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PRESS RELEASE
Efforts Intensify To Save Critical Conservation Lands on Whidbey Island
For Release – March 14, 2007
Whidbey Camano Land Trust
Contact: Pat Powell, Executive Director, (360) 222-3310
Greenbank, WA
Budget decisions are being made in Olympia next week that will determine whether important natural areas on Whidbey Island will be conserved. With more than 560 acres of land at stake, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust is urging island residents to call or email their state representatives by March 25 to ask them to fully fund two important Capital Budget programs – the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program at $100 million and Trust Land Transfer program at $111 million.
We are thrilled the State has recognized the importance of protecting these significant properties on Whidbey Island, said Patricia Powell, executive director of the Land Trust. She is asking island residents to contact their legislators right away. “Our legislators are very responsive to calls and e mails. We’ve seen such contacts really make a difference in helping protect special properties in past legislative sessions.” Powell said.
The Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) is a wildly popular program that funds wildlife habitat, farmland protection and recreation projects throughout Washington. The demand for WWRP already far exceeds available funds. $100 million is needed to fund projects across the state.
If funded, five WWRP grants totaling $2.52 million will be awarded for land conservation in Island County. These five projects will:
- protect 220 acres of threatened farmland in Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve;
- add 53 critical acres to Deception Pass State Park at Hoypus Hill and construct a state park day use site at Cornet Bay; and
- restore rare plant and prairie habitat on the Land Trust’s Naas Natural Area Preserve (aka Admiralty Inlet Natural Area Preserve) where rare golden paintbrush is being brought back.
Readers can view proposed project lists and information at www.wildliferecreation.org.
The Trust Land Transfer Program (TLT) is a way to protect irreplaceable habitat and recreation lands owned by the state while still providing revenue for school construction. The program is an innovative way for the Legislature to transfer state school lands with special values to local or state governments, which then protect the lands for park, open space or wildlife habitat values. In 1989, a bipartisan group of state leaders initiated the TLT program as an innovative approach to school construction funding with multiple benefits. The program helps address the urgent need for school construction, protects Washington’s natural heritage, and can result in upgrading school trust assets to generate long-term revenue for school construction.
For the upcoming biennium, $111 million is needed to fund more than 30 transfers across the state. If funded, eight TLT properties, totaling 291 acres will be transferred and permanently protected in Island County. These properties have significant wildlife habitat, mature forest and aquifer protection values.
Among the eight at-risk Whidbey properties recommended for transfer is one of the last forested areas on the outskirts of Oak Harbor. It contains a great blue heronry and is heavily used by raptors and other native wildlife. Another property, adjacent to Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, provides low-impact recreational opportunities as well as important wildlife habitat. “The birds and wildlife will be beneficiaries of the transfer, along with North Whidbey residents who will enjoy additional open space,” Powell noted. Of the five properties on South Whidbey, some would protect forest and waterfront bluffs while others will provide low impact recreational opportunities near existing residential areas.
Readers can view the Island County TLT list at www.wclt.org. If the appeal is successful and the Legislature approves the Capital Budget, the acreage will be transferred to Island County or other receiving organizations for conservation and recreation purposes.
On its website, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has more information about each program and the Island County lands the programs will protect. The Land Trust also has step-by-step instructions on how to contact legislators. A toll-free Legislative hotline to leave a voice message is 1-800-562-6000. Or, visit www.wclt.org and see how to take action. Those without internet access may call the Land Trust at (360) 222-3310.
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