Dabob Bay conservation area expands by nearly 4,000 acres

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Peter Bahls and his organization the NW Watershed Institute, have pulled off another successful land transfer that they’ve been working on for years in the waning days of public lands commissioner Hilary Franz’ administration. But the agreement may also find itself strapped for funds if the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) is reversed in the next election or a Republican takes office to replace Franz. Your vote is important to passing this . Our website is supporting King County Commissioner and former State Representative Dave Upthegrove as the next land commissioner because of issues such as this.

QUILCENE — The Dabob Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area has been expanded by 3,943 acres to include more than 11,000 acres around the bay.

Hillary Franz, the state Commissioner of Public Lands, signed an order on Sept. 23.

“Dabob Bay is a unique and special landscape, and I am incredibly happy to protect and preserve public lands there so that future generations get to enjoy its beauty and ecological importance,” Franz said. “This further expansion is a testament to years of hard work from stakeholders and staff to find a solution that protects these rare ecosystems while still supporting local services in east Jefferson County.”

To read the whole story, go to:

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/dabob-bay-conservation-area-expands-by-nearly-4000-acres/

support local journalism subscribe to the Peninsula Daily News.

Filed under: Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Forestry, Government, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dabob Bay conservation area expands by nearly 4,000 acres

State Continues Quest to Eradicate Invasive Spartina – MorningAg

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Al Bergstein

The controversial efforts to eliminate Spartina continue.

Survey and eradication efforts for Spartina, led by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), will take place in multiple areas, including Grays Harbor, Hood Canal, Willapa Bay, Puget Sound, the north and west sides of the Olympic Peninsula, and near the mouth of the Columbia River.

https://www.morningagclips.com/state-continues-quest-to-eradicate-invasive-spartina-2

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Hood Canal Environmental Council Requests Denial of Black Point Project

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Al Bergstein

The Hood Canal Environmental Council (HCEC) has requested that Jefferson County deny the current subdivision proposal by the Statesman for Pleasant Harbor Development. They also request that the County prevents any further sales of properties until all terms are met.

This project, which has been contested for almost 20 years, has seemed to be an ever changing situation. Lawsuits by the developer, counter suits, years of negotiation over payment for services by the county, then the county settling for far less than their billed services. One would have to ask when the citizens of this county will ever see the promised outcomes that Statesman put forward back in the mid 2000s. Certainly if the opponents to it have there way, never, but even if Statesman gets their way, when are we expected to see anything more than a clearcut in this location?

Let’s remember that two full cycles of County Commissioners have moved this forward, against the wishes of many in this county. Is it time for them to admit that this is never going to happen and kill it? One way or another all of us in Jefferson County are paying for the lawsuits that this has incurred on us. Pretending that it’s a zero sum game is just not reality. Anyway, read it and make up your own mind. If you have strong feelings, one way or the other, now seems a good time to throw your thoughts into the disucussion at the County Commissioners meeting.

Here is the letter from the HCEC.

Cristina Haworth, AICP
Jefferson County Board of Commissioners
Josh D. Peters, AICP
Jefferson County Community Development Director
James Kennedy -Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney

RE: Master Planned Resort at Black Point

Greetings:

For more than 50 years the Hood Canal Environmental Council (HCEC) has been active in protecting Hood Canal. As part of this legacy, we have offered input on Jefferson County plans for a Master Planned Resort (MPR) at Black Point. We share the concerns of the Brinnon Group expressed in the February 2, 2024, letter from attorney Richard Aramburu to you (attached).

We hope that Jefferson County intends to follow statutory law, court decisions and its own agreements in matters dealing with land use and protecting Hood Canal. Recent plans submitted to the county to develop the Black Point MPR do not comply with the 2018 Kitsap Superior Court decision or the 2019 Amended Development Agreement.

HCEC endorses the recommendations in the recent letter from attorney Aramburu, that Jefferson County should take the following actions:

1.                  Decline to review the current subdivision proposal submitted by Statesman for Pleasant Harbor development. The plan for 216 single-family residential lots, without the required MPR project features, is inconsistent with the 2019 Development Agreement amendments because it approves residential development without any permits, plans or showing of financial ability to fund or deliver the fanciful amenities, such as a “tea house in the trees” and a full-size NHL hockey rink.

