BY KEN SHAWCROFT
Kitsap County has acquired 91 acres of property and approximately 2.5 miles of trail easements from Pope Resources to extend Hansville Greenway trails west to Hood Canal and east toward Point No Point. This acquisition enables Sid Knutson’s original vision of the Hansville Greenway to be realized by completing a trail route from Puget Sound at Norwegian Point Park to the shore of Hood Canal.
In 2004, Kitsap County obtained a grant from the Washington State Inter-Agency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC, now known as the Recreation and Conservation Office) to acquire property and trail corridors south of the current Greenway. Specifically the funding comes from the trails category of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.
The county requested $640,000, but was awarded $580,000. At the time of the grant application, they estimated the requested amount would fund the acquisition of approximately 200 acres plus approximately five miles of trail corridors. With the reduced funding level and escalation in property values, the acquisition was reduced to 91 acres and approximately 2.5 miles of trail easements. New trails on the purchased property will add at least another mile to the trail system.
Pope Resources donated the 2.5 miles of 20-foot-wide trail easements, valued at $97,000, as part of the match for the state grant.
The 91 acres includes property between Hawk’s Hole Creek and Shore Woods roughly from the end of Spruce Drive east to the eastern shore of Lower Hawk’s Pond.
New trails will connect to the existing Greenway trails via a spur from the current trail, which goes to the Lower Hawk’s Pond view platform.
Users will be able to reach Hood Canal from Norwegian Point Park in just less than four miles. The Puget Sound to Hood Canal Trail will have short sections of roadside walking on both ends, but otherwise will be off-road through Hansville Greenway lands. The new trails will also provide a six-mile loop which links Norwegian Point Park, Alder Wetlands, Buck Lake, Upper and Lower Hawk’s Ponds, the Thors Road area, and Point No Point Park. This route will require “road walking” on Thors Road and Point No Point Road.
Most of the new trails have been flagged and brushed, but more work is needed before they are officially opened to the public sometime this summer.
Contact Ken Shawcroft of the Hansville Greenway Association at (360) 638-2495, kshawcroft@comcast.net.
