The Port of Silverdale submitted a grant proposal to the state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board last year to construct a sailboat storage area at the Silverdale waterfront.

Only 10 projects statewide were awarded funds.

“We were No. 11,” Silverdale Port Commissioner Lawrence Greaves laughed.

However, one project was unable to receive the funding and the Port of Silverdale moved up to No. 10 and will receive more than $36,000 from the state.

The port plans to install six small floats that lock together and a grated ramp that connects to an existing float near the pier at Silverdale Waterfront Park for sailboat storage.

Greaves said the Kitsap Sailing and Rowing Foundation has been asking for a storage area for quite some time and the port is happy to be able to accommodate them.

Currently, sailing students store boats on a gravel lot provided by the port and wheel them on small trailers to the boat launch, jamming up the launch and exposing students to potential accidents with vehicles, according to the Recreation and Conservation Office.

The new sailboat storage area will be used by the Kitsap Sailing and Rowing Foundation during sailing season, but boats will be stored elsewhere in the winter.

“It won’t be limited to just the sailing club,” Greaves said. “There will be spots for kayaks and other things too.”

The Port of Silverdale will contribute more than $54,000 from a state Aquatic Lands Enhanced Account grant and cash donations to the project.

“We put up 60 percent and the Recreation and Conservation Office put up 40 percent,” Greaves said.

He said port and sailing foundation officials will now create a final design for the storage area and begin construction.

“We hope to have it open by next sailing season,” he said.

The state Department of Natural Resources also received $1.7 million from the Wildlife and Recreation Program to preserve the Stavis and Kitsap Forest Natural Areas.

DNR will use two grants to buy about 112 acres in the 4,300-acre Stavis Natural Resources Conservation Area and Kitsap Forest Natural Area Preserve near Seabeck. Development threatens the properties, which contain a variety of high-quality wildlife habitats, according to the Recreation and Conservation Office.

Stavis Creek, which runs through the site, is a Hood Canal salmon spawning habitat and designated recovery area for Hood Canal summer chum, which are threatened with extinction. The site also contains an active bald eagle nest, great blue heron rookery, breeding mountain quail, Chinook salmon, cougar and black bear.