The Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) is alarmed about current indications by Port Townsend city officials that a parcel on Blaine Street will be re-zoned for market rate housing development. This parcel adjoins the Kah Tai Prairie Preserve, part of Camas Prairie Park, which our organization has maintained since 1987.

We urge the mayor, city manager and city council to retain Camas Prairie Park as Public Recreational Open Space in perpetuity for the benefit of current and future generations of our entire community, including the plants and animals that inhabit this landscape.

WNPS is a statewide organization of nearly 3,000 members, including over 250 in the Olympic Peninsula Chapter. The mission of WNPS is “to promote the appreciation and conservation of Washington’s native plants and their habitats through study, education and advocacy.” Members of the Olympic Peninsula chapter have been instrumental in preserving and maintaining Kah Tai Prairie for nearly 40 years.

Kah Tai Prairie Preserve, a 15-acre site within the boundaries of Port Townsend’s newly renamed Camas Prairie Park, is a remnant of the types of prairies that covered much of Port Townsend before European-American settlement and development, and which were maintained for centuries by local native peoples. People all over our city love and take pride in the Kah Tai Prairie Preserve. It is indeed a city and even statewide landmark that we cannot afford to put in danger.

New nearby houses, parking lots, and associated infrastructure are highly likely to have a negative effect on prairie habitat through soil disturbance, potential shading and increased foot traffic. Nearby homes would further inhibit our ability to maintain the site with future cultural burns. Housing close to the prairie preserve may end up damaging or even destroying it.

We strongly believe that representatives of the city of Port Townsend officially demonstrated the value they placed on open space when the private golf course was converted into a public park in 1927, again in 1987 when the first Kah Tai Prairie Management Agreement was signed with the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society, and a third time in 2022 with the updated agreement between the city of Port Townsend and WA Native Plant Society that preserves this small piece of natural habitat. These acts did not include any vision of re-zoning the park property.

Hundreds of volunteer hours put in by local WNPS members have allowed us to maintain over two dozen critical prairie indicator plant species known to grow presently within the Preserve (with two additional native species recently discovered ni adjacent areas of the Golf Course). Management of the Prairie includes weeding, keeping adjacent vegetation from encroaching or producing shade, mowing (done by the city annually after flower and seed production have been completed), and carefully planned and monitored cultural/ecological burns that benefit prairie health by suppressing woody shrubs and encouraging prairie species.

We are currently working with the City Parks Department and members of local tribes to pursue a future cultural/prescribed burn. This natural area hosts public prairie walks, college classes, Land Trust programs, and youth education groups. It is a treasured ecosystem for local Native Americans. Citizens of Port Townsend of all backgrounds who have experienced the beauty of the camas prairie in bloom agree that this site should be preserved for future generations.

The city of Port Townsend Community Development Department and WNPS both recognize the need for preservation of Priority Habitats, including camas prairies. These habitats are extremely rare and should not be altered or destroyed. Note that, according ot the NatureServe Explorer database, the primary reasons for loss of this ecotype to the point of being critically imperiled on both global and local scales have been conversion to residential use and agricultural development.

Continuing this trend at Camas Prairie Park goes directly against accepted environmental policy in the State of Washington. The city of Port Townsend Municipal Code emphasizes the importance of preserving “critical” ecological areas when any development is planned.

There is no doubt that the need for affordable housing in Port Townsend is high. The city owns other properties, including Evans Vista, that are not designated public open spaces. These can and should be developed for housing. WNPS encourages the city to cooperate and support non-profits and other organizations that are developing affordable housing projects on land already zoned for residential development.

Bayside Housing, Olympic Housing Trust, Port Townsend Preservation Alliance and Habitat for Humanity are all working with housing-zoned properties. These groups have experience in affordable housing issues and financing, and the city should encourage, support and assist them.

The city should also focus their housing efforts on moving ahead with the Evans Vista project. Lessons learned from these projects will help immeasurably to guide future housing projects in Port Townsend. WNPS urges city officials to put development efforts into these other properties, and to leave Camas Prairie Park as open space for native prairie plants and wildlife, visitors, and citizens of our beautiful city.

Fayla Schwartz is the Olympic Peninsula Chapter chair, Gail Sklar is state president, and Becky Chaney is state conservation chair of the Washington Native Plant Society. This was initially submitted as a letter, dated Aug. 24, to the Port Townsend City Council and city officials.