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INTRODUCTION & COUNTY PROFILE
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION &
COUNTY PROFILE
Introduction
The purpose of the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan is to provide comprehensive guidance on the development and
management of Jefferson County’s parklands, trails and open space as well as the recreation services. This plan, as a component of the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan. It links
the elements within the larger County Comprehensive Plan. It serves to unite open space lands, parks and facilities into a coordinated network.
The Washington State Legislature prescribed
land use planning guidelines for select cities and counties with the adoption of the Growth Management Act in 1991. This included Jefferson County. Thirteen goals were adopted to guide
the development and adoption of comprehensive plans codified in Chapter 36.70A.040 of the Revised Code of Washington. Three of these goals directly affect the development and implementation
of this plan, they are:
RCW 36.70A.040 (9) guides recreation, parks and open space:
“Retain open space, enhance recreational opportunities, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, increase
assess to natural resource lands and water, and develop parks and recreation facilities.”
RCW 36.70A040 (10) covers the environment:
“Protect the environment and enhance the state’s
high quality of life, including air and water quality, and the availability of water.”
RCW 36.70A.040 (13) historic preservation:
“Identify and encourage the preservation of lands,
sites, and structures that have historical and archaeological significance.”
Plan and Planning Area:
This Plan will serve as a strategy for sustaining and developing parks and recreation.
It will be updated every six years. This update includes goals for short term improvements and mechanisms for funding them. It also articulates community priorities that will set the
foundation for the next 15-20 years.
This plan provides the opportunity to solicit a number grant opportunities including the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) under the Washington
Wildlife & Recreation Program (WWRP). WWRP contains categories for local park projects, conservation, open space lands, and trails. Other categories provide grant funding for boating
facilities as well as off-road vehicle projects. Federal funding under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is also
available. The 2014 Jefferson County Comprehensive Park and Recreation plan update will provide RCO eligibility from 2015-2021.
The RCO requires public and community input as part of
the planning process. The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners appointed the Park and Recreation Advisory Board (JCPRAB) to work with the staff throughout the update process. The
community was included in regular Park and Recreation Advisory Board meetings throughout the preparation and completion of the draft plan. The draft plan was ultimately recommended for
adoption by the Jefferson County Commissioners.
In 1992, Jefferson County and the City of Port Townsend adopted a joint resolution establishing the County-wide Planning Policy (CWPP)
as a policy framework to guide the development of comprehensive plans. The goal of the adopted County-wide Planning Policy is to ensure that local planning efforts will be consistent
with each another and consistent with regional growth management planning. It recognizes the need for counties, cities, special purpose districts, and those agencies and jurisdictions
involved in the delivery of public services, to coordinate the independent development of local Comprehensive Plans. This plan includes coordination in the siting of parkland and public
facilities and it includes discussions on county-wide strategies for parks, facilities, open space and recreational services.
The purpose of the Jefferson County Parks Comprehensive
Plan is to identify how park, recreation and open space needs should be addressed and implemented for the benefit of both County residents and visitors alike. Jefferson County manages
1,151.2 acres of parklands with 23 parks and 6 community centers that serve recreational interests.
Jefferson County contains many park and recreation assets. Approximately three-fourths
of the 1,808 square miles of land area in the County is in public ownership. In addition, the two largest publicly owned areas are the Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest,
comprising 539,000-166,000 acres, respectively.
County Profile
Jefferson County was one of the first counties organized by the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1852. The county
was named after President Thomas Jefferson. It is located in the northwestern corner of the state bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Puget Sound on the east. Jefferson
County has been an inspiration to the generations who have called it home. The stories and legends of native tribes who inhabited the area speak eloquently of the spirit of this land.
The journals of the early explorers are replete with description of the awesome beauty and bountiful natural resources found in the County.
Today, the county is 1,808 square miles,
with a water area of 379 square miles. Jefferson County is the 18th largest county in the state with a population density of 16 people per square mile.
