The Lessons of Hattie’s Way: Why We Must Protect the Illahee Creek Watershed
Growing up in West Bremerton, the most common phrase heard in our house wasn't about dinner or school. It was: “We’re going to the horses.” It happened daily, often twice a day. Horses don’t care if there is a deluge of Pacific Northwest rain or if snow has buried the roads, they have to eat, and we had to get there to feed them. For me and my sisters, “going to the horses” meant a trek to the East side, to a magical stretch of land owned by a woman who would change the course of our lives: Hattie Engstrom.
A Shared Sanctuary
My mother met Hattie when she was just a teenager looking for a place to board her horse, Diablo. By the time my sisters and I came along, the Rainwood property had become our second home. It was where I met my best friends: horses named Comanchee, Camelot War Chief, Rainwood Horizon, Amber, and Lucky. While we tended the animals, Hattie and her brother, Elmer Elliott, were the quiet guardians of the landscape. Elmer lived just across the pond, and together, the two of them formed a perimeter of protection over the acreage. They ensured the pond and the woods remained the pristine sanctuary we were so lucky to share.
The Architect of Rainwood: Hattie’s Way
A widow who presided over this vast tract of land, Hattie was a force of nature. She was a conservationist long before the word was popular, believing that every leaf and drop of water mattered. She taught us that we could do anything. My mom still recounts seeing Hattie, well into her 80s, climbing onto her roof to clean it off herself. When asked why, she’d simply shrug: “It has to be done, so just do it.” That iron-willed grit was balanced by a deep, creative kindness. On spring and summer days, we would find her on her front porch, a space framed by climbing wisteria and towering rhododendrons. Her constant companion, a little American Eskimo dog named Eskie, was always by her side. Hattie’s "best friends" were the squirrels, deer, raccoons, and foxes that lived on the property. Between chores, she would paint these forest creatures on rocks or capture the landscape on canvas. In the kitchen, that same creativity turned into care. Every holiday, Hattie would bake her famous haystack cookies and tuck them away in the grain barrel for us. A sweet, silent message that she was looking out for us while we worked. That was “Hattie’s Way.”
A Refuge in the Storm
On the coldest winter nights, the work was grueling. We filled giant jugs with hot water at home and lugged them across the frozen property to the wells, pouring the steaming water down the hand pumps just to prime them so the horses could drink. Once our hands were numb, Hattie’s house was our refuge. I’d retreat to her kitchen and sit on a small stool with a pink crocheted top, thawing out by the wood stove with my sisters while Hattie and my mom chatted about life. In those moments, we were just kids finding warmth after a long day’s work. We didn't realize that the frozen pond where we caught frogs in the summer, or the steep slopes we trekked in the winter, made up one of the most vital ecosystems in Kitsap County. We were simply living out the philosophy Hattie modeled every day: that nature isn't something to be conquered or used up, but something to be protected.
The Vision: A Watershed Park and Living Classroom
Today, the Illahee Forest Preserve is fighting to ensure this lifelong work isn't undone. The acquisition of the Rainwood property is the cornerstone of our mission to create a permanent Watershed Park. This land is a massive natural recharge station. Its steep terrain captures rainfall and pulls it deep into the earth to recharge the underground aquifers, the reservoirs that provide the drinking water for our homes. Today, the lead instructors of this 'station' are a colony of beavers. By building dams across the pond’s outlets, these beavers act as natural engineers. Their work forces the water to slow down and spread out, allowing it to seep deep through the hardened ground. This 'slow water' filters as it travels, eventually replenishing the underground aquifers that provide the very drinking water our community relies on. In our Living Classroom, this process will become a hands-on lesson. Students will stand at the pond’s edge and see 'Hattie’s Way' in action, learning that the forest, the beavers, and the water in our taps are all one connected story.
Now is the Time: GiveBIG for Illahee
Hattie taught us that if something needs to be done, you “just do it.” Protecting our water for the next generation needs to be done—but it’s on all of us to make a difference. The Illahee Forest Preserve works every day to steward this environment, educate our students, and protect the wildlife that calls these ravines home. We are facing an unprecedented time when the support needed to preserve these critical spaces is in danger. GiveBIG is officially on May 5th, but you don't have to wait. Early giving is open now.
Now is the time to rise up. Now is the time to show up for this land and the legacy Hattie left behind. Whether you give a little or a lot, every donation to the Illahee Forest Preserve creates BIG change for our watershed.
Discover and donate to our mission during GiveBIG
Help us keep the promise. Your support today protects our water tomorrow.
