May 7, 2016

The monthly public program of the Whidbey Audubon Society at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 12  features Park Manager Jack Hartt who will describe how Deception Pass State Park captures visitors’ hearts, minds, and spirits with its beauty, power, and majestic and diverse resources.

Since the turn of the last century, it has been transformed from rugged federal land donated to the State to one of the most-visited state parks in Washington. With a diversity of habitats — from sand dunes to old growth forests-from freshwater lakes to beaches on the Salish Sea — an abundance of wildlife arises including 174 species of birds. Hartt, we will explore some of the natural and cultural history of the park, how it came to be and the challenges it faces in the future.

Hartt has been the park manager at Deception Pass State Park for the past twelve years, where he manages six square miles of our neighborhood and almost twenty miles of Puget Sound shoreline, including eight or ten islands. He has coauthored a book (with Sam Wotipka), Two Hands and a Shovel, that portrays the role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the creation of Deception Pass State Park.

The event is Thursday, May 12 at the Coupeville Recreation Hall at 901 NW Coveland St. Doors open at 7 p.m. for socializing, followed by a brief meeting to announce this year’s high school scholarship winners and election of officers to the board. The program is free, open to the public and begins at 7:30 p.m.