It All Started Here: Land Trust Celebrates 25 Years Where it Began

For Release – September 16, 2009

Whidbey Camano Land Trust
Contact: Elizabeth Guss, Director of Outreach and Development,
(360) 222-3310

Greenbank, WA

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“We wanted to save our land forever…and we needed a land trust to do that.” With those words, Albert Heath expressed a profound yearning to preserve the scenic views along the trail next to his land on Ebey’s Bluff.

A conservation easement would protect Heath’s land, but a land trust was needed to hold the easement, and that led to the founding of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust in Coupeville in 1984. The first easement led shortly to another — transferred from the Ebey’s Landing Open Space Foundation — and the modern land conservation movement in Island County was well under way. Twenty-five years later, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has grown to over 800 household members and protected 6,100 acres of precious, distinctive lands, wildlife habitats, and working farms, many inside Ebey’s Reserve.

On October 3, the Land Trust will return to the place of its roots when it hosts a grand celebration of film and music, highlighted by the presentation of Conservation Hero Awards. The community is invited to the celebration. Ten “Citizen Conservationists” will receive honors from the Land Trust. They are visionaries, volunteers, and dedicated landowners. Featured speaker, State Attorney General Rob McKenna, will talk about the future of land conservation. Celebrants will feast on treats from J.W. Desserts and then enjoy a live concert by the Grammy award-winning duo, Tingstad & Rumbel.

The celebration will be at the Coupeville High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 each in advance and available from the Land Trust.