Board Highlight
The Keta Legacy Foundation, also known as Mountaineers Foundation, has operated for 50 years with an all-volunteer Board of Directors. These wonderful people put the Foundation’s mission into action. They are helping realize our vision of people connecting with and protecting healthy ecosystems.
Katha Miller-Winder
- Has served on the Board for 8 years
- Is passionate about environmental education
- Has a long history of building successful educational programs
- Regularly volunteers at the Rhododendron Preserve
- Has taught Kindergarten to Eighth Grade for 14 years and has a wide range of experience
The Foundation has a vision of connecting people to healthy ecosystems and that connection is something I feel in my bones. I have a deep and abiding love of nature that is rooted as deep as any tree. Inspiring others to feel that same connection is what I love doing.”
-Katha Miller-Winder
Katha adds that she loves having a troop of Girl Scouts planting trees to restore buffer parcels on the Preserve, and having Naval Junior Officer Training Corp (NJROTC) kids removing massive patches of scotch broom and cleaning up trash to aid the trees in restoring a healthy environment. She adores seeing Environmental Studies students doing hands on learning on the Rhododendron Preserve. And it makes her incredibly happy to watch students on a field trip light up as they head out onto the Preserve.
“That’s why I’m the Chair of the Education Committee for the Foundation”, Katha states. “I want to help everyone connect to a healthy environment and inspire them to understand the power of trees to combat climate change and to encourage others to make choices that supports environmental health.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
A BIG thanks to SKHS’s Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC), and Olympic College students for their hard work at the Rhododendron Preserve during MLK Jr. Day of service. The group removed Scotch broom from a recently adopted area of the Preserve. Board members Katha Miller-Winder and Amy Lawrence led the group.
Rhododendron Preserve Update
This winter the Kitsap Peninsula experienced heavy snow. Kitsap’s Snowmageddon brought close to 2 feet of the white stuff to the Rhododendron Preserve. We got another dusting in the first week of March so there’s plenty still on the ground.
It’s unusual to have so much snow this time of year. Shifts in the weather effect stream conditions. Baby salmon are especially vulnerable to those subtle shifts. Times like this, we think about the baby salmon in Chico Creek and hope the babies are finding shelter from the storm.
The heavy snow caused several trees to fall in the Preserve. The Hidden Valley area of the Preserve is closed to the public due to unsafe conditions. As always, be cautious of falling branches and trees when visiting the Rhododendron Preserve and the Big Tree trail.
The trail to Big Tree is open thanks to our good friend, Travis Forman. He cleared the trail of fallen trees and made a bench out of the wood. The new rest stop is near the Wanda Butler bench. Thank you, Travis, for making a place to rest at the end of Big Tree trail.