Jefferson County consists of
three distinct geographic areas-the “West End” on the Pacific Ocean, the Olympic Mountains in the central region, and the Puget Lowlands in the eastern section. The Olympic Mountains
are the dominate landform occupying more than 75% of the total area. Located within it the Olympic National Forest and the Olympic National Park.
Jefferson County is located within the West Coast Marine Climatic Region with variations ranging from 200 inches of rainfall annually in the rain forest to 18 inches in Port Townsend.
Low rainfall on the Eastern side of the County is caused by the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains.
Topography ranges from 0 to 7,965 feet above Puget Sound on the top of Mount Olympus,
the highest mountain in the Olympic Mountains. Because the Olympics were uplifted as a dome, rather than a ridge, the river systems radiate out in all directions from the center.
Jefferson
County is drained by 9 major rivers and 4 major creeks that flow west into the Pacific Ocean, north into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and east into Admiralty Inlet and Hood Canal.
Principal
rivers are: Hoh River, Clearwater River, Queets River, Elwah River, Dungeness River, Duckabush River, Doeswallips River, Big Quilcene River and Little Quilcene River.
The Principal
creeks are: Snow Creek, Salmon Creek, Eagle Creek, Chimacum Creek, Thorndyke Creek and Fulton Creek.
Lakes in Jefferson County are: Tibbals Lake, Kah-Tai Lagoon, Anderson Lake, Beausite
Lake, Gibbs Lake, Crocker Lake, Tarboo Lake and Leland Lake.
Wildlife habitats are generally classified as marine, estuarine, freshwater, and terrestrial categories. Many wildlife
species rely upon most or even all, of these habitat categories for survival. Jefferson County has all four categories of wildlife habitat.
Marine habitat: In Jefferson County, the
marine habitat zone encompasses County shoreline along the Pacific Ocean in the “West End”, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Discovery Bay, Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal and Dabob Bay.
Beach
and Offshore Habitat: Beaches in Jefferson County provide near shore habitats for forage fish including surf smelt, sand lance and Pacific Herring. The richest near shore habitats are
found in Discovery Bay, Admiralty Inlet and Hood Canal. In Jefferson County burrowing creatures make their homes on the sea floor and tidelands, these include native and introduced species
such as butter clams, cockles, horse clams, littleneck and manila clams. Commercial and/or harvested species include shrimp, Dungeness and Red Rock crab, oysters, and kelp. Geoduck tend
to be abundant around Discovery Bay, Hood Canal and Dabob Bay. The deeper waters and narrow channel of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet and Hood Canal produce a unique marine
environment rich in nutrients hosting a remarkable diversity of fish and animal life including octopus, Ling cod, and Wolf eels.
Wildlife Species: Portions of the county that overlook
the Pacific Ocean, Stait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal and Discovery and Dabob Bays provide habitat for the Bald Eagle and Osprey. Anadromous game fish have been identified
in the area include Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Dolly Varden, Eastern Brook Trout, Whitefish, and Largemouth Bass, perch, crappie and catfish. These species spawn and rear in medium
sized gravel beds with medium water flow along creeks, channels, streams, swamps and marshes. Chimacum Creek is a typical lowland-type stream that gradually meanders through a wide valley
habitat offering suitable spawning and rearing areas. Valuable habitat qualities in the undeveloped, large native vegetation tracks and around the remaining wetlands and riparian (streamside)
forests along river and creek valleys. The wooded areas support a wide variety of large and small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The most common mammals within the wooded areas
include chipmunks, rabbits, marmots, skunks, and raccoons. A small number of larger mammals including Black-tailed Deer, Roosevelt Elk and coyote occur at the edge of the plateaus where
large contiguous forested area remain. Species may forage in all of the zones, particularly during the winter months, but retreat for night and seasonal cover into the upland wooded
areas. Examples include a variety of game species such as pigeon, grouse, rabbit, deer, bear, bobcat and cougar.
