History

"We wanted to save our land forever…and we needed a Land Trust to do that.” A simple human yearning to leave a land legacy that would benefit both people and wildlife resulted in the founding of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust in 1984.

Albert Heath wanted to keep the scenic views and Ebey’s Bluff trail along his land open forever. To ensure this protection for his land required both a conservation easement and a land trust to hold that easement. Thus began the Whidbey Camano Land Trust. Almost immediately, another easement — this one northeast of Oak Harbor — was transferred to the Land Trust and the current land conservation movement in Island County began.

For its first 19 years, the Whidbey and Camano Land Trust was an all-volunteer organization. Its work was done out of board members’ homes. Learning by doing, these hard working and visionary volunteers protected 438 acres on Whidbey Island. Their completed projects comprised seven conservation easements and one fee-owned property. These properties provide significant public benefits through their conservation of open space, wetlands, natural forests, hiking trails, and homes for wildlife.

In 2003, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust moved from an all-volunteer effort to one that included a professional staff. Following a national search, the Board of Directors hired Patricia Powell as the Executive Director and opened an office at Bayview Corner in the historic Sears House. Those steps marked a turn in the Land Trust’s capacity and effectiveness; expert staff were now in place to initiate and complete multiple and complex land conservation projects.

The same year, the Land Trust became a county-wide organization when the Davis Slough Heronry was purchased and protected. This first project on Camano Island expanded the Land Trust’s base of support as more than 550 donors far and wide rallied to save one of the largest Great Blue Heron colonies remaining in Puget Sound. Three other projects were completed that year – two on Whidbey and another on Camano. Together, those four projects forever protected more than 1,000 acres and 1,200 feet of shoreline and tidelands. The organization had begun to take a strategic approach to land protection.

During the Land Trust’s 20th anniversary in 2004, the Board of Directors undertook a strategic planning process that included developing the organization’s infrastructure and expanding the professional capacity to protect land. The goal was to establish the Land Trust’s leadership role for land conservation in Island County. A series of open houses was held on both islands. Those gatherings helped build membership and provided broad, local input to the board as it began to establish land protection priorities. When islanders’ input was matched with natural resource inventory information, the Land Trust developed its Land Protection Plan.

Between 2004 and 2009, another 32 projects were completed on Whidbey and Camano Islands. As the Land Trust celebrated its 25th anniversary of grass roots land conservation, it announced the significant accomplishment of more than 6,100 acres protected permanently — approximately 4% of Island County’s total area.

What is this protection of land actually accomplishing? Major bird areas are protected for hundreds of species, both migrating and local. Salmon habitat is being safeguarded and restored. Wildlife have homes and corridors in which to breed, raise their young, and forage for food. In a remnant prairie, an endangered prairie flower, the Golden Paintbrush, was found and is being restored. The islands’ clean water supply is safeguarded. People have places to hike, find solace, and experience nature’s majesty.

Today, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust is recognized regionally as credible, vital, and effective. In fact, when Washington State Attorney General Robert McKenna spoke at the Land Trust’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2009, he stated that the Whidbey Camano Land Trust may be the most effective land trust in Washington State, if not the nation. One of more than 1,500 land trusts across the nation, it has established strong, collaborative working relationships with many agencies and has an impressive record of securing public grants for land acquisition. Patricia Powell, the Executive Director, has taken a leadership role with the Washington Association of Land Trusts, founded in 2007 with a mission to further the conservation of land and water statewide by strengthening land trusts individually and the Washington land trust movement as a whole.

Dedicated, ordinary people have gathered together since 1984 to achieve an impressive goal — to protect the forests, wetlands, shoreline, farms and wildlife habitat that make these islands national significant. This is an extraordinary grass-roots movement that has successfully protected a distinctive land legacy on Whidbey and Camano Islands. What has been done is impressive but the work is not over.

Today, pressures for development continue. Permanent changes to these landscapes threaten the distinctive character of Whidbey and Camano Islands. Will you bring your own enthusiasm and participate in our communities’ efforts to protect these local forests, open spaces, and wildlife habitats? Join now and be a part of the permanent solution.