Community campaign receives match to expand Hansville Greenway

By Staff report • March 5, 2024 1:30 am

Another conservation win is in the books for the Hansville Greenway.

A new 10-acre expansion to the 345-acre greenspace in North Kitsap closed at the end of 2023 thanks to a community-led campaign and public-private collaboration. Great Peninsula Conservancy and volunteers from the Hansville Greenway Association raised over $100,000, which leveraged supplemental funding OK’d by the county commissioners to use Kitsap County Conservation Futures funds to purchase the parcel, a GPC news release states.

Kitsap Parks owns the parcel, and GPC holds a conservation easement. “This project exemplifies how GPC partners with willing landowners, community organizations, and agencies to make land protection possible,” said Nathan Daniel, GPC executive director.

The campaign needed $230,000 to cover the purchase, closing and administration costs. Dozens of people donated, but by last summer there was still a funding gap. Newly appointed County Commissioner Christine Rolfes toured the property in August and helped champion a KCCF request to secure the remaining $116,500 needed to purchase it. Conservation Futures tax revenue is used to help conserve parks, open space and habitat, per the release.

Rolfes said the partnership was a perfect opportunity to connect existing parklands and provide critical wildlife habitat. “The Greenway is a cherished part of Kitsap County,” she said.

The property is half a mile south of Buck Lake Park and connects Lower and Upper Hawk’s Ponds. Beavers are active there, and a vernal pool provides breeding grounds for frogs and salamanders. Mature cedars fill the wildlife corridor between the ponds. Deer, bears, bobcats, cougars, otters and eagles visit the area. “The primary purpose of the Greenway is to serve as a nature preserve and wildlife sanctuary. However, it also serves to connect neighborhoods through a continuous recreational trail system,” said Ken Shawcroft, a volunteer with the Greenway since its start in the 1990s.

GPC, county parks and HGA will collaborate on conservation and recreational plans for the property.

“We love that our property is now part of the Hansville Greenway for future generations to enjoy,” said former landowners Bruce and Tonya Knutson. Bruce is the son of the late Sid Knutson, a founding member of the Greenway.