POULSBO — One of Little Norway’s newest parks is in need of a permanent name.

And the City of Poulsbo is giving community members a chance to weigh in.

Through the month of April, Poulsbo and the Fish Park Steering Committee will be accepting votes on choices of names for the park at the headwaters of Liberty Bay. The five ballot choices, which were recently chosen from among nearly 30 nominations, are:

•Harding’s Creek Estuary Park (The original name of Dogfish Creek)

•Dogfish Creek Park

•Dogfish Park

•Hund Fiske (Dogfish in Norwegian) Park

•Poulsbo’s Fish Park/Fish Park

Officially naming “Fish Park,” as it has been known since the City of Poulsbo bought it in July 2002, is just one part of an overall development of the park that is already underway. The 13-acre parcel near the Lindvig Bridge is planned to be an environmentally-geared park.

Though the land lay fallow for the first year of ownership, Suquamish Tribe Salmon Recovery Coordinator Paul Dorn and Marine Science Society member Tom Nordley founded and have been spearheading a Fish Park Steering Committee over the last year. Recently, the group oversaw the expenditure of a leftover part of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) grant that helped fund the Lindvig auto and pedestrian bridges. That money paid crews from Stan Palmer Construction to “daylight” a handful of culverts, create stormwater-friendly landscaping and clear non-native, invasive plants.

“It’s an exceptionally wonderful park,” Dorn commented. “It’ll be a huge community attribute.”

In the long term, committee members hope to eventually add a beaver pond, more walking trails and even a community meeting space, possibly to be used by the Marine Science Center for an interpretive center.

But for now, the focus is naming the space. Nominations for the park’s name were taken from the community at large in February and March. Those names were whittled down to a final group of five at the Fish Park Steering Committee’s March 25 meeting. Though the current “Fish Park” name is one that some folks abhor, Parks and Recreation Director Mary McCluskey said the committee kept it in the running, because many people also supported the name.

“They really liked Poulsbo Fish Park because they wanted to give it a community identity,” McCluskey said of the committee.

“One of the things the committee talked about was keeping it simple,” added Dorn, who said he liked “Poulsbo Fish Park” or “Salmon Park.” “‘Fish Park’ was an attempt to get at the life cycles of the salmon there.”

Now, the community is being asked to vote on which of the five names they like best. Ballots due by April 30 and McCluskey said the next step will be for her to take the five names, and the vote tallies to the full Poulsbo City Council. She said she hopes to do this in early May.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Dorn said of the idea of having the community vote on the front-runners for the name. “(McCluskey) should be commended for trying to keep everything as open as possible.”

McCluskey said the name that receives the most votes will not automatically win, however, she feels this will be a good opportunity for locals to express their opinions on the park’s name to council.

“It’s up to (council) to name parks but this is unique because they get some community help doing it this time,” she commented.

Sidebox (put next to ballot):

Name the Park Ballots will be run in the Herald as often as possible through the April 28 issue and must be received by April 30

They can be mailed to Name the Park, P.O. Box 98, Poulsbo, WA 98370

They can also be dropped off City Hall, the Parks and Recreation office and the North Kitsap Herald

Votes may also be made by e-mailing mmccluskey@cityofpoulsbo.com