2.                  Return any proposed subdivision plans to the applicant and decline further review until the submittal of plans is consistent with the Amended Development Agreement and Jefferson County codes.

3.                  Determine the subdivision application is not complete because it does not contain all required features and documentation.

4.                  Prevent sales or advertisement for sales of properties within the Pleasant Harbor MPR, through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney, until all terms of the Development Agreement and Jefferson County platting ordinances are met.

HCEC welcomes dialogue with you over these concerns.

Sincerely, Phil Best – President
Hood Canal Environmental Council

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Jefferson County shorelines needs your help now

Posted on January 12, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Jefferson County is updating its Shoreline Master Plan and is being heavily lobbied by the shellfish industry to allow for the approval of additional geoduck farms in our tidelands without public input.  Neighboring counties–Kitsap and Clallam–allow for public input but Jefferson hasn’t yet committed to this.  Find out what’s at stake as this multimillion dollar export business looks to expand here.   Local environmental activists will talk about their work and how you can get involved.

With a growing multimillion dollar marked in Asia, the shellfish industry is eyeing Jefferson County’s tidelands for increased geoduck cultivation. Geoduck cultivation involves the intense use of plastics—some seven miles and eleven tons of tubing per acre.  Each tube fosters a wholly unnatural density of the large clams that are then “harvested” using hydraulic hoses to liquify the tidelands down to three feet.  Then the whole process starts over again.  Geoduck cultivation raises many environmental concerns, among them: competition for marine nutrients, displacement of tideland marine life, and plastics pollution.  Sierra Club is asking the Jefferson County Commissioners to require a thorough review and public input before issuing any permits to farm geoducks.  A standard “Conditional Use Permit”, as is required in neighboring Kitsap and Clallum counties, should be the norm.  

 When:  Thursday January 18, 7PM on Zoom

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002Hy4YAAS

Filed under: Admiralty Inlet, Aquaculture, Environmental Activism, Environmental Protection, Events, Jefferson County | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

European green crab invasion report. Lummi’s in trouble, still ok here

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Al Bergstein

The recent discovery of a huge increase in invasive green crabs on the Lummi tidelands has not been seen in waters here. A good update by Sea Grant. Wendy Feltham who has been volunteering locally had this to say: “I’ve been part of a small team looking for the invasive European Green Crab at Kala Point Lagoon for the past six years. In all those years we’ve handled thousands of shore crabs and a few others, but only one European Green Crab.”

Invasive European Green Crab (Photo courtesy of WDFW)

Here’s the report from the Lummi. The link is at the bottom of the quote.

December 6, 2021

The recent report by the Lummi Nation of more than 70,000 European green crabs captured this year has many wondering what this could mean for efforts to prevent green crabs from establishing in the Salish Sea. This number certainly indicates that the population of green crabs within the sea pond on the Lummi Reservation has grown exponentially since their first detection in 2019 (Mueller and Jefferson, 2019), and currently represents the largest population along inland Washington shorelines. The disaster declaration made by the Lummi Indian Business Council, highlights both the threat to tribal resources, and the need for increased control measures to effectively protect both the reservation, as well as the region, from accelerated spread and impacts of the invasion.

https://wsg.washington.edu/21-lummi-update/

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New investments save dynamic coastal wetland habitat – Washington DOE

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Al Bergstein

And more good news. State and local partners secure $5 million in federal conservation grants.

The Department of Ecology is delighted to announce we have secured seven National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grants worth more than $5 million. The 2020 federal grants will help our local partners restore and enhance nearly 500 acres of coastal wetlands and 17,500 feet of marine shoreline in Jefferson, Kitsap, Snohomish, Thurston, and Whatcom counties.

