Botanist Arthur Lee Jacobson will conduct a tour of historic, champion and unique trees at 1 p.m. on May 24.

The tour group will meet outside the Historic Museum on Ericksen. Call 842-1157 for reservations.

The event, sponsored by the city’s Community Forestry Commission, is designed to increase islanders’ arboreal awareness.

“There are a lot of historic trees on the island,” said island plant pathologist Olaf Ribiero, who is organizing the event. “With all the new development going on, it’s important for people to know which trees need to be saved. As it stands now, there are no provisions to protect them.”

The tour will include 17 stops to look at some 25 trees, Ribeiro said. He plans to offer tours as long as community interest continues, but isn’t sure yet how future events might pan out.

“There will probably be a few kinks to work out,” he said. “But I’d like to keep doing this in the future.”

The tour, along with the Heritage Tree Program, started earlier this year, are part of an effort to bring attention to the island’s historic trees.

City planner Marja Preston, who is helping with the event, said three trees have been nominated for the Heritage Tree Program so far.

Selected trees will receive a plaque from the city explaining their significance.

Preston said the city has spoken to property owners about viewing the trees on the tour, but that none of those trees have yet been nominated.

“Trees are an important component of the community,” she said. “Hopefully this will help raise people’s awareness.”

– Chad Schuster

Inslee works logging issue

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee led opposition on the House floor Wednesday against a measure that would expedite the return of logging on public lands after forest fires.

The Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act, which passed the House Wednesday, would speed up the approval process for the removal of timber after fires and other “forest catastrophes.” Proponents successfully argued that the measure would help boost the economy while improving the long-term recovery of affected lands.

But Inslee and other critics, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Wildlife Fund, contend that the act would slow forest recovery, circumvent environmental reviews and allow the construction of roads in designated roadless areas without public comment.

“Here we go again,” the Bainbridge Island resident said in a speech on the House floor Wednesday afternoon. “First we had a clean-skies bill that allowed more pollution, then we saw a deficit-reduction bill that increased our national debt.

“Now we have a forest-recovery bill that assures we’ll use less science and less common sense by the American people to make decisions on where and how to do forest-recovery plans.”

The Republican-controlled House passed the measure by a margin of 243 to 182.

Inslee also unsuccessfully proposed an amendment aimed at excluding designated roadless areas from the public land eligible for expedited review. His amendment was rejected by a vote of 191 to 231.

– Tristan Baurick

Food drive stocks shelves

Kitsap letter carriers and post offices estimate they collected over 150,000 pounds of non-perishable food items that will be distributed to local food banks.

About 17,600 pounds of goods were collected on Bainbridge Island during the Letter Carriers Food Drive last Saturday. Items collected included non-perishable food, baby food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and pet food.

The campaign is held at a time of year when shelves at many food banks are nearly bare and just before the end of the school year.

“We are very proud to be a partner in this food drive,” said Anna Williams, National Association of Letter Carriers union vice president. “I applaud the effort of our city and rural carriers and countless volunteers, as well as the tremendous generosity of the residents in Kitsap County. The items we collected will make a significant impact in the lives of many.”

The drive is sponsored locally by the National Association of Letter Carriers with the support of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, United Way of Kitsap County and Bainbridge Island-based Kitsap Newspaper Group/Sound Publishing, publishers of the Bainbridge Island Review.

Growth group looks at ‘burbs

The city Growth Advisory Committee will discuss the future of the island’s “Neighborhood Service Centers” on Monday.

The committee has slated 85 minutes to explore the capacity and effective uses of areas such as Rolling Bay, Lynwood Center and Island Center. Identifying possible alternative Neighborhood Service Centers will also be discussed.

The city plans to direct 5 percent of expected population growth over the next 20 years into neighborhood centers.

Lynwood Center is already experiencing substantial growth with the new 80-home Blossom Hill development.

The Growth Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

– Tristan Baurick