Logging and the Greenway Trails
Over the last year Olympic Resource Management (aka Pope Resources) has been conducting logging operations on their land in Kitsap County. Although it would be really nice to have the land remain forested, they are a timber management company and this is what they do.
You may know that some of the Greenway trails are on land owned by Kitsap County. Others are on easements granted by Pope Resources. Most of these easements grant a right to use the land for a trail. They do not exclude the land from logging. The exception is the easement we have along the north edge of Pope Resources’ land from Hansville Road to Lower Hawks Pond. The county holds a conservation easement here—in effect preserving the trees.
How do we cope? Once the logging is finished, the Greenway trail crew will go into the logged units and re-establish the trail along the easement that Pope Resources granted to us. No, it will not look pretty at first, but within a year all sorts of plants will grow. Many of them will provide forage and cover for wildlife. The logged area will be replanted with trees and those will gradually grow into a new forest.
To see how this process works, one only has to look at the logged area along Hansville Road south of the Gliding Eagle Market. That land looked the same as the clearcuts near Hansville look now. Since the trees grow at a rate of 3 to 4 feet a year, it won’t be long until we see quite a change.
So be patient. The trails will be open again as soon as the logging is finished. As always, check our website for trail closure information: www.hansvillegreenway.org.