Winter Fjord 2021

Bayshore Preserve

Craig Romano | Story & Pictures

Hit the Trail

From the trailhead immediately come to a kiosk with a map displaying the preserve’s interconnected short trails. There are about 1.5 miles of marked well developed paths traversing the property and they can easily be covered shortly in a brisk walk. However, Bayshore, with its salmon-spawning creek, salt marshes and mud flats, bird-flourishing prairie, and more than 4,000 feet of shoreline, calls out to be sauntered.

A quick inspection of the landscape before you reveals a land in flux. One that not too long ago sported well-manicured greenways fed by an irrigation system, a clubhouse and other structures, and a series of service roads. Those roads have since been converted into trails. The buildings have been removed, but a few vestiges of the irrigation system that is slowly being dismantled remain. And the greenways have been restored to native prairie grasses that wave golden in late summer.

Now sans golf clubs, putt along Bayshore’s trails watching for birds instead of scoring birdies. The Bayshore Peninsula located along the narrowest stretch of the slender and shallow Oakland Bay is far more important as wildlife habitat than as an altered manicured landscape for golfing.

The peninsula too is a special place to the Squaxin Island Tribe. It once housed one of their villages and according to several elders and historians, one of the largest longhouses on Puget Sound.

In 2014 the Capitol Land Trust purchased the Bayshore Golf Course and commenced with the Squaxin Island Tribe and other partners to restore this property to a natural state.

Restoring the peninsula was another albeit very important stage in the greater effort currently being employed to protect Oakland Bay—one of the least developed inlets and most important shellfisheries on Puget Sound. Oakland Bay’s preservation is not only important for wildlife, but also for sustaining the area’s fisheries and shellfish beds.

The Main Loop Trail travels triangularly through the property for 0.8 mile. It utilizes some of the old golf course’s service roads. Walk the path through native grasses and along colonnades of gigantic old Douglas firs and Garry (Oregon White) Oaks. The latter, the only native oak to Washington State once flourished in the area’s prairies. Washington’s First Peoples regularly set those prairies on fire to stimulate camas growth and favor other plants like oaks that thrive in savannas and other grassy environments. But as those prairies no longer saw regular burns, were overtaken by developments and invasive and hardier plants, the state’s Garry Oaks have become increasingly rare. These elegant hardwoods provide forage for a myriad of species. Bayshore contains some exceptionally large ones.

As you walk the loop be sure to deviate from it onto numerous spur trails. The 0.2 mile Lookout Trail crosses Johns Creek on a sturdy bridge and proceeds through a nice forest grove before skirting a prairie and ending along the creek bank. It’s an excellent trail to check out in November for its chum run. The Johns Creek Trail is another fine choice for salmon watching. This path meanders along the edge of a riparian forest for .25 mile to link back up with the main loop.

The Johns Creek Estuary Trail leads a short distance to extensive tidal flats at a small estuary where Johns Creek flows into Oakland Bay. The trail leads to a fishing point on public tidelands.

Fishing is not allowed on the preserve, but you can access the public fishing point by following the Johns Creek Estuary Trail to the preserve boundary. There are good views here of the estuary and private oyster beds.

Oakland Bay is one of the country’s most productive commercial shellfish growing areas. Nearly two million pounds of oysters are annually harvested from the bay. Close to three million Manila clams are harvested here each year making Oakland Bay the leading producer in the country for this sweet bivalve. There are more than 20 shellfish growers in addition to the Squaxin Island Tribe that rely on Oakland Bay for their livelihoods. It is imperative to keep this shellfishery healthy. The Bayshore Preserve will help ensure that.

Now continue hiking the Main Loop passing by restored salt flats. The Land Trust and tribe supervised the removal of a 1400-foot tidal dike here and built several channels allowing putting greens to once again become salt flats. Public entry is not allowed in this sensitive wildlife area, so have your binoculars in hand to scout the area from the trail.

The Main Loop then passes through a row of big Douglas-fir before reaching a junction the Shoreline Overlook Trail. Hike this path for a pleasant short loop to excellent views of the shallow waters of Oakland Bay’s northernmost reaches. The Shoreline Overlook Trail also leads to the adjacent Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Oakland Bay property. Recreational harvesters (with permits) can collect clams and oysters here. However the beach is currently closed due to contaminated waters. This property is also a good place to launch a kayak into the bay to explore the shoreline of the Bayshore Preserve.

As development and population pressures in the Puget Sound Basin continue to compromise sustainability of shellfish beds and fisheries and threaten the survival of scores of marine mammals, birds and other animals—places like Bayshore Preserve are integral for maintaining a healthy ecosystem and economy. As you walk the preserve’s trails, celebrate the return of this culturally significant and ecologically important area to a natural state.

Bayshore Preserve

Features: exceptional wildlife habitat on Oakland Bay, restored prairie, tall old Garry oaks and Douglas firs, tidal mud flats, salmon-spawning creek and estuary.

Distance: 1.5 miles of trails Elevation Gain: minimal; High Point: 40 feet Difficulty: easy Snow free: year round Trailhead Pass Needed: None Notes: Dogs permitted on leash. Please stay on trails and respect all closed areas. Open from dawn to dusk. No removal of plants or fungi from the preserve.

Trailhead: From Shelton, travel east on SR 3 for 3.8 miles to trailhead located on your right (directly across road from Bayshore General Store). Parking limited. More parking in adjacent WA Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Oakland Bay Recreational Area (Discover Pass required).