CONSERVATION

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Admiralty Audubon Purple Martin Project

In Spring 2005, AAS President Ron Sikes asked for a project leader to restore purple martins to Port Townsend by erecting nest boxes along the waterfront. Jay Brevik of Port Townsend built four nest boxes from US Fish and Wildlife Service plans. After a survey of suitable locations he got permission from the Port of Port Townsend to place two poles with two boxes each at the Boat Haven. While visiting Port Townsend in August 2005, Stan Kostka, a citizen scientist devoted to increasing the purple martin population of Puget Sound, discovered nesting martins in one of the boxes. In 2006, AAS' Rosemary Sikes supervised building of six boxes that were placed on pilings in the water at low tide, near the existing boxes on land. Six pairs nested, with 14 fledged. After the Department of Natural Resources gave notice that  they were going to remove the creosote pilings, volunteers moved the boxes to posts on land and raised the height of the existing land boxes in Spring 2007. Five pairs nested in both 2007 and 2008, with young fledged both years. In the summer of 2008, assisted by a Pacific Northwest Trails Association crew, five boxes were erected on the north shore of Kah Tai Lagoon and four boxes were erected on the Fort Worden pier near the Marine Science Center. In June 2009 four nesting pairs were seen at the Boat Haven, with none at Kah Tai Lagoon or Fort Worden pier. Unfortunately the young from the four nesting pair at the Boat Haven suffered high mortality. No fledglings were observed. In 2010 one pair of mature purple martins nested at the Boat Haven, fledging three young, and one pair of immature purple martins nested at Fort Worden pier with no fledglings observed. Two adult pairs of purple martins set up housekeeping at Admiralty Audubon's Boat Haven nest boxes in June 2011. They occupied boxes 6 and 9. On August 29, 2011, two young purple martins were seen poking their heads out of nest box #6. Often we saw purple martins hunting insects over Kah Tai Lagoon over the summer of 2011. Admiralty Audubon continues to seek volunteers to monitor the boxes, eliminate nesting starlings and house sparrows, and observe nesting pairs and fledglings. For information call (360) 385-0307.

Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park Project

Admiralty Audubon has been involved in the area now known as Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park since before the park was created. Admiralty Audubon is listed among the groups identifying Kah Tai Lagoon as an "area of concern" threatened by development in the US Fish and Wildlife's 1978 report Important Fish and Wildlife Habitats of Washington. Originally a tidal marsh, the area south of what is now Kah Tai Lagoon was filled with dredge spoils from the Boat Haven expansion in 1964. In 1977 the Port of Port Townsend proposed a commercial development to be built on the spoils. The plan was voted down by Port Townsend City Council because of deficiencies in the application.

In 1979, citizens elected City Council and Port Commission members in favor of preservation. The City and Port co-sponsored a 1981 acquisition grant from the National Park Service's Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the State Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC) to purchase private parcels around the Lagoon and combine them with public lands to create a park of nearly 80 acres. Although the proposal missed the cut for funding through regular channels, the threatened status of the area qualified the proposal for funding from the Secretary of the Interior's Contingency Reserve Fund. LWCF funding regulations confer protections of perpetuity for the entire park.

In 1982 the Port Townsend City Council approved a development plan for a "nature-oriented park at Kah Tai Lagoon, providing opportunities for compatible recreational uses" as described in the LWCF acquisition grant, and submitted an application for a development grant to IAC. Since transfer of public lands from the Port to the City had not yet occurred as originally intended in the acquisition grant, the City and Port signed a 30-year lease in the summer of 1982 so that the City could demonstrate control of all the park land and the Port in turn gained leasehold control of significant City-owned rights of way in the Boat Haven. Elements of the park plan that have been realized include development of trails, berms, plantings, a play meadow, picnic shelter, parking, and restrooms on the south side of the lagoon.

Recently, questions about the perpetual easements conferred by the LWCF grant led to a lengthy examination of 30 years of records at the state and federal level, since local government records had been lost. On 7 September 2011, the State Recreation and Conservation Office (formerly IAC) recommended that all the acreage described in the original grant documents be included within the federally-defined 6(f)(3) boundary that provides perpetual protection. On 27 September 2011, the National Park Service ruled that all lands within the original boundary are protected by LWCF stipulations. What remains to be done is to have the easements recorded to title for all park parcels and to have the Port transfer their park parcels to the City as was intended in 1981.

From the beginning, citizen involvement in the park focused on planting native plants. As natives took root, invasive weed removal also played an important role. The last large native planting was in 2005-2006 when Admiralty Audubon led the planting of over 500 native plants and installed drip irrigation to the seedlings along the south shore. Without irrigation the new plantings had in previous years suffered a high mortality rate. Several planting efforts since then have added to the inventory. The chapter has erected nest boxes for chickadees, swallows, hooded mergansers and purple martins. With chapter guidance, OPEPO School built and erected bat roost boxes during Spring 2011.

The Chapter continues to lead work parties to control invasive weeds such as scotch broom, English ivy, European holly, and Himalayan blackberry, and to maintain native plantings. The Chapter funded a two-year study, completed in late 2011, to document what bird species are using the park: Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park Bird Survey 2009/2010. If you would like to participate in work parties, write letters, and attend public hearings, call 385-0307 or email rosemarysikes@olympus.net.

Olympic Peninsula Environmental News: http://olyopen.wordpress.com/