Project Story

For seven years, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has spearheaded efforts to transfer all remaining state school trust lands in Island County to a permanent protected status. All of these trust lands were on the Washington Department of Natural Resource’s (WDNR) “disposal” list, meaning these properties were to be auctioned off, likely resulting in the forests being cut and the land developed.

The Trust Land Transfer (TLT) Program is an innovative way to transfer, at no cost, state lands with special values to local or state agencies which then protect them for their conservation values. The dollars expended yield triple benefits - as explained below. The state’s school children benefit and so do residents.

In 1989, a bipartisan group of state leaders initiated the TLT program as an innovative approach to school construction funding with multiple benefits. The program helps address the urgent need for school construction, protects Washington’s natural heritage, and results in upgrading school trust assets to generate long-term revenue for school construction. Here’s how the program works:

WDNR manages about 1.8 million acres of school trust lands across Washington State. The revenue generated from the lands’ timber harvests helps fund public school construction. However, some of this land does not produce adequate revenue or contains important ecological or recreational qualities. Every biennium, the state legislature approves and funds the transfer of these kinds of parcels to local and state agencies to provide long-term conservation protection. The parcels are appraised for their timber and land value. The monetary value of the unharvested timber is deposited into the school construction fund and the monetary value of the land is deposited into WDNR’s land replacement account, which is used to buy replacement trust land in Washington with higher, long-term income potential.

The Land Trust’s campaign has been incredibly successful. All but one of the remaining 14 school trust properties in Island County have been transferred to local public agencies. Instead of being auctioned off and developed, all 14 were added to the transfer list thanks to active lobbying by the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, calls and emails from islanders, and support from the Island County Commissioners and local state legislators. The properties include the 600-acre Putney Woods on South Whidbey with mature forest and trails, a waterfront property in Central Whidbey that provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife, and 46 acres of prime farmland and a forest buffer on North Whidbey. The remaining 40- acre property will be transferred to the Clinton Water District in 2010. This property contains the District’s well and water system.

To date, more than 3,400 acres in Island County have been transferred to protected status under this program, including large tracts of land that are now part of Fort Ebey, South Whidbey and Deception Pass State Parks.