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Page A—1 4 — Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022
Shelton Yacht Club members
Rita Forster, left, and Linda
Shrum transplant purple-
bearded iris bulbs along the
berm between the Yacht Club
and state Route in Shelton.
Journal photo by Mark.Woytow/ch
my I I .
\. r. .1 w» a |
Looking for signs of spring '— an a park’s Ication
County most of your life,
and most of your life con-
stitutes 60 or 70 years, then
get ready to hear the follow-
ing statement and have it
clash with what you know to,
be true. .
“Live music, dancing, out- '
door dining with fresh local
seafood buffet at the Shelton
Waterfront Bistro next to
Shelton’s beautiful Water-
front Park.” V ,
Really? Beautiful park
waterfront outdoor music
and dining Shelton?
.OK, it will be a while. But
in less than 10 years, I pre-
dict the term “walkable wa-
terfront” will whoosh from
the lips of many of you, words
you will apply most wonder-
fully to Shelton.
In the future, announce-
ments for waterfront gather-
ings will appear regularly in
, the'newspaper. Colorful fiyers
will crowd .shop windows up
and down West Railroad Ave-
nue, promoting gala events at
the new waterfront park and
nearby marina.
Mason Transit will coor-
dinate with larger events,
bringing visitors directly to
and from the waterfront by
means of their conveniently
located park and ride. Many
other visitors will come by
boat, from Olympia, Grape-
view and Gig Harbor.
What’s out,
What's not
We’ll get back to the un—
' folding future of Shelton’s
waterfront, but first let’s
look around at what’s going
on, nature-wise, in different
parts of Mason County.
Great news! The swans
are batik and resting up
at the confluence between
Purdy Creek and the South
Fork Skokomish-River. Last
If you’ve lived in Mason
MARK WOOWICH
, on
THE so
year we saw two. This year
we counted five white swans.
The two nearest ones had
black beaks and eye mark-
ings, making them trumpeter
swans, I believe.
To discreetly view them,
turn onto Purdy Cutoff Road‘
from US. Highway 101, and
look for the first few open vis-
' tas to your left. You should
get a glimpse of moving wa—
ter and also a sense of where
you can park along the shoul-
der. The sWans are out there,
trolling on the currents or
eating with their big, white '
rear ends pointing Skyward.
I sighted them Saturday.
They might be gone by now.
What’s not out now:
nettles.
What is available —— and
in great quantity is sal-
vage wood from all the
downed trees due to snow
and ice going back to Christ-
mas. Cottonwoods, in par-
ticular, do not handle heavy
loads of snow on their limbs.
While I collect cottonwood
debris for my outdoor fires, I
do not recommend it for in-
door stoves or fireplaces. It
gives off a sharp odor when"
burning.
What’s not out now: cot-
tonwood buds. When fused
with olive oil and beeswax,
sticky buds make handsome-
smelling, healing balms.
Also not Out now: Oakland
Bay County Park, which is
gated and posted “Closed for
the season.”
Oakland Bay County Park
is one of Mason County’s fin-
est. But you cannot even tell
Where it is. No signs indicate
the entrance on East Agate
Road across from East Julian
-‘ Road (just before the storage
complex on the right, travel-
ing about a mile and a half
up the hill from state Route
3).
Imagine all the families
with children who live in
Timberlakes and have no
idea of the'cool, wild berry-
laden park with fun trails,
tideland access, picnic
grounds, as well as a historic
1890 pioneer home barely a
half-mile from where many of
their kids go to school?
A visible Street signwould
help. —
An even
better sign
In the realms of good
omens for and beyond,
I find the sight of healthy
adults swinging shovels, hoes
and rakes as a most positive
indicator of changes coming
about. ‘
l A large group of adults
caught my attention as I
was rounding into Shelton
on Route 3, passing the final
curve after going under Man-
ke’s gravel chute. Along the
white stone berm between
- the Shelton Yacht Club and
the highway, men and wom-
en were turning earth, weed-
ing and transplanting dozens
of purple irises in the fresh,
dark soil.
. Two small tractors with
front-loaders Were going back
and forth, dropping loads
of fresh stone on the Yacht
Club parking lot, backing
up and smoothing it down
with the edges of their front
shovels.
Clearly this was a Sat-
urday work party if there
ever was one. I pulled over,
parked, and jumped out of
my car, camera and notepad
in hand.
Members of the Shel-
ton Yacht Club were doing
a beauty makeover of just
about everything in sight. I
counted more than a dozen
people and just about all of
them had a shovel or rake in
their hand — or, if not, they
were busy driving a tractor
or front-loader.
V Thinking big,
Once I started asking ques-
tions, I began hearing names
of people and organizations I
recognized. A woman with an
iris bulb in one hand and a
trowel in the other introduced
herself as Linda Shrum.
“Linda Shrum?” I said.
“That sounds familiar.”
That name had been in my
ear two weeks earlier, at the
end of phone message Shrum
had left for my wife, Linda,
regarding a presentation
Shrum was making on behalf
of the Yacht Club to the Ma-
son Cqunty League of Women
. Voters.
I soon get a few more
pieces of the puzzle from _
Shelton Yacht Club Com-
modore Jim Ross, Rear Com-
modore Terry Mehl and Vice
Commodore Al Schnittker.
But the most “accommo-
doring” of all yacht‘club mem-
bers turns out to'be George
Daly, who invites me inside'
the clubhouse to view an art-
ist’s rendering of a futuristic
Shelton shoreline, now pos-
sible since the yacht club
bought out its former land-
lord, the Port of Shelton, in
2019. r ' .
“A top priority is bringing
back a biodiverse estuary for
Shelton Creek,” Daly says,
pointing to a shady green
beach that fans out where
only recently there was py-
lons, creosote and decay.
In essence, the Shelton
Yacht Club is now (in a most
un-yacht-like fashion) the pri-
mary steward responsible for
a heck of a lot ,of downtown, ,,
Shelton waterfront. ‘ ’ ‘
What I sense about them is
they’re willing to risk failure
in laying out a magnificent
ecological vision.
Not that they’re doing it
on their own — for the fact is,
they’ll need critical partner-
ships with groups like Bel-
fair’s Salmon Enhancement
Center, the Squaxin Island
Tribe, and the Mason Conser-
vation District if the Shelton
waterfront is to ever look
anything like it does in that
rendering. r
You’ve seen what a beau-
tiful estuary looks like:
aerial video of creeks orriv-
ers fanning out, clear chan-
nels'snaking among healthy
vegetation.
The Shelton Creek future
looks very much like John’s
Creek does right now, just
around the watery bend at
Bayshore Preserve.
I encourage you to go on
Google Maps and look at the
transformation of Oakland
Bay.
Who knows, look closely
and you might someday see
a visible street sign for a cer-
tain Mason County park at
the end of the bay.
I Mark Woytowich'is a
writer, photographer, vid-
eo producer and author of
“Where Waterfalls and Wild
Things Are.” He lives in ‘Pot-
latch with his wife, Linda.
His “0n the Go” column ap‘?
pears every other week in the .
' Shelton-Mason County
Journal. Reach him at his
' website, www.wherewaterfall-
sare.com, or by email at
eyefive@hctc.c0m.