- Oak Patch Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This 17 acre site preserves an Oregon white oak woodland and an Oregon white oak-Douglas-fir mosaic which is extremely unusual on the Kitsap Peninsula, and represents a vanishing woodland community in the Puget Trough. Spring wildflowers such as fawn lilies, chocolate lilies and camas lilies thrive on this site, along with populations of the Puget fritillary and Shelton pine elfin butterflies, and the western toad.
- Beehive Cluster (Wikipedia)
The Beehive Cluster (also known as Praesepe (Latin for “manger”, “cot” or “crib”), M44, NGC 2632, or Cr 189), is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. One of the nearest open clusters to Earth, it contains a larger population of stars than other nearby bright open clusters holding around 1,000 stars. Under dark skies, the Beehive Cluster looks like a small nebulous object to the naked eye, and has been known since ancient times. Classical astronomer Ptolemy described it as a “nebulous mass in the breast of Cancer”. It was among the first objects that Galileo studied with his telescope.
