Key Pen Parks has new director from Bothell

Tracey Perkosky is the new executive director of Key Peninsula Parks.

She replaces the district’s longtime director, Scott Gallacher, 49, who died of an apparent heart attack May 1, while chasing a man he believed to be a burglar through a wooded area near Volunteer Park in Lakebay.

Perkosky was previously parks planning and grants manager for the city of Bothell, and grant and finance manager for the city of St. Helena, Calif.

According to a profile by the Washington Recreation and Park Association, Perkosky has a background in consulting, grant writing and non-profit project management. The profile calls her “a highly experienced trainer and facilitator,” who was a speaker on park planning at a WRPA conference iin Tacoma in April.

Her first day with Key Pen Parks was July 27.

In a posting on the district website, Perkosky said the community commitment and level of volunteerism with Key Peninsula residents made “Key Pen Parks a natural fit with me. I’m excited to be supporting the community and leading such an amazing staff.”

Especially during the current times, Perkosky wrote, access to outdoor spaces is important to mental and physical health.

“The creation and maintenance of these spaces for all to enjoy is what keeps me moving forward every day,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the continued work on Gateway Park, the trails, and the entire park system.”

Perkosky described herself as an avid amateur bird photographer, with an obsession for bald eagles. “So you may find me in the parks carrying my gear and staring at the trees or sky to capture a perfect moment,” she said. “Feel free to stop me and say ‘hello!’”

Perskosky will be only the district’s second executive director in nearly 16 years.

Gallacher had been with Key Pen Parks almost from the time the district was voted into existence in 2004. He helped built it from a struggling, nearly bankrupt rural system with a few scraggly acres to a thriving district with five busy parks, two forest preserves and a network of hiking and mountain-bike trails.

He died while pursing a man he thought was trying to break into the concession stand at Volunteer Park. As it turned out, the man was a cyclist who said he was only looking for water. The sheriff’s office called the incident “a tragic misunderstanding.”