Location: South Whidbey Island

Acres: 64 (36 acres of beach open to the public and 28 acres of upland closed except for private tours)

Shoreline: 2,100 feet

Overview:

No shelfish harvesting

The Indian Point Preserve includes 28-acres of upland with over 2,100 feet of steep, eroding feeder bluff waterfront along Admiralty Inlet on North Puget Sound. It also includes 36-acres of pristine sandy beach containing a flourishing marine intertidal area with eel grass and shellfish beds.

This spectacular waterfront property will remain wild for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people forever,” announced Tom Cahill, President of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust. “It was protected thanks to our many partners, including a national coastal grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Washington Department of Ecology, a Conservation Futures Fund grant from Island County, a 60% donation of land value from landowners Greg and Ann Lyle, and cash donations from generous members who wanted to keep Indian Point undeveloped and wild.”

Land donors Greg and Ann Lyle voiced their gratitude saying, “We are extremely pleased that federal, state and county agencies and private donors joined together to preserve the Indian Point property, an almost virgin parcel, in a forever-wild state. The Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s efforts in raising funds and putting this purchase together were extraordinary.”

Spanning nearly half a mile along Puget Sound, the shoreline’s steep, eroding 200 foot-high feeder bluffs deposit sediment and nutrients into the tidelands and eelgrass beds below. This sediment drives ecological processes for over 5 miles of shoreline and tidal flats on the western shore of Whidbey Island.

It also helps to shape landforms and build the coast’s beaches while maintaining the shallow water habitat required for eelgrass, forage fish beds, juvenile Chinook salmon and shellfish.

Above the bluff, is a rare maple forest, recognized as a Washington State Natural Heritage protection priority, is punctuated by a scattering of old-growth Douglas fir and other native trees with a healthy understory that provides nesting and perching sites for a variety of birds, including songbirds and raptors like Bald Eagles, Osprey and Peregrine Falcons.

“The Indian Point property presented a rare opportunity to preserve a fragile and beautiful forested shoreline and bluff. The allocation of Conservation Futures Funds allowed the Land Trust to leverage these limited local dollars with significant national support and private donations to protect this precious watershed and habitat resources,” said Helen Price Johnson, Island County Commissioner.