Public Need for a “Natural Place”
Obvious location for public access to Chimacum Creek corridor
Shoreline Parks in Jefferson County are used to capacity in summer, primarily by out-of-area users
Community is being considered for UGA designation - increasing growth
Incorporation effort underway
Notes:
This section discusses the quality of “fit” of the project to the needs explained previously.
The Quimper Peninsula is blessed with many miles of public beach, and no less than 3 state parks that provide shoreline access. However, these facilities are often overwhelmed with out of area visitors. Fort Worden State Park alone handles approximately 2 million visitors per year, most of them from out-of the area. As a result, acquisition of additional recreational property in this area benefits users from the entire state.
In this region it is difficult to find a site of this quality, in public or in private ownership. The majority of creek mouths and estuaries are crossed by highways, and the majority of beaches are bordered by residential development. The few public public beaches (outside the state parks) are degraded by adjacent commercial or industrial development.
Access to relatively pristine natural aspects of this site juxtaposed to the rapidly urbanizing development in extremely close proximity make this acquisition an unusually timely and unique opportunity.