History
of the Kitsap Environmental Coalition
Starting back at the beginning...
Over the seven years since its inception, the Kitsap Environmental Coalition has grown from a group of concerned citizens objecting to the aerial spraying of toxic chemicals over clear-cut timber harvest near residential areas to an influential stakeholder in county planning and public communications. Our message is that together in respectful, thoughtful, caring, and scientifically-based conversations, we can address the county’s growth, water, housing, and recreational needs while protecting natural spaces, habitat, and the rural areas of the county.
After eye-opening lessons on challenging the timber industry via the state government’s regulatory system and the exorbitant legal costs associated with that, KEC shifted gears and turned instead to community mobilization and active engagement in county and state planning and decision-making to protect the environment.
Over the seven years, four themes have been dominant:
- Replace the use of glyphosate and other toxic herbicides in forests, roadsides, and gardens with other ways of treating unwanted vegetation
- Shift forestry practices away from clear-cutting to sustainable harvest practices that build rather than destroy our natural habitat and endanger wildlife
- Shift away from mismanaged and over-development in rural natural spaces and concentrate housing and other development in urban areas in ways that address affordable housing, childcare, transportation, recreational, and livable community needs
- Preserve and protect our natural spaces, farmland, rivers, streams, and wetlands for the well-being of humans and wildlife through conservation easements and other legal protection means that provide long-term protection from development.
KEC is achieving these goals through community-based educational forums and activities such as hikes, tree planting, and citizen-science projects. KEC members work together to help one another and the general public untangle the complexities of major county planning activities such as the updates of the 2024 Comprehensive Plan (2022-2024), the Parks, Recreation, and Open-Space (PROS) (2022 – 2025) Plan, and the Critical Areas Ordinance (2024) so their voice is strong, targeted and influential.
In addition to engaging in the planning process, KEC works to ensure follow-through on commitments made by the decision-makers involved in the planning process. An example is the recent decision of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to follow through on the commitment in the Comprehensive Plan Update to focus density in urban areas and stop sprawl into rural areas. In the subsequent reclassification phase of county planning, the BOCC upheld its decision not to allow residential rezoning that would increase density in rural areas.
KEC also works in collaboration with other organizations such as the Washington State Lands Group (WSLG) on protecting the state’s legacy forests from harvesting through timber sales; with collaborators state-wide to reactivate the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Trust Land Transfer program which in term resulted in Eglon forest being transferred to Kitsap’s Parks Department instead of being harvested through DNR; and with several other local organizations to strategize on preservation of specific natural lands.
