Ruth Milner showing an owl pellet (photo by Dan Pedersen)

by Ruth Milner
District Wildlife Biologist
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

For those of us who are fortunate enough to live a bit of a rural life style, what would it be like in the summer if the salmonberry bird stopped singing? The salmonberry bird, more commonly known as the Swainson’s thrush is a common spring and summer inhabitant of shrubby thickets and young woodlands. It’s song, a rolling series of rapid flute-like notes that rise up the scale, is one many people associate with warm summer evenings or early morning awakenings. This delightful singer is just one of a whole suite of common species that are disappearing as western Washington’s rural landscape changes to small hobby farms, housing developments, and commercial sprawl.

Others who are dropping out as our lowland forests are converted to other uses include the rufous hummingbird, olive-sided flycatcher, Pacific-slope flycatcher, winter wren, Bewick’s wren, hermit warbler, pygmy owl, and Cassin’s vireo, to name just a few. These birds aren’t on the endangered species list; they aren’t specialists confined to a narrow habitat niche. They are common species who still do well where we allow their habitats to flourish. Their problem is that those common habitats, such as western Washington’s second growth forests are constantly being subjected to fragmentation and conversion to other uses. As their common habitat homes are altered, these species disappear. They don’t get much attention because their specialist cousins, like the spotted owl, an old growth forest obligate, are in such critical condition that conservation agencies must put all their time and money toward trying to save them, leaving little time to assess the fate of the species we think we can never lose.

And, it’s not just birds who are slipping away. The common bumble bee is now virtually gone in urban landscapes. You won’t find shy small mammals such as the red-backed vole or the mountain beaver (the oldest and most primitive mammal in North America) outside a forest setting. The American shrew mole and Trowbridge shrew quickly become casualties to house cats and lawn mowers. Our predecessors could never imagine a day when the Northwest’s iconic species, salmon and orca whales, would obtain listing status under the Endangered Species Act. These were the common species of their generation.

We must think ahead to future generations. It’s essential that we recognize the fact that what’s common today could easily become rare in the future. That’s why protecting second-growth lowland forestland today will help assure protection of the species who live there forever.

Robin attempted to mitigate the effect that her travels had on the planet by conducting an “airplane fast” one year, but found it unsustainable. “If I were a purist, I wouldn’t fly,” she says, “But there are people I love that I’d never see again if I did that. And keynotes at conferences I’d never do that could make a real difference. When I read about Trillium, the penny dropped. I realized that I could, in one act, face up to my carbon footprint and make a difference in something I’m passionate about anyway.

“This is a donation, and it isn’t,” she continues. “In addition to our annual giving, we should all be doing our annual offsetting. Two birds with one stone.”

Robin used the Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Footprint Calculator and determined that her lifestyle, including air travel, generated 24 tons of carbon per year. “In contemplating the cost to the earth of my long flights to Brazil, I hit on a great idea,” she wrote in an email message to more than 200 friends. “Rather than offset the carbon by planting new trees elsewhere, why not donate the $480 cost of the 24 tons of carbon that I spew into the atmosphere annually to keep the trees on the Trillium land standing?” She challenged her friends to do the same.

Robin moved to Whidbey Island about five years ago to recover from cancer. “God bless cancer,” she says. “It gave back parts of my life that I’d just shut down.” After her diagnosis, Robin changed everything: where she lived, what she did, whom she did it with, and how she measured success. Fortunately, she chose to do that on South Whidbey Island. Robin has been integral in the formation of Transition Whidbey, whose mission is to equip our community to be resilient in the wake of climate change, economic instability, and the eventual depletion of fossil fuels. She’s worked on forming Langley’s growth management plan, sings with the Open Circle Choir, and is part of Wake Up Laughing, Whidbey’s premier improvisational theater troupe.

“We’re fortunate to have Vicki on the island and in our corner at the Land Trust,” says Pat Powell, executive director. “When we hear about things like climate change, we often feel powerless. In so many ways, Vicki connects the dots and shows us that we can make a difference right where we live.”

With the help of volunteer art docents Charlotte Henke and Dick McGrath, as well as faculty member Mary McLeod, the students created a large papier mache gargoyle. Because architectural gargoyles often served as downspouts, they decided to turn the sculpture into a fountain. The water descended from the gargoyle’s mouth into a large tank, which looked like a wishing well, so the students hung a sign that encouraged visitors to the school’s annual Gallery Night to “Make a wish upon a gargoyle.”

By the end of the evening, visitors had made $6.36 worth of wishes in pennies, nickels, and dimes. “The students decided to contribute the money to the animal life here on their South Whidbey Island home,” says docent McGrath. “The Trillium Woods project promises to be maintained as a safe and perpetual home for all those animals.”

