Thirty years later, a popular hiking trail in South Whidbey Island State Park finally may be preserved from logging.
All of it.
On July 14, hikers on the park’s popular Wilbert Trail were greeted with a “for sale” sign.
The sign appeared a stone’s throw from the “ancient cedar” that was a rallying point among those who fought to keep the forest from being clear cut in the 1970s.
They say they were surprised to learn a key seven-acre piece of the grove had somehow fallen through the cracks and wasn’t part of a deal made by the state decades ago.
Property owner Paula Carroll wants the property to be added to the park, said her listing agent, Ron Admiral.
She worked for two years to get state parks to buy it but decided to list the property on the market when it fell off a priority list for acquisition, Admiral said.
Now those who fought to preserve the forest in the 1970s have a line on the money needed to buy the private grove that the popular Wilbert Trail now passes through.
The Washington State Parks Department sent a letter indicating that it will pay at least $200,000 to buy the land if someone else can come up with the rest of the $383,000 price tag.
The Whidbey Camano Land Trust has filed a petition with the Island County Commission to pay the remaining $192,000 with a property tax fund used for buying and protecting sensitive parcels of land in the county.
The commission will take up the proposal at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug 28. The meeting location has not yet been announced.
“We are so pleased and gratified that Island County has begun this process,” said Sue Ellen White, a spokeswoman for Save The Trees.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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