Discovery Bay Acquisitions ($713,268)  —working in partnership with Jefferson Land Trust to acquire and conserve 9 acres of critical wetlands and nearshore habitat in Discovery Bay in Jefferson County, including nearly 2,173 feet of Puget Sound shoreline. The project will conserve degraded and filled estuary and nearshore habitat and preserve a rare intact pocket estuary that provides high-functioning salt marsh habitat in the Discovery Bay area.

Tarboo Creek Wetlands Acquisition and Restoration ($508,000) — in close coordination with the Northwest Watershed Institute we will help permanently protect and restore 14.5 acres of wetlands on three adjoining parcels along Tarboo Creek in Jefferson County that drain directly to Tarboo-Dabob Bay and Puget Sound.

Misery Point Habitat Acquisition ($1 million) — this collaborative project with the Great Peninsula Conservancy will preserve 20.7 acres and approximately 3,500 feet of Hood Canal and barrier lagoon shoreline in Kitsap County. The property contains a 1,600-foot sand spit that shelters a 3-acre tidal lagoon, important refuge habitat for juvenile salmon and waterfowl.

https://ecology.wa.gov/Blog/Posts/April-2020/New-investments-save-dynamic-coastal-wetland-habit

Filed under: Environmental Protection, Government, Jefferson County, Jefferson County, Puget Sound | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

New Jefferson County Shooting Range Ordinances Passed

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Al Bergstein

From the Tarboo Ridge Coalition today

The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners unanimously passed two new shooting range ordinances at the conclusion of 5 hours of deliberations during their meeting on Monday, February 24. The new ordinances are vastly different than the 2018 versions which the Growth Management Hearings Board invalidated in early 2019.

The BoCC followed their Planning Commission’s recommendations that all new commercial shooting ranges be located indoors in commercial and industrial zones and not be allowed in Jefferson County forests. The commissioners carefully scrutinized the proposed ordinances to clarify language and eliminate previous loopholes that had been exploited by Fort Discovery Corporation in 2018 when the company began building an outdoor paramilitary training center at Tarboo Lake without environmental review or obtaining permits.

The Tarboo Ridge Coalition, which appealed the 2018 ordinances, will meet with the County and the Growth Management Hearings Board in late March to discuss whether the current effort complies with the Washington State’s Growth Management Act.

Filed under: Environmental Law, Government, Jefferson County, Jefferson County, legislation | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Public meeting set to discuss Duckabush River estuary restoration | Peninsula Daily News

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Al Bergstein

This is great news. The old Hwy 101 bridge across this beautiful estuary is clearly at the end of it’s life. Being able to remove the highway as it is and re-engineer it’s approach and crossing can only be helpful to the estuary ecosystem. This is just south of where the Black Point development is going to go in (barring some miracle last minute issue, like an economic slowdown). The road there certainly could use widening, as well as a way for bicyclists to navigate it when traffic is heavy.

This is the kind of work that getting funds from the Federal government spreads the costs across a wide swath of the population, lowering the costs to all of us locally. In addition to this project, the causeway to Marrowstone Island is under re-engineering this summer and fall, allowing for the free flow of water between Scow Bay and Oak Bay again, for the first time in almost 100 years.

The bonus for the Duckabush re-engineering is that it should help the salmon returns to some degree. Fixing the Hood Canal Floating Bridge is going to make a huge difference as well, once they come up with an engineering solution to that problem.

Read the whole story at the PDN.

Fish and Wildlife officials to be in Brinnon on Saturday
— Read on www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/public-meeting-set-to-discuss-duckabush-river-estuary-restoration/

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Hood Canal preservation gets another bump from Legislature – Kitsap Sun

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Al Bergstein

This is very good news. Congratulations to Peter Bahls and the NW Watershed Institute!