“People have written $100,000 dollar checks to help save the Trillium Woods,” says Pat Powell, executive director of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust. “But we’ve never received money from a wishing well before. That makes this donation very special and, we hope, very lucky.”

Songbirds sing loudly on a sunny spring morning in the Trillium woods north of Freeland.  State wildlife biologist Ruth Milner is talking about chickadees, kinglets, and warblers when her eye lands on a gray, furry object at her feet.

Ruth Milner (photo by Dan Pedersen)

“Well look here,” she says, “it’s an owl pellet.”  She pulls it apart in her fingers, revealing tiny shards of bone and rodent claws packed into a nearly solid mat of gray fuzz.  In the pellet are the undigested leftovers of several voles that a great horned owl regurgitated after a recent hunt on the property.

For more than two decades, this largest remaining tract of undeveloped Whidbey Island real estate has been waiting for roads, buyers and builders that never came. Woods, wildlife, and outdoor-lovers have reclaimed the land. Hikers, hunters, walkers, joggers, horseback riders, bicyclists and bird watchers have found a refuge here to recharge their souls.

Now, if the Whidbey Camano Land Trust can climb a nearly impossible mountain and raise $4.2 million by June 10, the land will stay intact for wildlife and people to enjoy forever.  Contributions are pouring in, but Land Trust director Pat Powell admits it will take a game-changing gift of major scale to bring home the deal. The Land Trust is looking nationwide for that deep-pockets donor.

To experts like Milner and forest ecologist Elliott Menashe, it’s a long-shot well worth the taking.

“Do not underestimate the importance of the size of this forest to both the wildlife and people of Whidbey Island,” Milner says. “I would not be excited if it was five acres, but this is over 600 acres of contiguous habitat. That is beautiful for all kinds of reasons. It provides sufficient space for the animals who live here and extra space for humans to come and observe and not disturb them as they would in a smaller space. Wherever there is no pavement, there is hope.”

Ecologist Elliott Menashe agrees and points out another huge benefit of keeping the land intact and natural. “The soils here are classified as prime forest lands of the state and help recharge the aquifers of the surrounding communities – Bush Point and Mutiny Bay, especially. They reduce storm water impacts and help fend off saltwater intrusion of the shoreline wells and water systems.”

Elliott Menashe (photo by Dan Pedersen)

The nearly two-mile-long parcel straddles a 300- to 400-foot ridge. It contains pocket wetlands of sparkling clear pools and is the headwaters of three creeks. The largest runs to Mutiny Bay, but another feeds South Whidbey State Park and the beautiful forest wetlands of the Wilbert Trail.  “The fact that there are wetlands on the property makes it hugely important for wildlife,” Menashe points out

But it’s also important for people, Milner adds. “The way the world is going, someday we’re going to end up with little islands of habitat surrounded by concrete and small suburban homes. I don’t think that’s the heritage we want to leave our children and their children.

“As a parent, what I see is that this generation’s idea of playing outside is children going out on a manicured, suburban lawn. If we keep telling children that is the outdoors and that’s nature, we’re going to raise generations who fear nature and have no sense of place within it. A property this size gives us a place where we can educate children, and where adults can come and find serenity and observe animals in the wild.”

Menashe remembers and still grieves the logging that stripped this tract two decades ago. It was the last 100+ acre clear-cut on Whidbey Island and triggered a groundswell of community opposition at the time.  “We lost the forest. But you know, if we can keep the land intact and not carve it up into little pieces, then there’s hope. Once you lose the land, that’s it.”

Even as he shakes his head at the loss, he is excited about the future. He thrashes through the underbrush to a large stump the loggers left behind.  “This is a real nice legacy tree,” he calls out. “It’s an old growth and look at the red huck (huckleberry). Red huck pretty much grows only in large wood.

“You see this develop around a nurse log situation and it is a huge wildlife benefit. This stump has good rot; it’s got burrow sites; it’s got dense cover and it’s got food. There are salal berries, red huck berries . . . it’s a little habitat island.  One of the big things for wildlife is the connection – to have access and transport, that connectivity. So even amidst some fairly uninteresting native plant development there are these lovely pockets.”

New York Times bestselling mystery novelist Elizabeth George launched her national book tour at the Whidbey Island Center for the arts by donating $100,000 to help protect the Trillium forest. She challenged those who benefit from the island as a source of inspiration to follow suit–particularly fellow creatives.

Like many artists and authors who have moved to the island, George is inspired by the beautiful forests, rural landscapes, and pristine beaches that she finds here. Her donation will help the Whidbey Camano Land Trust save the 664-acre Trillium property, the island’s largest remaining contiguous forest. The Land Trust is in the midst of an ambitious campaign to raise $4.2 million by June 10 to buy the property so it won’t be developed.

