Barker Creek

Two years ago, Kitsap County pulled out the old bulkhead at Anna Smith Park on Dyes Inlet (October 2012). This year, a bulkhead was pulled out on private property a short distance away and it's already hard to imagine that there was a structure here at all.

Yes, erosion will occur - as matter of fact, that is part of the point. But erosion is awfully slow and poses no risk to the upland development - and will not for many, many decades (longer than that, actually). There is still a way for residents to get to their beach and there is actually more beach for them to get to. The slope has been planted and will quickly blend in with natural shorelines in the vicinity.

It's amazing to see the progress being made by local groups in pulling out unneeded structures and in restoring beaches and shorelines. These will be the core of a growing menu of examples that help convince a lot of reluctant property owners that a natural shoreline can also be a desirable one. It's not the answer everywhere, but Puget Sound is an enormous place (2500 miles of shoreline) and there is plenty of room for both urban development and natural shorelines. But it would be nice if we could maintain or restore more of the natural in these rural and suburban areas.

The spit at the mouth of Barker Creek