes slithering over each other.

The sporophytes of this species are common.

They branch off the sides of stems, and have black stalks and long, smooth reddish-brown capsules.

Contributed by Pat Rothman Mosses are small, low-growing green plants.

Lacking vascular systems to transport water and food, they absorb water and nutrients directly through their leaves and stems. They don’t produce flowers or seeds, but reproduce through spores.

Mosses are found on soil, rocks and trees in ecosystems all over the world. Due to their small size, they are often considered difficult to identify. But it is possible to get familiar with some of the magical mosses of our forests.

There are lots of distinguishing features in moss leaves, their sporophytes, their habitat and the way they grow. A moss plant consists of two distinct parts, the gametophyte, which is the leafy green plant part, and the sporophyte – a capsule, atop a stalk, which releases spores.

Mosses provide erosion control, as they aid in stabilization and accumulation of soil that would either be blown or washed away. They increase the amount of water soil can store and improve its nutrient-holding capacity. They also provide shelter for some tiny organisms, food for others, and nesting material for birds.

Resources: Pojar and MacKinnon, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast Vitt, Marsh and Bovey, Mosses, Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North America WB Schofield, Some Mosses of British Columbia centralcoastbiodiversity.weebly.com blogs.ubc.ca/biology321

Here is an enlarged view of Oregon beaked moss’s broad-based leaves, which taper to a long, narrow point.

Oregon beaked moss (Kindbergia oregana) This beautiful yellow-green moss forms large mats on logs, humus and the base of trees. It has evenly branched stems which taper neatly towards the tips; they look like miniature ferns. The sporophytes, which grow from the side of the stem, have dark red-brown stalks and smooth capsules with a long beak.

Cat tail moss (Isothecium myosuroides) This is the moss you see festooning tree trunks and branches.

It forms long, tapering strands that crawl up trunks, hang from Fan moss branches, and form (Rhizomnium glabrescens) creeping mats over boulders and logs.

Fan moss is easy to identify because the Find the Experience the magic of moss. And tell us about it at male plants have rose25Treasures@saveland.org. like clusters of leaves at • Can you find all 5 of the the tip of the stem; they common mosses introduced look like the blades of above? rotary fans. Fan moss • How deep is the thickest, is found on rotting logs and on the ground. The Treasure lushest patch of moss you can sporophytes grow from the tip of the plant with find? Where did you find it? a long stem and a cylindrical, smooth, hanging • Can you find a moss we did not describe here? capsule.

Wavy-leaved cotton moss is named for the undulations on its egg-shaped, wavy leaves, which are too small to see without a microscope. Here is a drawing of an enlarged wavy leaf.

FIVE COMMON MOSSES

Stair-step moss (Hylocomium splendens) This dark green, feathery moss often forms the dominant ground cover. It’s found on the ground Photos courtesy of Pat Rothman and on decaying logs.

The common name comes from the step-like

These sketches show stair-step moss’s growth pattern, sporophytes, and oval pointed leaf.

Jefferson Land Trust 2014 23

In conclusion . . .

The gems we have charted here are only a few of the jewels of life and land in Jefferson County. This place supports such riches that it would take an eternity for to explore them all.

The positive impacts our communities have already had, collectively, for land and life in Jefferson County show us that if we care, we can preserve and sustain the things we love about this place, now and for the generations to come. If you love the treasures of the land in Jefferson County, we hope you will support and contribute to this work. Together, we can leave a lasting legacy of wildlife habitat, farms and forests, deep community, and thriving landscape for the next quarter century and beyond.

A land trust is a promise that we as a community make that in 50 years, 75 years, 100 years, the wild spaces, and memory places of Jefferson County will still exist, and that the quality of life and legacy they represent will remain forever.

DID YOU FIND THE TREASURE?

We hope we have shown you to a treasure or two that you had not discovered before. Join the hunt to find them. And tell us about it! Complete an activity to find any treasure and make it onto our treasure map. Send your stories, photos, videos, and artwork to 25Treasures@saveland.org. We’ll feature some of the brightest gems that you share each month in our Facebook gallery, website and newsletter. And don’t stop there: Go for the gold!

Find 15 treasures for one of our special bandanas with Jefferson County map design.

Find 25 treasures and join us on an exclusive, family-friendly tour of Jefferson Land Trust-protected farms, followed by food and fun at Finnriver Farm and Cidery.

Helping the community preserve open space, working lands, and habitat forever

Thank you!

Port Townsend Paper Corporation Barbara Arnn Reed Aubin & the team at North Olympic Salmon Coalition Peter Bahls, Northwest Watershed Institue Joe Baier Jeff Baierlein, Hoh River Trust Scott Brinton and students at CedarRoot Folk School Mike Cronin, Cronin Forestry CFF Stephen Cunliffe, Admiralty Images Robin Dudley Wendy Feltham Jefferson Land Trust Geology Group Jennifer Hahn Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society

24 2014 Jefferson Land Trust

Kellie Henwood, Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative & WSU Small Farms Coordinator Heather Harding Roxanne Hudson & John Bellow, SpringRain Farm Crystie Kisler, Finnriver Farm & Cidery Justin Lake Kathryn Lamka Susie Learned, Friends of Chimacum Creek Amanda Kingsley Phil Noelke, Noelke Design Doug Noltmeier, Jefferson County GIS Northwest Natural Resource Group Port Townsend Marine Science Center Dan Ratigan, Debbie Wardrop, and the staff at Resort at Port Ludlow

Pat Rothman Dave Rugh Michele Meyerling, Sunfield Farm Sharon Schlentner, Washington Native Plant Society Lorna and Darrell Smith, Western Wildlife Outreach Project Joanne Tyler Phil Vogelzang, Chimacum Corner Farmstand Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Karyn Williams, Red Dog Farm Fred and Ann Weinmann, Friends of Fort Townsend