The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) has purchased a 67-acre property at Shinglemill Creek, preserving a piece of land that includes salmon habitat, mixed forest and one of the most popular hiking trails on the island.

The property, which the county closed on last week, will be added to the 108-acre Shinglemill Creek preserve, which is managed by King County, the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust and the Vashon Park District.

DNRP purchased the property for $240,000 from the county’s Road Services Division, which has owned it for years and allowed trail building and conservation projects there, said Greg Rabourn, Vashon’s basin steward for King County.

The property begins at Cedarhurst Road near Fern Cove and stretches south, encompassing 800 feet of  creek. In 2009, the land trust built a now-popular trail at the site, a 2-mile trek that begins behind Vashon Community Care and ends at Fern Cove.

While Rabourn was unsure why the roads division owned the piece of land in the first place, he said the 67 acres was up for surplus and could have been purchased by a private party had DNRP been unable to buy it.

“It could have potentially gone away,” Rabourn said. “It could have been a step in the wrong direction.”

Funds for the purchase came from the King County parks levy and the county’s Conservation Futures Tax. Rabourn said the county, in partnership with the land trust, would continue conservation projects at the site, but the stream and forest are in fairly good health.

“We’ll continue to steward it in the same way it’s been done,” he said.