As the days get longer and temperatures rise, the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Department is preparing for peak season.

All three campgrounds operated by Parks and Rec will open April 1 for the season: Upper Oak Bay and Lower Oak Bay campgrounds in Port Hadlock and the Quilcene campground.

“They are in good condition, and there are no reservations required,” said Parks and Rec Director Matt Tyler.

In the 2019 budget, the county budgeted $55,155 for the Parks and Rec department, to help maintain the status quo at the county’s 22 parks, that cover a total of 1,100 acres, as well as the programming offered at the Rec Center in Port Townsend.

“People around here want access to nature,” Tyler said. “Our overall goal is to preserve and maintain what we have. We see over and over there is higher use and more demand.”

With a full 10-member Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the team is looking to improve their community outreach to provide active outdoor opportunities for county residents, said Advisory Board Chair Malloree Weinheime.

“We have a combination of big and small projects coming up,” Tyler said. “We feel really optimistic that our partnership and support from the county has been strong.”

Getting people outside

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is hoping to start a “Parks Rx” program through which participating medical practitioners can prescribe time outdoors to improve mental and physical health.

“Chronic disease is a big issue facing our country and our region,” Tyler said. “A lot of that is caused by inactivity. Getting active outside benefits people’s health.”

The advisory board is planning on partnering with Jefferson Healthcare and the Children's Health Insurance Program to join the national movement, which has a growing number of adherents in the medical field.

Spending time in natural environments can, by stimulating key elements of the nervous system and by increasing physical activity, decrease the risk of developing chronic disease, according to Park Rx America, an advocacy group that has built a network of 8,500 participating parks in the program. The group claims to have trained and registered 200 medical professionals as "prescribers" nationwide.

“It’s to get more families outside and to get more engagement in the outdoors,” Weinheime said.

Rec Center updates

Parks and Rec staff have constructed a new fence around the Rec Center playground and are planning for a robust season of sports programs and summer camps.

“We’re going to have two clinics in April to start a feeder program for middle school volleyball,” said Chris Macklin, director at the Rec Center. “The idea is to do a summer camp if there’s enough interest.”

The volleyball clinics will take place April 13 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are for third- through sixth-graders.

Spring soccer league programs will begin April 8 at the Rec Center. Registration is already full, but those interested can be placed on a waiting list.

The Rec Center is also continuing hosting dance classes such as Zumba, plus adult basketball nights, the Port Townsend cooperative playschool, and Bouncy Fridays, where families with small kids can come in to use the bouncy castle.

Meanwhile, the county and city are in discussion about installing a public restroom on the Rec Center’s property to serve uptown visitors as well as visitors to the Saturday farmers market.

new fence for Field

Having successfully installed new lights at Memorial Field in Port Townsend, Parks and Rec staff plan to replace the fence there. “We’re working really hard on maintenance,” Tyler said. “The fence is so old it won’t stand up anymore.”

Memorial Field is the only public athletic field in the city and in high demand, Tyler said.

“It’s booked every week,” he said. “In the past five years, it’s just gotten busier and busier.”

This spring, Port Townsend High School soccer teams will have practice and games at Memorial Field, as will the recreational soccer team.

The next large event scheduled there is the June 29 opening ceremony for the Chetzemoka Interpretive Trail.

Discussion over Chimacum Park

The Parks and Rec Advisory Board is beginning discussions about future plans for Chimacum Park, located next to the Tri-Area Community Center.

The park is currently called a “public space open area,” but no garbage service and no maintenance is provided.

“The Parks Advisory Board is hoping explore with the community to find what the future might hold for that area,” Tyler said.

The campground area has been shutdown since 2010. Weinheime said there are some areas where trees with laminated root rot need to be removed for safety reasons.

“We’re interested to see if it can be reopened as a campground,” Weinheime said. “We want to look at what the options are. With Chimacum booming, we’d love to see this property more used.”

The parcel of land is currently zoned for parks use.

“The thing that keeps coming up in conversations in the community is using that (property) for tiny houses and homeless placements,” said Commissioner David Sullivan. “ It’s usually framed as temporary, and the question I think of is, where would people move to?”

To be used for housing of any kind, the property would need to be rezoned.

“It’s more complicated than people realize to go through rezoning,” Sullivan said.

Weinheime said the Parks Advisory Board is going to begin community discussions about the future of the property.

Gibbs Lake trail expansion

In the last few years, the Gibbs Lake park has expanded by nearly 300 acres, said Tyler.

Now, the Quimper Trails Association­—a group of volunteers focused on improving Gibbs Lake park—are working on more trail construction.

“A group of our volunteers are building walking, horse riding and mountain biking trails,” Tyler said.  

Some trails at Gibbs Lake connect to the nearby Beausite Lake. The Quimper Trails Association hosts work parties on Saturdays to build new trails and install signs.

All of the county parks are free to access, Tyler said. To see a full list of parks, go to the county Parks and Rec website at countyrec.com.