Friends of Miller Bay celebrate a whale of a time

Published 10:15 am Saturday, April 26, 2008

KINGSTON — Despite the excitement of making a four-year fundraising deadline, the order of the night at the Friends of Miller Bay annual meeting Monday was wildlife author Ron Hirschi and his presentation about whales.

The minor notice the deadline was given will be long remembered, however, as the woman who started it all honored those residents who took her idea and expanded on it. Virginia Cowling — who sold 13 acres of her land 16 years ago at bargain prices so it would be preserved — brought a special glass award for Dick and Nancy D’Archangel, who have headed the efforts by the Friends of Miller Bay to continue protecting land around the property she gave. Oct. 30 was the deadline for repaying Kitsap County for the final five acres, costing $273,000, of the 18 it acquired. The group made it with help from fundraisers and residents eager to assist in preserving habitats in their community.

“Virginia is going to present Nancy and Dick,” said Paul Dorn, who was elected as the new FOMB president during the meeting. “In appreciation of the Friends of Miller Bay, we really appreciate everything you’ve done.”

Nancy D’Archangel got choked up as she read the inscription thanking her and her husband for their years of hard work. It also listed Nov. 5, 2007 as the date the group made its goal of officially acquiring the 18 acres.

“This is a great night for us, we finally finished funding raising for the Cowling Creek,” Dick D’Archangel said. The 27 people gathered at the meeting applauded enthusiastically, many of them having pitched in to help.

After moving through the business portion of the meeting, Dick D’Archangel turned the floor over to Hirschi, who produced slides and stories for the gathered residents. His talk focused on whales, but also touched on his most recent book regarding large carnivores such as lions, tigers and bears.

“It’s wonderful to be here tonight to see what you’ve all accomplished here,” he said. “I grew up in Port Gamble and worked with and for the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe for different things. As a kid in Port Gamble, I would see killer whales a lot.”

He told the tale of a relative of tribal elder Jake Jones’, who swam out to a pod of orcas in the Port Gamble Bay, and took a ride with one using its dorsal fin. The relative, a boy at the time, was taken on a tour of the bay, Hood Canal and the whale even dove a few times before he was delivered back to the bay safely. The Jones’ family crest is a whale, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has been given permission to use the symbol for the tribe’s logo. Hirschi said he started his “whale crusade” about 20 years ago, and has been working to save and observe them since.

“I had an idea of how to get kids excited about how water flows to the ocean,” he said. “I would have them touch a little stream, and I told them it goes to the ocean right into the mouth of a whale.”