PORT TOWNSEND — Port of Port Townsend’s Executive Director Larry Crockett and port commissioners who toured Old Fort Townsend State Park on Friday will resume discussions on the port’s possible acquisition of the 614-acre park this week.
The commissioners will meet on the subject Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in their Point Hudson chamber, 375 Hudson St., Port Townsend.
Fort Worden State Park Manager Kate Burke, who also oversees management of Old Fort Townsend, took the commissioners on a tour of the park, saying the port has until April 15 to submit its proposal to Washington State Parks.
The port has to say what it envisions for the nature and heritage site, which the state agency has put on its list of closures because of the state budget deficit — which last week projected to nearly $9 billion through 2011.
Ranger answered questions
Park Ranger Robert Wiggins assisted in Friday’s tour, answering port officials’ many questions.
“The [Jefferson] land trust wants to meet with the port and see its plans for the park,” Burke told the commissioners and Crockett.
Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill, State Parks, the Trust for Public Land and Jefferson Land Trust in August 2008 worked out a deal adding 250 acres to the existing 364-acre park, stretching north along the shoreline to Glen Cove Industrial Park and the mill property.
A conservation easement protects 170 acres of uplands, allowing for sustainable timber harvesting and forming a natural buffer between the mill and Old Fort Townsend.
It also encompasses about 45 acres of tidal flats that have abundant eelgrass beds and provide critical habitat for juvenile salmon.
The 30 acres purchased by the state include sections of old-growth forest and bluff habitat which will provide additional public shoreline access to visitors of the park.
Crockett said it was clear that there would be no boat ramp access from the existing park’s shore, but he raised hope that the additional shoreline protected by Jefferson Land Trust would be suitable for possible boat ramp access.
“I don’t believe the conservation easement would allow that,” Burke told Crockett.
Port Commissioner Herb Beck agreed there was no easy access to the shoreline for boating.
“It’s a great facility but can we afford to maintain it?” Beck asked aloud following the tour.
He said he would have to look more closely at revenue figures and the cost of maintenance.
Beck said he wanted to see a boat ramp at the beach and stairs to assist with beach access.
Additional hiring
Crockett said he figured the port would have to hire at least one full-time employee to act as a park ranger and maintenance worker.
Port Commissioner John Collins said following the tour: “I’m impressed that we’d be taking on quite an undertaking.”
Collins said it would be essential for the port to join in partnership with Jefferson Land Trust to maintain the park.
Old Fort Townsend became a state park in 1958.
It includes 40 campsites, 43 picnic sites, a kitchen, shelters and a group camping area as well as moorage buoys, an amphitheater, new pavilion for wedding receptions and other uses, and approximately seven miles of trails.
Port officials were interested in upgrading some of the existing 40 standard campsites to include RV utility hookups, which now do not exist, to increase the park’s revenue stream.
Both Old Fort Townsend and Fort Flagler state parks are on the list of 36 the parks system is considering for new ownership or to be “mothballed” to save the state $23 million of its $100 million parks budget.
Bogachiel State Park, on the edge of Forks, also is on the list.
The latest list also includes Fort Casey State Park at Keystone on Whidbey Island, part of the historic military “triangle of fire” with Forts Worden and Flagler to protect Admiralty Inlet during World Wars I and II.
Fort Ebey near Coupeville, Whidbey Island, is also on the list.
Early list
Old Fort Townsend and Bogachiel were among the early list of 13 state parks proposed for transfer to other ownerships or closure.
Flagler was added to another list quietly released by the state Parks Commission in Olympia earlier this month.
The latest list targets parks that cost the state $300,000 or more per biennium.
Wiggins said it took a day and a half to mow the Old Fort Townsend State Park’s fields, and when high winds knock down trees and power lines, it often is a major undertaking to clean up.
Volunteers with Friends of Old Fort Townsend help maintain the park’s trails, while the state uses some part-time summer help to keep it open and clean during the summer months, Wiggins said.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