Thousands of pristine acres of timberland along Hood Canal have been earmarked for preservation, thanks to $6.3 million from the Legislature.  The Dabob Bay natural area’s latest expansion spreads some 4,000 acres east and south onto the Toandos Peninsula. The Legislature’s purchase guarantees 900 of those acres will be transferred out of the state Department of Natural Resources’ timber trust and into conservation. The state will begin to pursue other properties within the acreage, which spans from Dabob to Thorndyke Creek, according to Peter Bahls, director of the Northwest Watershed Institute that has fought to preserve the area since 2002. Josh Farley reports. (Kitsap Sun)

Hood Canal preservation gets another bump from Legislature

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Northwest Watershed Institute study suggests reason behind eagle gathering at Dabob Bay – PDN

Posted on December 15, 2018 by Al Bergstein

The Peninsula Daily News has a story about a new research paper created by Peter Bahls of the Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI).  Bahls and biologist Heather Gordon wrote the paper, “Bald Eagles, Oyster Beds, and the Plainfin Midshipman: Ecological Relationships in Dabob Bay,” which explores the relationship of eagles, oyster beds and a kind of forage fish called the Plainfin Midshipman. Read this fascinating story about what new research by the NWI has shown about the relationships, and how the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe are working with the data to better protect the eagles and the spawning fish.

Northwest Watershed Institute study suggests reason behind eagle gathering at Dabob Bay

 

 

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DNR Proposes Dewatto Natural Resources Conservation Area

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Al Bergstein

In an effort to protect some of the last remaining high quality lowland shorelines on the east side of the Hood Canal, the State Department of Natural Resources has proposed creation of a new conservation area. This was done in discussion with the Trust for Public Land, The Great Peninsula Conservancy and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group. Those of you who have driven the North Shore road, from around the south end of the Canal from Belfair, will remember that as you start north from the SW point you encounter a beautiful estuary that is very lightly inhabited. That’s Dewatto Bay.

The state will eventually offer fair market value to landowners if this goes through. However there is no requirement that landowners sell. The state has used this kind of process to secure land for perpetuity in other locations including here on the Olympic Peninsula.

The proposed Dewatto Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA) seeks protection for approximately five miles of Hood Canal shoreline, including Dewatto Bay and Little Dewatto Bay. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), along with our partners at the Trust for Public Land, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, and Great Peninsula Conservancy, are proposing a 1,700 acre NRCA to ensure conservation of important Hood Canal features for enjoyment by future generations: Lowland forests, high-functioning riparian areas, and vital nearshore and estuary habitat for fish and wildlife.

DNR manages NRCAs for conservation, wildlife habitat and low-impact recreation uses. An NRCA designation does not change local land-use zoning, permitted land uses, or development code requirements, and it imposes no new restrictions on landowners.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will conducted two public information meetings on June 26th and June 28th in Dewatto and Belfair concerning the proposal of the Dewatto Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA). Staff from DNR’s natural areas program will hold a public hearing and a public comment period later this summer to provide information and receive testimony on the proposed boundary.

View the Proposed Dewatto NRCA Factsheet and Proposed Dewatto NRCA Boundary Map.

For more information, contact

Katie Woolsey

Natural Areas Manager

206-375-3558

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S’Klallam tribes apply for oyster aquaculture permit for Dabob Bay – Port Townsend Leader

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Al Bergstein

It’s being reported in the Port Townsend Leader this morning that the Jamestown and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes are proposing a new aquaculture farm on 10 acres in Dabob Bay. It’s worth noting that clamming and oyster harvesting are treaty resources of these tribes.

Pick up the leader or go online to read it. You will need to subscribe if you go online or purchase a copy at the newstand.

The public has until June 23 to comment on a proposed shoreline substantial development permit for 10 acres of suspended tumble oyster aquaculture, submitted by the Jamestown and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes for Dabob Bay.

The tribes are proposing to produce shellfish – oysters and Manila clams – for human consumption

Filed under: Aquaculture, Jefferson County, Jefferson County, Puget Sound | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Hood Canal property will compensate for Navy construction at Bangor – Watching our Waterways

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Al Bergstein

Good news. Some movement on getting property to offset the Navy’s construction on the shoreline.

