PYSHT — State Highway 112 will be closed for one week near Pysht beginning Sept. 8 as crews replace the Joe Creek culvert, state Department of Transportation officials announced.
The West End highway will be closed to all traffic, including emergency vehicles, beginning at 8 p.m. on Thursday of next week.
The road is scheduled to reopen at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15.
Drivers will use Highway 113 and U.S. Highway 101 as a detour during the closure. Local access will be maintained to about 100 feet on both sides of Joe Creek, officials said.
Before and after the closure at Milepost 33, drivers might encounter single-lane, alternating traffic during the day.
The total closure will allow crews to dig out an outdated, undersized culvert that poses as a barrier to fish, DOT officials said.
“We’re installing a significantly larger culvert,” DOT spokeswoman Claudia Bingham Baker said Tuesday.
The new culvert will be large enough for Joe Creek to meander under the highway “as if the culvert wasn’t there at all,” Bingham Baker added.
The timing of the project fits into an environmentally permitted fish window to minimize the impacts on fish, officials said.
Flags at half-staff
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Flags are being flown at half-staff at Olympic National Park facilities because of the death of a National Park Service employee.
Berlin “Forest” Howard III, a maintenance employee at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park in Middlesboro, Ky., was killed Aug. 22 while conducting mowing operations at the park when he was hit by a van driven by park visitors.
The regional director ordered Thursday that flags were to be flown at half-staff in the Pacific West Region until the day of Howard’s interment, which has not yet been determined.
Mourning bands for uniformed employees and black ribbons for non-uniformed employees have been authorized to be worn for the same duration.
Little Miss Pearl
BRINNON — Registration for the sixth annual Little Miss Pearl Pageant will be accepted through Sunday.
The pageant, scheduled from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Brinnon Community Center, will be limited to 10 East Jefferson County girls.
Contestants must be between the ages of 2 and 12.
The pageant will include the Peek-A-Boo Rose Ceremony, cotton candy, homemade treats and gifts for the contestants.
Little Miss Pearl Princesses will participate in the Quilcene Fair Parade on Sept. 17.
To enter, email [email protected] with name, age, address and phone number.
Trail run
PORT TOWNSEND — The Fort Townsend 4-Mile Trail Run/Walk will take place at Fort Townsend State Park starting at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Registration will be from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. the day of the run at the park at 1370 Old Fort Townsend Road.
The cost is $15 for 17 and older, $10 for 16 and younger. A Discover Pass is required to park at the event.
Participants can run or walk the course, which will have a water station mid-run.
Organizers ask that participants refrain from bringing dogs or strollers.
For more information, contact Nancy Steinberg at [email protected] or 360-385-2998.
Gun rendezvous
SEQUIM — The Green River Mountain Men Rendezvous will take place at the Peninsula Long Rifles, on Slab Camp Road just off Lost Mountain Road, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Admission is free for those who want to look around; there’s a $20 shooter’s fee for ages 13 and older.
The re-enactment of the annual fur trappers’ gatherings in the early 1800s features historic-style campsites, traders and period-dressed re-enactors with hands-on opportunities.
Activities include black-powder shoots, primitive archery, seminars on a wide variety of fur trade skills and lore, music, children’s activities and the traders’ row.
The Green River Mountain Men is a nonprofit organization of men and women dedicated to educating the community about the pre-1840s fur trade era.
For more information, contact Matt Berntson at 425-235-7254 or [email protected], or visit www.facebook.com/GreenRiver-Mountain-Men-135649533164504.
Salmon coalition meeting
CHIMACUM — The North Olympic Salmon Coalition will offer project updates at its annual meeting Sept. 7.
The meeting, to which the public is invited, will be from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Finnriver Orchard and Cider Garden at 124 Center Road.
The evening is an opportunity for both coalition members and those interested in becoming members to hear financial climate and project updates while learning more about salmon habitat restoration, community education and stewardship opportunities.
The meeting will feature a presentation by the Salmon Restoration Field Crew, the local debut of an education program video and pies.
Salmon coalition members have worked to restore Chimacum Creek and Discovery Bay; taken Fin, a 25-foot representation of a chum salmon, to schools and festivals; planted trees; and beach-seined for juvenile salmon.
The coalition is a nonprofit founded in 1990.
To RSVP, call 360-379-8051.
More details are at www.nosc.org.
