“If you think the island is crowded today, you just might try thinking about it over time.Inspecting a shoreline midden bursting with shells, just down the hill from his Bayview Boulevard home, Al Philips imagines a long history of habitation by local tribes.He knows they were here for the rich salmon run that endures to this day through Little Manzanita Bay. He finds their lives revealed in the shells, the cooking stones, the arrowheads. And he knows they were here for a long time.I’ve concluded that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people have lived here, Philips said.Philips’ Dolphin Place Gallery will be one of seven open this weekend as part of the first-ever Summer Studio Tour. Brochures for that event are available.Setting it apart is the chance for a stroll through the Puget Sound Native Tree Conservancy, which Philips has established on the wooded grounds.The phrase renaissance man is tossed around with decreasing specificity these days, but might well apply to Philips, an island resident for nearly 30 years.He’s an accomplished glass artist, electrical engineer, one-time astronaut trainee, former submariner, naturalist and natural historian.He has been active in the Bainbridge community for years, often as a an advocate for farm and open space preservation. He still wears his Save Gazzam Lake T-shirt.And he can talk endlessly about the workings of the old-growth forest.I’m going to give you a gift: knowledge, he announces, and dives into a lengthy discussion of the various species found around the property.All of the trees are native to the lowland growth climax forest are represented, including Douglas and grand firs, western red cedars, western hemlocks, western white pine and the Sitka spruce.Philips purchased the land in 1973, at one point planting a new tree every month. He has supplemented the trail with salvages plantings, items rescued from areas about to be logged and developed.What we’re trying to recreate here is a sense of the old rainforests, Philips said.The one-acre parcel – four acres, when the tide’s out, Philips said – is held under a joint conservation easement with the Bainbridge Island Park and Recreation District.Under the terms of the agreement, Philips gives guided tours of the trail that loops around the home he built more than 20 years ago.The pathway, about 200 yards in length, skirts the head of Little Manzanita. You don’t get too far afield as you can in, say, Gazzam Lake Park; on the other hand, interpretive signage lines the trail, and Philips himself is a gregarious and engaging guide.He proceeds to explain how various fir species can’t grow in their own shade, and the natural selection of the forest floor – how the fern outcompetes wild ginger, which in turn outcompetes moss.Even with several homes nearby, the parcel is remarkably serene, particularly so next to the water.You sit here for five or 10 minutes and be quiet, and the little birds will come down and sit with you, Philips said. That’s kind of neat.As a glass artist, his work represents an integrated world view in which nature and art complement each other. His works are filled with sea life – the dolphin is a preferred motif – and the works themselves inspire fresh discussion of native legend and their basis in nature.His cramped studio also sits on the grounds, blending into the environment around it. Yet it embraces the new media as well, with Philips maintaining a web site for his art, www.dolphinplace.com.The grounds are open through the park district and by appointment throughout the year; this weekend, Philips will offer tours and discussions of nature for three days.Visitors may hear him explain the contribution of the Sitka spruce to the national defense program. And no tour is complete without the story of the 36,000 pound rock.As an artist, I’m getting to do my natural history stuff, he said. As a natural historian, I’m getting to do my art stuff.In reality, I’m the father of teenagers, so I don’t know which way is up. “