The mystery novelist moved to Whidbey Island five years ago, after more than 30 years in Orange County, California, where she watched the “concretization” of the landscape. “Vast expanses of farmland in Southern California are now covered in concrete,” she said. “Once it’s paved, it’s lost forever.”

George is now working on a book set in the Lake District of England, where Beatrix Potter lived. Like George, Potter was a conservationist. She is best known as author and illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other children’s books. Over the years, Potter bought neighboring farms to preserve them, and when she died in 1943 she left 4,000 acres to England’s National Trust. “The Lake District is the Lake District because of what Beatrix Potter did,” George said.

“One thing I like about the English is that they recognize and appreciate exactly what they have,” said George. “They’ve preserved the countryside for hundreds of years. I can walk the same trails and visit the same cottages that Jane Austen did. Much of the landscape has remained unchanged. They understand the simple truth about land: God ain’t making any more of it.”

by Elliott Menashe

Once forest land has been clear cut and subdivided, it is usually irrevocably lost. However, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has negotiated a remarkable opportunity for us all. We have a rare chance to step in and say “NO” to the normal process of clear cutting, subdividing, and development. For a very short time (until June 10, 2010), we have the chance to preserve the 664-acre Trillium property, which represents the largest remaining undeveloped piece of private land in Island County. The property was logged in 1988, planted with young Douglas fir seedlings, and later subdivided for sale as home sites.

A portion of the Trillium property is situated on a 300- to 400-foot ridge overlooking Bush Point and Mutiny Bay. It’s more than two miles long and holds the origins of at least three creeks and numerous wetlands in three separate watersheds—one of which is the creek that runs through South Whidbey State Park. The soils underlying the property are considered by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service to be “prime forestlands of the state.” They are of incalculable value for recharging the aquifers of the surrounding communities, reducing storm water impacts, and fending off saltwater intrusion of the shoreline wells and water systems that serve Bush Point and Mutiny Bay. There are numerous and varied habitat sites within the property, which currently provides space and travel corridors for both wildlife and people.

Watersheds on the Trillium property (map provided by Matt Kukuk)

The present forest, barely 20 years old, isn’t very impressive at first glance. However, as a forest ecologist, I see the potential of this young forest. Already, red alder trees replenish the damaged soil. The Douglas fir trees that were planted now share space with naturally germinated western hemlock, western red-cedar, bigleaf maple, and Scouler’s willow. A few Pacific madrones established themselves in the sunnier spots.  Plants such as sedges, rushes, and skunk cabbages recolonized the damaged wetlands. A diverse understory of salal, huckleberry, ocean spray, thimbleberry, salmonberry and sword fern—prime habitat for neo-tropical songbirds and other wildlife—is developing. Old growth stumps, snags, and nurse logs—some still showing burn scars from long-ago fires—remind us that the logging of 20 years ago was just another disturbance to the forest’s unending cycle. Nature is healing the scars of past abuses.

If this land is spared from the bulldozer blade, maintained intact, and managed, a forest can continue to grow. In less than 50 years, there will be a mature forest similar to the Putney Woods that future generations can enjoy. If this land is developed, the changes will be permanent and cumulative. There will be increased storm water runoff and periodic downstream flooding, accelerated erosion and sedimentation, degraded water supplies, displaced wildlife, and an end to public access and enjoyment. If we lose this opportunity, the largest remaining piece of private land in Island County will be lost forever.

by Elizabeth LaRance

When New York’s Central Park was being created, pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted predicted that it would greatly increase the value of the surrounding land.[1] Turns out he was right.

Now, more than 150 years later, communities recognize that open space and parks provide places for recreational activities, wildlife habitat, and cleaner air and water. But they are also beginning to recognize that these spaces provide an economic benefit as well. Since Olmsted’s prediction, more than 30 studies have demonstrated that open spaces have a positive effect on the value of nearby residential properties.[2] Here are a few of the findings:

• In 2007, the Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence found that properties in Philadelphia that were within 500 feet of parks or recreation land were worth an average of 5 percent more than properties that were farther away. The total increased value was $688.8 million dollars, which brought in additional property taxes of more than $18.1 million dollars.[3]
• In a 2002 study, researcher Paul Thorsnes compared the value of properties bordering on permanently protected forests with those near unpreserved forests in three residential subdivisions in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He concluded that the lots bordering on permanently conserved forests sold for 19 to 35 percent more than those that were more distant from the preserves.[4]

There’s lots more research that’s been done, and the data is pretty conclusive: parks and open space enhance economic values in surrounding areas.