Hood Canal Coordinating Council has finally found some shoreline property to compensate for environmental damage from the Navy’s $448-million Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor.
The shoreline of a 6.7-acre property to be used for mitigation of the Navy’s Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor. // Photo: Hood Canal Coordinating Council The 6.7 acres of waterfront property — located near Kitsap County’s Anderson Landing Preserve on Hood Canal — becomes the first saltwater mitigation site in Washington state under an in-lieu-fee mitigation program. The $275,000 purchase was approved Wednesday by the coordinating council, which manages the in-lieu-fee program. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2017/05/19/hood-canal-property-will-compensate-for-navy-construction-at-bangor/

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Olympic Forest Coalition Files Suit Against Coast Seafoods

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Al Bergstein

It will be interesting to see what comes of this new lawsuit. There have been a number of concerns raised by citizens in the area surrounding Coast, as to changes in the Bay waters. We’ll see if we can get more information on the specifics.

Olympic Forest Coalition, based in Quilcene, Washington, has filed a lawsuitagainst Coast Seafoods Company under Section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365, for alleged Clean Water Act violations. Located on the shorelines of Quilcene Bay, Coast Seafoods claims to have increased its production of spat (baby oysters) from a capacity of approximately 8 billion annually to 40 billion annually over the past 5 years, which is apparently creating much higher levels of effluent, including “oyster poop,” discharged into the bay. The effluent includes excessive amounts of ammonia nitrogen and other solids that appear to OFCO to create problems for fish, shellfish, and pursuit-diving birds such as marbled murrelets, loons, cormorants, and grebes. OFCO believes that Coast Seafoods filters the incoming water from the bay, but does not filter effluent being flushed back into the bay.

The lawsuit claims that Coast Seafoods uses numerous pipes, ditches, channels and other discernible, confined and discrete conveyances to discharge effluent from its indoor, land-based oyster facilities to the adjacent beach, Quilcene Bay and Puget Sound.

Because the facility uses pipes and ditches to discharge to the bay, conveyances the Clean Water Act clearly and unambiguously defines as “point sources,” the lawsuit alleges that discharges of pollutants from the facility are illegal and in violation of Section 30l(a) of the Clean Water Act because they are not authorized by an NPDES permit. The primary goal of the lawsuit is to reduce water pollution to Quilcene Bay.

Kampmeier & Knutsen, PLLC in Seattle, Washington, represents OFCO in the lawsuit.

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Black Point Resort Releases Final EIS

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Al Bergstein

The Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort is back on track again, after years of dormancy due to economic conditions. This project, which is opposed by all three tribes in the area, due to it’s considerable possible impact on shellfish and fishing areas around the Duckabush estuary and surrounding beaches, along with wetland destruction (with mitigation) and water table concerns, is going to be discussed in a community meeting on January 6th in Brinnon. I highly recommend you read the letters to the project contained in the links below, and draw your own conclusions.

It is very telling to read the analysis of The Brinnon Group. They raise many concerns, including the cost to taxpayers both in the South County and the county as a whole. They state:

The county has a goal of improving tourism revenue in south county. This proposed resort does not meet that goal.

It will pay mainly poverty level wages andwill drive down the level of wages in the surrounding area. It will cost the few taxpayers (many on fixed incomes) in this small county more in taxes for infrastructure, life safety services, and social services than it returns in revenue.
It may raise utility rates for south county.

It degrades the unique environment that is economically important to the whole peninsula. It damages or depletes the entire Black Point aquifer.

It also appears that the developer is not paying sufficient taxes to cover the cost of infrastructure and public services needed by the resort itself, resort members and resort staff. (it is worth reading the concerns of the Brinnon Group as it pertains to taxes and benefits).

Job benefits are grossly overstated, with duplicate jobs being counted multiple times (if one job is needed in phase 1, and the same job is needed in phase 2, it is counted twice, not once).

 

 

Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) released for the proposed Master Plan Resort at Pleasant Harbor, Black Point, Brinnon Washington.

Public Meeting and testimony to be heard before the Jefferson County Planning Commission on January 6, 2016 at the Brinnon School, beginning at 6:30pm.

