Next stewards meeting is the 21st of June

Rummage Sale 9th of June. KSS Commons 9-3PM

Craig Luethe

With Craig, you get stand up comedy, bad puns, a friend and a contagious laugh. If that weren't enough, he is an artist with a road grader. We were lucky enough to get him to volunteer in the park for a day working on RMAPs compliance and wet spots on our family friendly Old Loop Road. He graded and cut in a grade reversal to get water off the trail and back into the woods, filled in, ditched and finished the work stewards started at the southern end of KSS trail, cleaned ditches at culverts 6 and 11 where water comes over the road during heavy rains. Thanks Craig. What did the buffalo dad say to his son when he left home? Bison.

"Life on the Edge" Returns

Students from Olympic College returned to the park, for another field trip on Tuesday the 24th of April. This trip was for a taste of how to rate a wetland in Washington. Students were introduced to Washington State DOE Wetland Rating System for Western Washington and were able to determine the hydrogeomorphic class, and water quality indicators for the 4 acre wetland in the southeast corner of section 36. Water chemistry measurements were taken and Nitrates, Dissolved Oxygen, Total Solids, Conductivity, and Salinity measurements were made using HACH field kits and probes supplied by OC. The data gathered will become part of the Forest Ecosystem Management plan for the park.

Multi Discipline Field Trip

Olympic College students from chemistry, mathematics, geography and environmental science classes, volunteered a day in the park to help inventory habitat in the cedar bottom in Section 36. A pair of Great Horned Owls were disturbed as students gathered near the edge of the mature cedar stand. The data gathered by the students will be included in the Wetlands Inventory section of the Forest Ecosystem Management Plan for NHHP.

After lunch, students salvaged young trees for Kitsap County Backcountry Horsemen to be planted along GM6 along Gold Creek. Recently DNR removed all culverts along this road to comply with the new Fish and Forests law. These trees will be planted in the riparian area to help stabilize the soils, and provide future shade for Gold Creek.

Shrimp and Clams Discovered in Park

When Jeff Adams walked past a large puddle of water in the RCO area he was naturally drawn to it, but fought his urge to investigate, and continued down Old Loop to tackle the task at hand. He was there to share his knowledge of macroinvertebrates with the Stream Stewards class. The water at Culvert 18 was packed with a diverse array of living things, and the closer you looked, the more you could see. Tiny fresh water clams (Fingernail Clams) were mixed in with Tricoptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Diptera as well as many other Orders of Aquatic Invertebrates. On the way out, Jeff gave into his urge to check that puddle, and found it contained Fairy Shrimp. Their presence makes this "puddle" an ephemeral wetland.

Donation Boxes Installed

An unfunded park needs funding and NHHP stewards are always seeking sources. They have stretched every penny with help from the community and accomplished a lot with a little capital and a lot of sweat equity. Everything costs something but there are some things that just require funding. Two donation boxes were fabricated by Colen and Joanne, and installed on Friday the 25th of March by Frank and Colen. Stewards paid for security locks and concrete. All other materials and labor were donated by stewards. Donations are not tax deductible at this time, but we are working on this.

Stream Stewards

Trainees from Banner Forest, Lutherhaven, Chico Creek Alliance, Lofall Creek, Newberry Hill Heritage Park and private landowners are nearing completion of Stream Stewards Training. The training has covered all aspects of forest ecosystems, including the uplands that protect the wetlands and streams, protecting riparian areas, managing for wildlife and plant diversity and how each interacts with the other. Special thanks to Arno Bergstrom (WSU Extension), Kitsap County Surface and Storm Water Management, Kathleen Peters (Fisheries Pathologist), Jim Bottorf (DNR Wildlife Biologist), John Mikesell (Native Plants), Jeff Adams (Wetland and Aquatic Insects) Karen Ripley (Forest Diseases), KSS principal and staff, and Tom Coleman (our host). These people generously shared their experience and vast knowledge of their subject matter with us.

Forest Ecosystem Management

Check out our new page. We have discovered that not many people really understand what a healthy forest looks like. This may be because they are few and far between, or it may be our fault for not sharing our knowledge of the science. To that end, we are instituting a page dedicated to what a healthy forest looks like, and the science and techniques used to encourage them toward late seral stage forests. That was what was here when Europeans first arrived. Much has been learned about forest ecosystems since 1990 and new things are added to the knowledge base every day. Go to the Forest Management page

The most important feature of this park is you, our volunteers and stewards.