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Nature Conservancy transfers Ebey’s Landing easement to NPS
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, Ivan Doig to speak at March 25^th event

Coupeville, WA—March 25, 2005— The Nature Conservancy has transferred an easement protecting 325 acres of forestland at Ebey’s Landing on Whidbey Island to the National Park Service, donating to the public more than half of the value of this $3.5 million land protection agreement, the Conservancy announced Wednesday.

A ceremony marking this event will be held at Ebey’s Landing near Coupeville at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 25^th. U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen will speak at the event, as well as well-known author Ivan Doig and several local dignitaries.

The event caps the Nature Conservancy’s successful campaign to protect the West Woods, a 325-acre parcel that flanks the much-loved bluff at Ebey’s Landing. The Park Service, which oversees Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, and the Conservancy have just completed a scenic easement—a type of land protection agreement—that keeps the Conservancy as the underlying landowner and transfers partial management to the Park Service.

The Park Service, with monies from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), paid the Conservancy $1.4 million for the $3.5 million easement (a figure determined by an independent appraiser based on fair market value). That means the Conservancy is donating more than $2 million to the Park Service—money raised by the Conservancy from hundreds of individuals—to help safeguard this gem.

"The Ebey’s project stands as a sterling example of an authentic partnership, demonstrating the way individuals, working together with the Conservancy, can protect a place they love," said David Weekes, director of the Conservancy’s Washington program. "It’s also a testament to the important role members of Congress—such as Rick Larsen, Patty Murray, and Maria Cantwell—can play by ensuring that a federal appropriation went to support Ebey’s Landing."

"Protection of the West Woods would have been completely out of reach but for the Nature Conservancy’s involvement," said Rob Harbour, director of the Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. "We asked them to step in when we realized that, without some kind of big save, this land would likely be sold for residential development. Thanks to the Conservancy, hundreds of donors, and Congress, the West Woods are protected in perpetuity."

The Conservancy is now working to secure an additional $500,000 federal appropriation for the Park Service, which has proposed purchasing an easement on a 35-acre Conservancy holding that surrounds the 150-year-old Ferry House. If successful, the Conservancy will use these funds, plus $100,000 from the sale of the West Woods easement, to establish stewardship endowments for ecological restoration and historical preservation at Ebey’s Landing.

The campaign to protect Ebey’s Landing began with a generous donation by Robert Pratt, whose family owned much of Ebey’s Landing for nearly a century. Pratt, a Seattle resident, died in 1999. He specified in his will that a nonprofit land conservation group receive 147 acres of his land—including the famous bluff at Ebey’s Landing, a privately held but publicly loved headland laced by one of the Northwest’s most popular coastal trails. The estate selected the Conservancy as the recipient.

Another 407 acres of the Pratt Estate were to be sold on the open market, however, if the Conservancy did not step in. The bulk of that land was the West Woods, a mature coastal forest that flanks the bluff and commands dramatic views of Admiralty Inlet. The holdings are within the boundaries of the 17,000-acre Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve.

The Conservancy’s efforts are in keeping with the Park Service’s approach at the Ebey’s Landing reserve, where the Park Service owns little land outright and instead works closely with farmers, other private landowners, and conservation groups to protect by way of easements what the Park Service calls a "working landscape."

"The reserve has been created by way of public/private partnerships. The Park Service and the Conservancy are building on that tradition," Harbour said. "Such a partnership is a huge benefit to the public. It gives us an opportunity to use both public and private dollars to safeguard a place that people have loved for years."

To date, the Park Service has protected more than 2,000 acres at Ebey’s Landing using proceeds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. LWCF, created by Congress in 1965, allocates royalties paid by private companies for the privilege of developing offshore oil and gas resources to protect land and water for recreational uses, open space and wildlife habitat.