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The island is home to the Department of Defense\u2019s largest container crane, called \u201cBig Blue\u201d for the pastel blue coat of paint on the metal behemoth. The diesel-electric-powered crane can lift 89,000 pounds of munitions and ordnance from the ammo pier to whatever vessel is docked there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A typical work day on the island begins at 6:30 a.m. and runs until about 4 p.m., although the operational schedule can shift depending on what\u2019s happening down at the ammo pier. Security operations on the island and in the water surrounding it run around the clock, seven days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 160 people work on the island, including 18 military personnel, 95 civilians, 56 contractors and 109 Navy reservists. There isn\u2019t any housing on the island, so all of the employees commute to the island every morning, some from neighboring Port Townsend or Marrowstone Island, others from as far as Bremerton and Silverdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A REFUGE FOR WILDLIFE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulley, who assumed command of the installation in June, said one of his favorite things to do on a Friday is to hop in a Jeep and drive all over the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to get to know every inch of the island,\u201d Pulley said. \u201cThere\u2019s still so much I want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 2,100 acres of the overall 2,700-acre island is almost untouched forest land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause we don\u2019t build in between the magazines, that leaves forested areas with old growth-trees that make great wildlife habitats,\u201d said Environmental Manager Bill Kalina. \u201cThe entire island is kind of like a refuge for wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deer roam the island, as well as cougars, bears and snakes. There are 10 active bald eagle nests across the island, some of which date the back to the late 1970s, Kalina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy employs many practices to protect and foster the island\u2019s rich natural beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the hard work of the command\u2019s two-person environmental team, Naval Magazine Indian Island was the third Navy installation to ever be removed from the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Superfund clean-up list after successfully remediating 19 contaminated sites, including a former landfill and old munition disposal areas. To date, it is the only Navy installation on the West Coast to be removed from the Superfund list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Navy recently completed a $5 million upgrade to replace old diesel-powered generators for submarines docked at Indian Island\u2019s ammo pier with a new, permanent shore-based electrical power system. The old generators were the top source of air pollution on the island, Kalina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cmuch needed\u201d upgrade eliminated the noise created by the old generator, which could be heard all the way in Port Townsend on a clear day. It also eliminated diesel fuel emissions to reduce the island\u2019s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The command\u2019s efforts to reduce environmental impacts on the island has reduced its energy consumption by 61 percent since 2003. It\u2019s earned it numerous government efficiency awards, including five consecutive platinum-level and a 2017 gold-level Secretary of the Navy Energy and Water Management awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Navy purchased the land on Indian Island from homesteaders in 1939 and began setting up shop on the island seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Few remnants of the original homesteads still exist on the island today. There\u2019s a fruit-bearing orchard that produces apples and plums, and the historic grave site of homesteader Maren J. Anderson of Denmark, who died in 1889, is located just south of where her house once stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kalina said the command is also focused on fostering a good relationship with the S\u2019Klallam Tribe, which predated the homesteaders on the island and lived side-by-side with them for a time. The S\u2019Klallams have treaty-protected foraging and clam-harvesting rights on Indian Island in what are some of the \u201cbest clam beaches in the world,\u201d Pulley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere they can harvest because we don\u2019t spray (herbicide) on the island,\u201d Kalina said. \u201cSo they come here to harvest cattails to make baskets, shoots to make traditional Native American food dishes and stinging nettle to make traditional balm. But the most important thing they do here is harvest cedar bark to make traditional hats, vests, all types of clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are at least 14 documented Native American archaeological sites on the island and an untold number of burial sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any discovered remains on the island are repatriated back to the S\u2019Klallam Tribe and then reburied on Indian Island with a tribal ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrior to us establishing a reburial site on Navy land, there was no (mechanism for it).\u201d Kalina said. \u201cThe tribes came to me… and said they wanted to put the ancestors back on the island because we don\u2019t want to keep them in a warehouse in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so, in 2000, Kalina went to the region\u2019s Navy lawyer and undertook a three-and-a-half-year \u201csaga,\u201d to gain approval from the government to rebury the remains. Naval Magazine Indian Island was the first Navy installation to create such a program and has since established the precedent for others to follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last summer, the command allowed youth from the Port Gamble S\u2019Klallam Tribe to come to the island and land their canoes at Walan Point. That was the first time a native canoe had landed on Indian Island in 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was really cool,\u201d Kalina said. \u201cThey did a welcoming ceremony with the drums as the kids came ashore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17335592378658.jpg.jpg\")
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