NKTA 2010 Achievements

1/3/2011

NKTA 2010 Achievements

NKTA can take great pride in what it has achieved for the North Kitsap Community, Kitsap County, our Region and the State in 2010.

Our mission to unite North Kitsap with a neighborhood and regional system of land and water trails that promote stewardship of natural resources and enhances our communities is being achieved.

Here are some of the major items NKTA has accomplished in 2010:
 

• Created the NKTA Website for citizens to get maps and take an active part in building the system.
• Started the NKTA membership drive November with signups, donations and recruiting volunteers to work on building the system.
• Helped obtain grants for the purchase of the Heritage Park's Option Property
• Supported the Bainbridge Forest to Sky easement by writing and coordinating an array of letters, documents and widespread community support.
• Served on the KRCC Advisory Board for Non-Motorized Transportation for Kitsap County and helped make recommendations to the County Commissioners for action items.
• Assisted with a variety of significant public events including:
  • The 3rd annual Paddle Kitsap Tour; 75 paddlers and 4 tribal war canoes on a 2 day 35 mile tour of Kitsap
  • Poulsbo Marathon with 900 participants
  • Tour De Kitsap of trails in the Port Gamble.
• Promoted and supported County efforts to create a Non-Motorized Coordinator position directly under the Commissioners responsible for Safe Routes to Schools, Bicycle/Pedestrian/Transit coordination, Bicycle/Pedestrian community paths and commuter routes, water trails and access, trail links with other Kitsap communities and counties and health/ fitness trails. 
• Coordinated with all County departments, Tribes, State and Federal agencies and our users.
• Facilitated regional discussions with officials and NPO groups about trails within Kitsap and with adjacent counties through the Peninsula Regional Planning Association and many other meetings.
• Presented the concept of the Sound to Olympics Trails and the Sound to Coast Greenway at the Washington State Trails Conference in conjunction with Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
• Collected information and ideas for the North Kitsap Trails Plan via 27 public presentations, a community survey with 700 participants, plus County staff, NKTA committee, Tribal and NPO meetings.
• Assisted the County in opening the NK Heritage Park to the public, building the Whitehorse Connector Trail that connects Indianola, Kingston and the Heritage park, helped the Heritage Park Stewardship Group map, plan and build trails in the Park.
• Maintained NK Heritage Park and Port Gamble Forest Trails.
• Worked on the trails and the forest preservation portion of the North Kitsap Legacy Project with OPG, the County, Tribes, other NPO groups and our community to preserve 7000 acres of Pope forestlands for future generations.
• Worked with Tribes, State, Feds, County and Business about Economic opportunities related to open spaces, land and water trails and their private/public holdings.

After I sat down and looked at 2010's achievements and what NKTA had done with so little money and a few dozen active volunteers I thought, "What will we be able to accomplish when we get more memberships, grants and a bigger volunteer base?"  First and foremost will be having more people to help share the work.  Secondly we will have more money to get more projects done; like re-grading trails and old logging roads, printing maps, building kiosks and especially fixing up parking lots for all our users in NK Heritage Park, since the County Parks budget has been slashed to 1/10 of what the maintenance demands are today. Number three will be adding beach signage related to NKTA's new Kitsap Water Trails map along with better and safer access points.  There are many more projects on the wish list, but these are admirable goals for 2011.

A system that links all our communities and the outside world together will take generations to achieve.  But we have taken the first steps for ourselves and generations to come.

My wish for the New Year is for you to become a member and volunteer what you can to make this system happen and work for a long, long, time.

Happy Trails to you!