1/21/2012 ►
NKTA Board Holds First Annual Retreat
NKTA Board and Committee members met in historic Pt. Gamble on January 21st for the first annual Board retreat. The Board is refocusing its goals, committee structure, and communications with NKTA members & the community at large.
The NKTA is at a natural transition point to focus on the next steps in its key goals relating to trail planning and construction in North Kitsap, and preservation of the Pope land as open space with trails.
This follows two key successes: First, on October 19th, Pope Resources and Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy) announced the signing of an option on nearly 7,000 acres of Pope owned forest land--seeking to bring that land with trails into public ownership. The option has a deadline of March, 2013 to make a significant purchase providing the Pope assurance of progress toward company plans to divest itself of most of its land in Kitsap. Kitsap County, the Pt. Gamble S’Klallam & Suquamish Tribes, and the Great Peninsula Conservancy are also principals in this process.
Second, almost three years of work developing the North Kitsap “String of Pearls” Trail Plan has culminated in adoption by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners on November 28th. Following that adoption, the County has begun work with citizens and stakeholders in Central and South Kitsap to develop comparable plans which will lead to a Countywide Trail Plan.