Millie's Trail opens on Millie's 97th Birthday!

On June 11th the North Kitsap Trails Association celebrated the opening of Millie's Trail with Millie Dove Muller and her extended family on Millie's 97th birthday. Millie and North Kitsap Commissioner Rob Gelder, cut the ribbon for this new trail providing public trail access across Millie's private property to the nearly 60 miles of trails on Pope Resources Port Gamble land. Though in a wheel chair herself, Millie says, "I just want people to enjoy my land."

The Poulsbo Historical Society, family and NKTA partnered to create historic signage telling the special history of the six generations of family that have been part of Big Valley history since Millie's grandparents settled on the farm after the Klondike Gold Rush. Millie's mother hiked over Chilkoot Pass into the Yukon with her family at the age of 4! Millie's own words and family photos tell her story of growing up on the farm & the forest trails nearly a century ago.

The Dove Family Homestead Trailhead is just south of 24472 Big Valley Road. The new mile long trail goes through both Millie's and Pope Resource property before connecting to Pope's most southern logging roads on the Port Gamble block. The trail was built over a matter of weeks by volunteers from NKTA, Ride Kitsap and Alive Covenant Church. The trail is for non-motorized use only and can't accommodate horses at this time. There is parking for two cars if visitors park carefully. If you'd like to help monitor this trail, or want to learn more about trail access across private property or have ideas for trail connections, please contact NKTA.

Forterra & Pope sign agreement on Gamble Bay Shoreline property

On May 29 in front of a crowd of over 1800 at the Forterra annual breakfast at the Seattle Convention Center, Pope Resources and Forterra signed a Purchase and Sale agreement on over 500 acres and 1.5 miles of Port Gamble shoreline property. Retired Congressman Norm Dicks, characterized the signing as "one of the outstanding achievements in recent days for the environment in our state."

"This agreement is the first stroke in making an audacious vision a reality. It is a great credit to the many elected leaders, tribes, agency staff, community stakeholders and the landowner who are acting to ensure a positive legacy for the future." said Michelle Connor, Forterra Executive Vice President. "The hard part now is for people to understand that this is a whole connected system that won't thrive unless we protect the forest land behind it."

Surrounded by local leaders including Congressman Kilmer, former Congressman Dicks, North Kitsap Commissioner Gelder and Tribal Chairmen Jeromy Sullivan and Leonard Forsman, Martha Konsgaard hailed "the first acquisition in the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project as a milestone in the larger project, which forms the beginning of a response to this ongoing challenge of our time."

Photo source Forterra.org, © Danny Nolan Photography

"The Kitsap Forest and Bay Project is a win for the environment and our community. We look forward to continuing to work together to achieve great outcomes for the remaining forest lands" siad Jon Rose, President of Olympic Property Group. (The Kitsap Forest and Bay Project includes close to 7,000 acres)

The shoreline land acquisition is scheduled to close later this summer but is dependent on state grants and the state budget still in play during this extended legislative session. NKTA supported those shoreline grant applications by preparing a conceptual Port Gamble Shoreline Trail Proposal.

IMBA (International Mountain Bike) local training a huge success!

An IMBA team from Colorado and Oregon spent four days in North Kitsap teaching local volunteers and trail leaders both "Better living through trails", and helpful construction techniques for how to build sustainable trails that minimize environmental impacts, trail maintenance and user conflicts. The all day hands on workshop on the Port Gamble Trails filled w/ 50 attendees, before we could even advertise it! Thanks to Brian Kilpatrick of Ride Kitsap! for organizing the event, the IMBA team and Peninsula Subaru in Bremerton who both sponsored the Trail Crew's visit and gave a generous donation to NKTA. Subaru even offers discounts to ongoing IMBA members through their VIP program.

Ride Kitsap has a great Facebook site with fun photos and is an ongoing resource for mountain cyclists who want to "share trail love" by getting involved in Kitsap trail construction projects.

The fun and successful weekend was capped by a National Trails Day party celebrating the Port Gamble Trails at the Slippery Pig Brewery in Poulsbo. Several hundred people attended and an array of raffle prizes including a Novarra bike by REI were donated by REI, MSR, Thermarest, Bicycle Works, Classic Cycle, Bainbridge Cycle, RAX , Silverdale Cycle and Barn with a View. It was a perfect chance to sample the best of our local craft beer including kegs donated by Valholl, Sound, Hood Canal and Der Blokken Breweries. Over $4,000 was raised for NKTA--so many thanks to IMBA, Ride Kitsap, Brian Kilpatrick, Peninsula Subaru, REI and all the sponsors and donors that helped make the weekend such a success!

Sign up for emails about volunteer trail work parties and events

NKTA wants to target our communication to your interests. In addition to our newsletter, if you'd like to receive email reminders about volunteer trail parties, helping with events (like spending a morning cheering on Poulsbo Marathon) or would like to be added to the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project list, please let us know at info@northkitsaptrails.org. Just say Let Me Know about trail work, events, KFBP conservation efforts or all of the above.

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