History of Jefferson Land Trust

Land trust founders saw loss of space
Trio former nonprofit group to preserve habitat

Port Townsend--Virginia McIntyre remembers the days when horseback riding around Port Townsend and Jefferson County was nearly a free-range experience.

In the 1970s and '80s, McIntrye could saddle up with a friend and easily ride 20 miles with few interruptions or detours.

Motorists would politely brake for equestrians, and landowners even opened gates, allowing them to ride through their properties.

Over time and a natural landscape destined for development, McIntyre noticed that the city and county's open spaces and quality environment were gradually disappearing.

"I could see the impact of loss of open space, probably with more of an awareness than people who didn't get into the backcountry," said McIntyre, cofounder of what today is Jefferson Land Trust.

"Much of the loss was heartbreaking--the loss of habitat for even the small things, like the blue butterflies in the spring, and frogs."

Then there were three

McIntyre enlisted the help of her riding partner, Stephanie Lutgring, and then-Port Townsend City Councilwoman Julie McCulloch.

Together, they formed a then-nameless nonprofit group, which McCulloch said was to be roughly based on the national Nature Conservancy concept of land preservation.

It was 1988, and the birth of a collective force that today protects more than 850 acres of Jefferson County's natural habitat, open spaces and working farmlands.

"We were visionaries, there's no question about it," said McIntyre, who was joined by Lutgring and McCulloch in a recent interview at her home near Jefferson County International Airport.

"It's easy now to say, "I donate to JLT every year,' but at the time we started we were new and the concept was new, so people helped to make the vision into a reality."

From three women with a vision, Jefferson Land Trust today has about 400 members.

Initially meeting at Port Townsend City Hall, the trio managed to scrape together $1,500 in donations to hire the Trust for Pubic Lands in Seattle to help them form a local organization with nonprofit status.

Gradually, supports became active followers and leaders, the co-founders recall.

Conservation easements

Early Land Trust supporter Doug Mason struck up initial talks with landowners about conservation easements to protect critical fish and wildlife habitat on private properties.

Port Townsend attorney Karen Gates Hildt offered early counsel on how to legally incorporate the Land Trust.

Rosemary Shirley, wife of former Port Townsend Mayor Brent Shirley, put together the Land Trust's first newsletter.

Judith Alexander joined in as the group's first fundraiser.

Accountant Nancy Scott assisted participating landowners with prospective tax deductions.

Others hopped on the Land Trust's education bandwagon to create a T-shirt logo, a video and an information booth.

The list goes on and on.

"We were all flying by the seat of our pants," McIntyre fondly looks back with a smile.

Incorporated in 1989

A board of 12 was established and the Land Trust incorporated in 1989.

By then, the trust had worked out a three-way land swap with Jefferson County, the state Department of Natural Resources and a logging company to reserve Gibbs and Beausite lake lands.

The result was the 669-acre Gibbs Lake County Park, now preserved in perpetuity.

Gibbs Lake was one of McIntyre's favorite natural settings for riding and she said she was happy to see its woods would never again be clearcut.

The Land Trust in 1992 landed its first conservation easement in Chimacum Creek with unlikely partner Bill Marlow, a property rights supporter and prominent Jefferson County Realtor.

"However, he remembered pulling salmon out of the creek as a boy," said McIntyre.

"That's why it had personal meaning for him."

Marlow purchased several blocks in Irondale, two with portions of Chimacum Creek flowing through them.

He carefully logged the property, then vacated the streets and combined lots to create a lower density then might have been developed, land trust records show.

Each of the lots created by Marlow is subject to a conservation easement of 50 feet in width along both sides from the center of the creek, preserving natural vegetation for streambank stability.

The agreement, in effect, eliminates development near the creek.

Second Easement

The triangle of about 5,000 square feet that is today the city of Port Townsend's Willow Tree Park on East Sims Way was the Land Trust's second easement negotiated with the landowner, who sold the property to the city. The Soroptimists of Port Townsend/Jefferson County are helping to re-landscape the park at the busy corner of Sims and Kearney Street.

The Land Trust's third acquisition was an outright purchase of four lots through a private donation, the first piece of what has become the Land Trust's most ambitious conservation project, Quimper Wildlife Corridor.

The corridor today protects a 716-acre "ribbon of green" across the North Quimper Peninsula, according to figures from Sarah Spaeth, the Land Trust's programs manager.

McCulloch said the land trust concept takes property rights into account while allowing land to be preserved in perpetuity.

"One of the major advantages of property rights is freedom of choice to do what you want with it," said McCulloch, a former Port Townsend mayor.

After laying the early groundwork, McIntrye, McCulloch and Lutgring say they are proud of the Land Trust's progress and growth in 17 years, which now encompasses 24 protected properties from Port Townsend to the Dosewallips River at Brinnon.

I'm delighted, but I'm not surprised," said McIntyre.

"I am proud of the many people who put their time and talent into it to make it what it is today."

By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News, March 20, 2005