Jefferson County Geological Features:
Jefferson County hosts an abundance
of geological features, two of which are especially evident: the Crescent Formation east of the Olympics; and, the glacial debris, the sand and gravel shoreward of the Olympics.
The
Crescent Formation, comprising ancient submarine and subaerial lava flows and associated sediments, is well exposed on the east slopes of the Olympics, around Port Ludlow, near the junction
of State Routes 19 and 104, and along U.S. Highway 101 to Brinnon and southward. This dark basalt is quarried for crushed rock and retaining walls.
Glacial debris covers the Crescent
in the lower land east and west of the mountains. Glacial deposits include till laid down by glaciers and stream deposits that preceded and followed an ice sheet’s visit.
Alpine glaciers
and continental ice sheets have shaped the county’s surface. Ice sheets advanced from coastal and interior mountains of British Columbia numerous times during the last million years.
Alpine glaciers developed during those cold times and carved the county’s interior and valleys of the Olympic Mountains. The ice sheets sculpted the east-side land below 3,500± feet
elevation and the subsurface floor of Hood Canal and Puget Sound. The hills on either side of Chimacum and Center valleys were sculpted by the ice into north-south rounded drumlins
or superflutes. The valleys themselves were pathways for meltwater draining from the most recent ice. The area around Ludlow Bay also contains outwash channel(s) systems.
Between Quilcene
and Discovery Bay is the Leland Creek Spillway, the drainage outlet for glacial Lake Bretz formed during the recession and stagnation of the ice sheet prior to the opening of Admiralty
Inlet to marine waters at Port Townsend after 13,000 years ago.
While on the west side of Jefferson County, alpine glacial till of various ages predominate in the coastal area from
sea level to around 750-1,000 feet; then the marine sedimentary rock composing the Olympic Mountains dominate the area above 1,000 feet between the Queets and Quillayute Rivers. The
most recent ice sheet barely touched west Jefferson County. It terminated seven miles north, just above Forks in the neighborhood of US101 and La Push Road, along the Calawah River
- which is part of the Quillayute River complex in Clallam County.
Population Predictions and Demographics: Jefferson County has experienced steady population growth, a trend that
is projected to continue through 2035 when the population is anticipated to reach 29,872. The total projected growth (2025-2035) for the County, including the City of Port Townsend
is 7,445. The County is predominantly (91.37%) Caucasian. The median resident age is 53-years as compared to the state-wide median age of 37-years. Over the
last decade, aspects of growth have included an increased percentage of older adults. In Jefferson County, 30.5% of the population is 65 years and older as compared to 13.6% in Washington
State.
The median household income from 2008-2012 for Jefferson County was $46,870. This is lower than in the whole of Washington State which is $59,374. There are 13.7% of Jefferson
County residents that live below the poverty line compared to statewide (12.9%). This reflects a population, (including children), with acute need for County services. According to
the statistical findings, the population within Jefferson County had socioeconomic characteristics that were significantly different than the averages typical of the state. The statistics
indicate residents of Jefferson County are likely to be older and living in childless households with recreational interests that coincide with these characteristics.
Table 1.1
Base
Population 2012
Projected Population 2015
Projected Population 2025
Projected Population 2035
Projected Growth in Population 2015-2035
29,872
30,468
33,678
37,914
7,445
Integration
with Other Documents:
This Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan provides a 20-year vision for the providing parks and recreation in Jefferson County. This Plan is an update of the 2002
adopted plan.
The Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan discusses parks, recreation and open space issues in Section 6. Planning documents and studies that influence park and recreation
facilities and services within the County were reviewed for policies, guidelines and information relevant to the Park, Recreation and Open Space Comprehensive Plan. Those are:
Jefferson
County Comprehensive Plan revised by ORD #02-1104-13 and the current 2014 working draft changes in progress.
US Census 2012 & Washington Office of Fiscal Management Population and Demographic
Data.
Jefferson County Non-Motorized Transportation & Recreation Trails Plan-2010