With its wealth of natural beauty, history and location near town, Fort Worden State Park often acts as Port Townsend’s 433-acre backyard. But it wasn’t always as accessible as it is today.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you had an active account on our previous website, then you have an account here. Simply reset your password to regain access to your account.
If you did not have an account on our previous website, but are a current print subscriber, click here to set up your website account.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
* Having trouble? Call our circulation department at 360-385-2900, or email our support.
Please log in to continue |
|
With its wealth of natural beauty, history and location near town, Fort Worden State Park often acts as Port Townsend’s 433-acre backyard.
But it wasn’t always as accessible as it is today.
“Fort Worden has a very long history,” said David Rogge, a board member for the Friends of Fort Worden who has compiled oral history of the fort. “However, up until it became a state park in 1970 or so, it was pretty much off-limits for the community. There isn’t a lot of mutual history, except for when it became a state park. Even then, it was not anything like the state park it is now.”
Now, at any time of the day, locals and visitors can hike, jog or walk their dogs on the 12 1/2 miles of trails in the park. During the summer, the fort’s beaches fill up with visitors who play in the sand and surf.
And behind all the outdoor fun is a group of hardworking volunteers who help park rangers take care of the natural beauty.
With more than 100 members, the non-profit Friends of Fort Worden provides financial and volunteer support both for the park and for programs not funded by the state park system. The Friends hold work parties to remove invasive species from the park, and their “trail team” clocks more than 100 volunteer hours each month, keeping the trails clean and usable for visitors.
“I’m out running on the trails all the time,” said George Rundblad, one of the newest members of the Friends of Fort Worden. “It’s nice to check the trails and meet people and ask people to keep their dogs on the leash.”
Rundblad is one of many Friends who has joined the adopt-a-trail program. Volunteers can take care of a section of trail, pick up trash, clear brush or alert park rangers if there are fallen trees or any other issues.
Cleaning trails is only part of the Friends’ work. Their trail team heads out six times each year to pull out invasive weeds, such as Scotch broom and ivy.
“I love coming over here and picking weeds,” said Rundblad, assuring no one has as much fun pulling weeds as the Friends do. “It really is fun to get a lot of people out here and just have a good time, and the park looks great when we’re done.”
Revitalizing the Friends
It’s not unlikely to see members with their green vests on “volunteer” emblazoned on the back. But the Friends have not always been so active in the park.
“When I first came on the board, we lost, in one year, two board presidents,” said Zan Manning, a Friends of Fort Worden board member who joined the group five years ago. “And then we had a number of board members retiring that year, too. We were really building from the ground up.”
The Friends of Fort Worden first began in 1993 and had been active in the park since then. But in 2015, after the death of Patience Rogge, who had championed the group for many years, the Friends ushered in a revitalization.
Zan and Claude Manning joined the group, along with several other new members, including Janine Anderson, Jan North and Lindy Adelmann, and the Friends retrained their focus beyond financial help to boots-on-the-ground volunteer work.
“It’s remarkable to see what we’ve done in five or six years, to go from an organization that was really struggling to one that is robust and vibrant and active,” Zan Manning said. “I’m really thrilled with where we are today, and where we’re going in the future.”
David Rogge, Patience’s widower, has taken up her spot as the oral historian for the Friends, Anderson has organized natural history walks and intertidal explorations, Adelmann has taken the park gift shop by storm, while the Mannings have introduced new projects and ideas to the park, such as installing bike racks and adding a new telescope lookout.
Future projects
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Friends of Fort Worden group is looking to the future. A few projects include creating an interpretive nature trail in the park along the Chinese Gardens.
“We envision an interpretive trail that will include not only natural history, but history in recognizing the Chinese American contributions, Native American contributions and some of the other human interaction that has shaped this area in particular,” Zan Manning said.
The Friends also are looking to host a “First Day Hike” on Jan. 1 as part of the national event. They hope to host two hikes — one guided, one self-guided.
As a non-profit organization, all of the Friends programs and contributions to the park are paid for by membership donations and with money from gift shop sales.
To join the Friends, it costs $25 in membership fees each year.
“One of the questions I asked Claude, was, ‘OK, I joined the Friends, I gave you $25. What are you doing for me?’” said Adelmann, who joined the Friends after she moved to Port Townsend from Montana. “I don’t usually like meetings because it’s all talk and no action. But here, we get stuff done. That’s really gratifying.”
While the membership donation is important, the Friends also are looking for members who will be active volunteers, and bring their skills and passion to the group.
“We have 100 members, and that’s a lot of life experience,” Adelmann said. “I’d like for us to get some kind of dialogue going with people who can see other ideas. We’ve got a lot of great ideas going, but I want it to be more inclusive.”
