Connector trail could link Newberry Hill Heritage Park, Green Mountain State Forest

Jeff Graham
Kitsap Sun

Newberry Hill Heritage Park stewardship committee president Tom Coleman cracked a joke about bake sale fundraising Wednesday while addressing the Kitsap County Parks Advisory Board. 

Coleman is hopeful he cooked up a winning presentation that could lead to an important Kitsap County trail expansion in future years. 

The parks advisory board approved a recommendation to further explore the creation of a connector trail linking Newberry Hill Heritage Park and Green Mountain State Forest. Parks director Jim Dunwiddie plans to brief county commissioners on the trail Nov. 16, while Coleman will reach out to Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials to figure out the next steps.

Coleman said discussions over this multi-use, soft-surface trail — dubbed Blue Hills Parkway — first began in 2010. He's eager to see it progress from an idea to a reality.

"We need to figure out how to progress from here," Coleman said.

The creation of a connector trail could link Newberry Hill Heritage Park with Green Mountain State Forest.

The county-owned Newberry Hill Heritage Park in Central Kitsap, located just west of Klahowya Secondary School, encompasses 1,200 acres and features 15 miles of trails for non-motorized users. Volunteer stewards help fund, build and maintain the park. The 6,000-acre Green Mountain State Forest, managed by DNR, contains 16 miles of trail and attracts 150,000 visitors annually.

Coleman noted during his presentation that connecting the two territories would strengthen Kitsap's already impressive trail system and could be the type of attraction that draws users from around the state.

“There aren’t that many venues in which you can ride a mountain bike or a horse or hike or run those distances that are within five minutes of a urban area," Coleman said. "I think it’s going to be a regional draw.”

The connector trail would run from a proposed parking lot on the west edge of Newberry Hill Heritage Park, along Seabeck Highway, and travel east and then south before crossing the highway. The two-mile trail would veer southwest before connecting with Green Mountain State Park at NW Wildcat Lake Road. 

Coleman said there's not a ton of new trail needed to complete the connector. Other than the addition of one or two crosswalks, the major undertaking will be constructing a bridge on the south end of the trail that would provide passage over an unnamed, salmon-bearing stream that feeds into Wildcat Creek.

Coleman estimated the bridge price tag at $150,000, but he believes some of the construction could be covered by donated labor.