Guest Opinion: Judd Cove Preserve to Open

Mary Blackstone, Land Bank Commissioner from Orcas Island

When you approach Eastsound village from the south on Orcas Road, look to your right for a glimpse of Judd Cove, one of Orcas Island’s loveliest views.  The San Juan County Land Bank has owned property along the cove for several years, but it has been difficult to provide public access for a variety of reasons.  Last year, in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, the Land Bank purchased a key waterfront parcel to provide shoreline access and better protect the ecology of the cove.  The Preserve will soon be open to everyone.  Wildlife habitat at the Preserve is remarkable, including beach, tidelands and upland wooded and wetland areas. Judd Cove is also an historic site used by native americans for shellfish gathering, and later for the quarrying of limestone and manufacture of lime. The kiln ruin is one of the best remaining examples on Orcas of this early industry. In recent years the cove was used as a log dump and staging area for log booms.

The Preserve, now reaching from Orcas Road to the beach and tidelands, is home to mink, otter, harbor seal, deer, and roosting and foraging eagles as well as many other species of birds. Waterfowl present include great blue horns, grebes, Surf Scoters, harlequin ducks, and common loons.  The eelgrass beds and forage areas of Judd Cove are classified Essential Fish Habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon as well as forage fish such as Pacific herring, Sand Lance and Surf Smelt and the beach is a likely spawning site for Surf Smelt.  Several varieties of shellfish inhabit the tidelands. This is ecological richness, indeed, and county residents can be proud they have protected this special place in perpetuity.

Land Bank staff has been at work readying the Preserve for public use. The Land Bank partnered with the state’s Department of Natural Resources to remove the docks and creosote pilings. The DNR contributed $186,000 to accomplish this important step in restoration of the tidelands. Land Bank stewards and volunteers have built a loop trail and restored and replanted disturbed areas. We have also installed a split rail fence to indicate the boundary between the preserve and adjacent private property.

Still to be completed is the stabilization and partial restoration of the lime kiln, necessary for public safety and to preserve a fascinating remnant of island history, and the installation of signs and boundary markers.  That work is scheduled to be completed this fall.

Judd Cove Preserve will provide a peaceful and beautiful place to be enjoyed by the public as soon as site work is completed and a management plan is approved by the Land Bank Commission and County Council.

The revised Judd Cove Preserve Management Plan is available for public comment until October 9, 2009. Copies are available at the Land Bank website or by calling the Land Bank office. The Land Bank Commission’s monthly meeting will be held on Orcas Island on October 9^th and public comment on the management plan will also be taken at that time.