||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
Last August, the Land Bank was ecstatic to announce the acquisition of a 23.8-acre waterfront property located on Orcas Island’s East Sound – home to 1,300 feet of undeveloped shoreline, including a 260-foot pocket beach, a small intermittent stream, open fields and forest.
The $3.35M purchase was possible, in large part, through a $1.1M award in Salmon Recovery Grant funding from the WA State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO). In addition to the RCO funding, a neighbor contributed $400K towards the purchase leaving the Land Bank with an outstanding balance $1.85M to be paid via its Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funding. That is, until Land Bank Director, Lincoln Bormann, got a phone call from a generous and conservation minded Orcasonian – Malcolm Goodfellow.
Goodfellow is no stranger to conservation or philanthropy – he was one of the first donors in the 2006 Campaign for Turtleback and in 2020 gifted a record $5.2M towards the purchase of 42 acres adjacent to Turtleback Mountain, six of which went to the Lummi Nation, and 36 to the Land Bank. The San Juan Preservation Trust (SJPT) also gained a conservation easement over the entire area. Later the same year, he gave another $4M to SJPT for the purchase of Reef Island.
When asked what prompted this donation to the Land Bank, Goodfellow said, “I want my dollars to go towards a good cause and have lasting meaning. The Land Bank’s core mandate is preserving our natural lands, a subject I am passionate about, but I wasn’t sure if it allowed for monetary donations. So, I made a phone call and learned that yes, the Land Bank can accept contributions as well as property. Making them whole again on this shoreline piece was a no brainer.”
The Land Bank is grateful to Goodfellow for this tremendous gift, which permanently protects habitat for salmonids and forest species, as well as public shoreline access.
About San Juan County’s Land Bank
San Juan County’s Land Bank, funded by a 1% real estate excise tax paid by purchasers of property at closing, acquires and preserves areas in the county that have environmental, agricultural, aesthetic, cultural, scientific, historic, scenic, or low-intensity recreational value. The department offices are located at 328 Caines Street, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. For more information about San Juan County’s Land Bank, visit www.sjclandbank.org.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
A beautiful act of generosity that will pay forward to benefiting immeasurable forms of life!
It would be great to learn where this property is. The Eastbound waterfront is a large area and knowing where this new purchase is located would be fun to know.