Another way of looking at the economic benefit of open spaces is to consider how development benefits communities. For the past 15 years, economists have been assessing the net economic benefit to communities of developing lands, known as the costs of community services (COCS). These studies are a subset of a much larger field, known as fiscal analysis, which weigh anticipated economic benefits from development against the cost of delivering infrastructure and services such as fire and police protection, schools and roads.[5]

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) completed 128 COCS studies in 25 states between 1989 and 2007. In averaging the results of these studies, researchers concluded that for every dollar that communities received from residential development, they had to provide $1.16 in services. In general, the studies show that delivering services to residential development almost always costs more than the community expects to gain in taxes and other benefits.

The first comprehensive book written on land trusts, “Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America” by Richard Brewer, further supports the AFT’s findings that residential development is very demanding of community services. “If the choice for a piece of land is between 1) preserving it and removing it from the tax rolls, and 2) developing it as residential property, the community’s taxpayers are hands-down better off with the preserve,” he says.[6] Permanently protecting land “saves us from ourselves,” he adds. “We know this is true in terms of beauty, water and air quality, wildlife, and our hopes for the future.” And now we know it to be true economically.[7]

Unless otherwise noted, information for this article came from Conservation: An Investment That Pays, by The Trust for Public Land, 2009.

Whether land is forested or developed is an important factor in the quantity and quality of our water supply. During the 19^th century, the United States experienced a period of massive development, and problems emerged as a result of poor water resource management. This was the main reason for the establishment in 1891 of federally protected forest reserves. The primary role of these reserves was to protect the nation’s water supply.

About 80 percent of our national freshwater supply originates through forests. Multiple layers of forest vegetation—trees, shrubs and groundcover—provide a tremendous amount of surface area that collects water during storms. After it rains, the water either evaporates, is used by plants, runs off to streams or lakes, or infiltrates the soil. Through infiltration, water recharges underground aquifers, which are the source of our household water.

Development has an effect on our water resources. When people convert forests to buildings, roads, parking lots, and lawns, they remove natural vegetation and replace it with hard surfaces. These surfaces cause an increase in runoff and a decrease in the recharge of groundwater. Not only is the volume of runoff greater when land is developed, runoff from housing developments contains pesticides from lawns, as well as metals, gasoline, and solvents from vehicles. Forested land, on the other hand, filters pollutants from runoff before it enters surface waters and jeopardizes water quality.

Underground aquifers are the main source of water in Island County. These aquifers are recharged only through rainfall infiltration, making the protection of forest land and other natural open spaces critical to maintaining an adequate and clean water supply in our community.

This relates to the Trillium property in a number of ways:

• The forested property ranges in elevation from approximately 100 to 400 feet above the Puget Sound. This area feeds four stream systems, several lakes, ponds, and wetlands.
• Based on data provided by a U.S. Geological Survey study, the forest land was rated as being moderately susceptible to groundwater contamination as a Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA). The base classification of CARA sites is used to give the community an idea of where its strategic groundwater supplies may be most at risk under current land use conditions.
• Island County was federally designated as a Sole Source Aquifer in 1982. Sole Source Aquifer status is authorized by Section 1424(e) of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act when groundwater is the principal drinking water source for the area, which, if contaminated, would create a significant public health hazard.

Among the many reasons to save the Trillium property, maintaining the purity of our drinking water is one of the most important.

University of Michigan Professors Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, pioneers in the field of environmental psychology, have developed a theory that nature is an antidote to mental fatigue. They believe that spending time in nature renews our capacity to focus on tasks and refresh our minds.

The connection between healing and nature hasn’t been examined until recently. In her article titled “Rx: Nature as Nurturer, Protecting Land to Protect Human Health,” Kendall Slee suggests that people’s physical, emotional and mental well-being improves when they connect with nature. Slee cites several recent research findings:

• Those who earn a low income, but are exposed to natural environments, are healthier than those who have no exposure to nature.[1]
• Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), who took a 20-minute walk in natural surroundings, experienced a greater decrease in their symptoms than those who walked in suburban or downtown areas.[2]
• There are fewer crimes in apartment buildings surrounded by trees and greenery than in identical apartments surrounded by barren land.[3]
• Girls who live in apartments surrounded by natural views scored better on tests of self-discipline than those living in identical housing without natural views.[4]
• Students in high schools that had views of trees and greenery scored better on standardized tests, and graduated and attended college at higher rates, than similar students at other schools.[5]

Land trusts around the country strive to make green and natural spaces accessible to diverse populations. Among these is the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, which is working to save the square-mile Trillium property north of Freeland. If you live on, or enjoy visiting Whidbey Island, consider improving your health by donating to save this land!