I have lived in Kitsap County for 30 years, and I believe Jon Rose might be one of the smartest and most interesting people I have ever met. A large man with a big voice, he has an IQ off the charts, lives on a boat, plays the piano in a band and seems like is the unofficial mayor of Port Gamble — all while placing over 40,000 acres of company-owned land into permanent conservation in Kitsap, Mason, Jefferson and Skamania counties.
Rose came to our community to work for the timber company Pope Resources, which owned Port Gamble, the old Port Gamble mill and thousands of acres of timberland in our community. He has degrees in both liberal arts and civil engineering, which makes perfect sense given his community development work and his love of land conservation.
Jon Rose is a leader who is willing to take a stand on issues he believes in, a rare quality in these times. One of his early projects was a development in Gig Harbor called Harbor Hill, a 330-acre development of 500 homes and 500 multifamily apartments. When the project was completed, it included a brand-new YMCA, four city parks, a new elementary school, a new church and a retail village, all connected by miles of walking trails. Through a master plan, Rose created a new community; a quality place to live, work and shop, with access to recreation and exercise opportunities. He proved again that he is more than a developer — he’s a community builder.
I believe Jon Rose’s legacy will be the vision he had in 2006 for a 5,000-acre land and trail system he called The String of Pearls, a trail and open space system on property owned by Pope Resources. The crown jewel of the vision is the Port Gamble Heritage Forest. Today, this property is owned by Kitsap County and includes 3,500 acres, 65 miles of trails, a mountain bike ride park and 1.5 miles of shoreline.
This vision became a reality when Rose called a community meeting in June 2007, and 550 people showed up to listen to his vision of how the community could come together to develop a plan that would preserve most of this land for public use. The people were excited and developed a planning group that included the tribes, Forterra, the Great Peninsula Conservancy, Kitsap Economic Development Alliance and other interested groups to advocate for the property. The land was sold in phases, and the last piece of 460 acres was secured in 2024, 17 years after the first meeting where Rose shared the vision of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Jon Rose is far from done; he is working on new projects. The latest is called North Kitsap United, a 400-acre development where he is collaborating with the YMCA and Kingston North Kitsap Rotary. The project calls for housing, a new YMCA and a badly needed sports complex while conserving around 200 acres.
If the truth were known, Rose’s true love is the town of Port Gamble. It’s one of his life’s passions. After working for the past 20 years on the cleanup of the old mill site, he is ready to move forward with his plan to improve the community by adding more housing, a new hotel, restaurants, an organic farm, a marine science campus and trails, all while preserving the heritage of this great old town first developed in the 1850s.
Rose is a unique human being whom I admire, but most of all, he is someone who will leave our community better than he found it.
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