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Montage of Wing Point in Bainbridge Island and the Edmonds Ferry.

Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

Issues

Japanese American memorial

$100,000 For Study of Eagledale Ferry Dock Site on Bainbridge Island

30 March 2004

Today, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01), and U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray announced $100,000 in funding from the National Park Service (NPS) to continue a study of the Eagledale Ferry Dock Site on Bainbridge Island for a Japanese American memorial. In December 2003, Inslee, Cantwell, Murray and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott sent a letter to the NPS in support of an allocation of $100,000. The Director of the NPS approved these funds earlier this week.

Today’s announcement coincides with the anniversary of the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942. Sixty-two years ago, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, Japanese Americans were ordered to board the ferry Kehloken at the Eagledale Ferry Dock Site. From there, they were transported to temporary assembly centers and later to internment camps in California and Idaho.

Said Inslee, "I am very pleased that the National Park Service recognizes the Japanese American Memorial Study as a national priority. This federal funding is one more step towards our goal of creating a national monument to honor those who suffered during that time in our nation's history. This commitment by the Park Service today affirms that this goal will soon be realized."

Today’s funding would help the NPS complete a special resources study of the Eagledale Ferry Dock Site. In 2003, the NPS allocated the first increment of funds for the study. Today’s funds will be used to work with the local communities to develop alternatives and recommendations on future uses of the site and to conduct public meetings. Congress authorized the National Park Service to conduct the study in 2002. The study is expected to cost approximately $200,000 and will likely be completed next year.

"There is no better way to mark the anniversary of this historic event. I will fight to continue this effort to preserve the Eagledale Ferry Dock site in partnership with the local community," said Cantwell.

"Our national parks protect areas of unique value in America. I'm proud these continued funds will help Washingtonians recognize and protect the Eagledale Ferry Dock - a part of our history that we must not forget," said Murray.

The study is being conducted in partnership with the members of the local community, the City of Bainbridge Island, the Bainbridge Island Park and Recreation District, the WWII Nikkei Internment and Exclusion Memorial, Kitsap County and the State of Washington. The study would complement land conservation efforts by the Bainbridge Island Land Trust and the Trust for Public Land to establish a memorial on the site and to protect adjacent lands as a public park.

The study follows the successful effort by the Washington State delegation to secure funding in the Fiscal Year 2004 appropriations bill to acquire the lands on the site for a memorial and a park.