Conservation Partners Transfer Ownership of Waldron Island Preserves

From the San Juan Preservation Trust

The Nature Conservancy conveys Cowlitz Bay and Bitte Baer Preserves to the San Juan Preservation Trust

The Nature Conservancy and the San Juan Preservation Trust have announced the change in ownership of two iconic nature preserves on Waldron Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington.

Cowlitz Bay on Waldron Island. Photo courtesy of Neal Chism and LightHawk

The Nature Conservancy has transferred title and stewardship responsibilities for both the 269-acre Cowlitz Bay Preserve and 208-acre Bitte Baer Preserve to The San Juan Preservation Trust, a 33-year-old non-profit land trust that serves the San Juan Islands.

Purchased separately in the early 1970s with the support of donations from the Waldron Island community, these two properties were among the very first private lands to be permanently conserved in San Juan County. The Bitte Baer Preserve, which is adjacent to another 216-acre preserve previously purchased by the San Juan Preservation Trust, includes the sandstone face of Mount Disney and hosts one of the largest intact Garry oak ecosystems in the San Juan archipelago. The Cowlitz Bay Preserve, which was acquired in 1971 to thwart a proposed subdivision, hosts extensive high-quality wetlands and almost 4,000 feet of beachfront, including tidelands with forage fish spawning habitat and eelgrass beds.

“The San Juan Preservation Trust and the people of Waldron Island are the ideal partners to care for these iconic lands,” said Karen Anderson, the Conservancy’s Washington director. “We know that these preserves will be well-stewarded into the future.”

“Ownership may have changed hands, but The Nature Conservancy’s commitment to preserve and care for these inspiring preserves will continue in perpetuity under our watch,” said Tim Seifert, executive director of the San Juan Preservation Trust. “We’ve had a successful history of land conservation on Waldron, and we look forward to working with the island community to ensure that these places will remain in their healthy and natural state. Forever.”

Map of new and existing preserves on Waldron Island

In addition to transferring the two preserves, The Nature Conservancy has also conveyed a stewardship endowment to the San Juan Preservation Trust that was created by donors at the time these properties were originally acquired. A resident caretaker will also be retained by the San Juan Preservation Trust.

The San Juan Preservation Trust: Founded in 1979, the San Juan Preservation Trust (www.sjpt.org) is a nationally accredited private, non-profit and membership-based land trust dedicated to helping people and communities conserve land in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. The Preservation Trust has permanently protected more than 260 properties, 37 miles of shoreline and 15,000 acres on 20 islands, including land now managed as public parks, nature preserves, wildlife habitat, and working farms and forests.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.  To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have helped protect 130 million acres worldwide, and more than 550,000 acres in Washington State. Visit us online at nature.org/Washington.