Project Documents: http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/Brinnon_MPR.htm

Opposition to the project can be found here, for more information on downsides of this resort.
http://www.brinnongroup.org

Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

DNR buys lands around Taylor Shellfish hatchery for long-term conservation – PT Leader

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Al Bergstein

I missed this story. More good news from DNR, Taylor Shellfish and the Northwest Watershed Institute. Moving forward on protecting shorelines that are key to aquaculture  from development. We need cooperative agreements where the habitat calls for it.

On Sept. 17, Taylor Shellfish Farms sold four undeveloped shoreline parcels, totaling 15 acres, to the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for preservation as part of the Dabob Bay Natural Area, according to a press release.

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Photo of the Day – Anemone from Sund Rock in Hood Canal

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Diver Bruce Kerwin brought back this fabulous photo of a tube dwelling anemone at Sund Rock dive spot on Hood Canal. A good example of the beauty worth protecting in the waters below us.

From Sund Rock dive site in Hood Canal. Washington State

From Sund Rock dive site in Hood Canal. Washington State

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Judge dismisses lawsuit against easement that blocks ‘pit-to-pier’ project on Hood Canal – PDN

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Al Bergstein

And so it goes. The Pit to Pier people never seem to give up, and seem to have an inexhaustible amount of money to spend fighting anything that stands in their way. I wonder if this is the end of the line for them though?

A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Navy challenging a conservation easement that would block development of a 998-foot pier and gravel-loading project sought by Hood Canal Sand and Gravel. U. S. District Judge Benjamin Settle on Tuesday granted a motion to dismiss, ruling that the Navy did not exceed its authority in granting the 55-year easement on state-owned tidelands along Hood Canal…. The easement is an agreement between the Navy and the state Department of Natural Resources announced in July 2014 that would block development on more than 4,800 acres of state land along Hood Canal, stretching from the Hood Canal Bridge south to just below the border between Jefferson and Mason counties. (Peninsula Daily News)

lhttp://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150903/NEWS/150909989/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-easement-that-blocks-pit-to-pier

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EVENT – Oct 7 – Community Forum on Ocean Health

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Al Bergstein


Ocean_Health_Forum-100714

Please join us for a free evening event featuring guest speakers Dr. Simone Alin, Supervisory Oceanographer at NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab; and Betsy Peabody, the Director of Puget Sound Restoration Fund. You’ll learn about changes in the marine waters of Puget Sound, and what’s being done to address them by some of the amazing people who live and work here.

Tuesday, October 7

6:30 PM-8:00 PM (Doors open at 6 PM)

Northwest Maritime Center

Maritime Meeting Room (2nd floor of yellow building)

Port Townsend, WA 98368

This event is sponsored by the Northwest Straits Commission, Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee (MRC), and Puget Sound Restoration Fund.

All are welcome.

Caroline Gibson    –    Marine Program Manager

Northwest Straits Commission

431 Water Street

Port Townsend, WA 98368

360.385.1153 (PT office)

www.nwstraits.org

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WSU Master Goat Farmer Program offered in Jefferson County in January

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Al Bergstein

WSU Jefferson County Extension offers the Master Goat Farmer Program on Marrowstone  Island from January 17-19th , 2014. The 3-day advanced course, offered by WSU since 1988,provides goat farmers/owners in-depth training of goat production topics including nutrition, pasture management, health and disease, lactation, mastitis, reproduction, housing, breed  selection, and food safety.

Course presenters include Susan Kerr, WSU Northwest Regional Livestock and Dairy Extension Specialist; Gary Fredericks, WSU Cowlitz Extension County Director, and Lorrie Conway. Course participants will experience hands-on and classroom presentations, along with a field trip to neighboring goat dairy, Mystery Bay Farm. Participants will also receive a CD of educational publications related to goat care and management.

The Master Goat Farmer Program will be held at WSU Twin Vista Ranch on Marrowstone Island on Friday, Saturday and Sunday January 17th , 18th and 19th

Class size is limited. Cost is $60 per person, plus $30 for additional family members. To register, visit jefferson.wsu.edu.

For more information: Susan Kerr at kerrs@wsu.edu or 360-848-6151 or Kellie Henwood at (360) 379-5610 ext. 201.

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