conservation

Although I am thrilled to be the first “guest” at the Belle Baldwin house at Fern Cove, I’d like to be sure everyone understands that many people were involved in its acquisition and preservation, even before I came on the scene.

My mission, while on the Vashon Park District board, was to advocate for restoration of the Baldwin house so it could be used by the community and could potentially help pay its own expenses through being rented out, much as we’ve done with Point Robinson.

At the same time my involvement with the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust inspired me to seek a conservation easement on the property to insure permanent protection of the fragile ecosystem of Fern Cove.

Long before I was on the Vashon park board, a group formed around trying to save this fantastic estuary, with its exceptional wildlife habitat and historic Island house.

Formed in 1993, they called themselves Friends of Fern Cove. The primary movers and shakers were Joel and Yvonne Kuperberg, Duncan and Melany Berry (who lived at Fern Cove for a time), Doug Dolstad, Dana Illo and Merrilee Runyan. Many others became involved as the organization grew.

They worked to raise money and find a way to save this irreplaceable property. Working with the Vashon Park District and volunteers from the land trust as well as our local Audubon chapter, they presented a grant proposal to the state of Washington and were rated number one out of 23 projects statewide. This gave them half of the money needed to buy the property.

Emma Amiad, who was the chairperson of the park district and actively involved in the preservation effort, took on negotiating with King County to come up with the rest of the money.

With the help of Greg Nickels, our county councilman at the time, Gary Locke, who was then the King County executive, and Gene Duvernoy, a conservation consultant and former county open space program director, the funds were forthcoming. By the end of 1994 the 13.5-acre property was owned by the Vashon Park District.

This wasn’t the first time that the land trust and park district had worked together to save some of the special places on Vashon.

Both organizations had been involved in saving special Island places for many years when, in 1992, the Mileta Creek Preserve was acquired as a joint venture between the two organizations. They have continue to work together to preserve wildlife habitat, trails and special open space ever since.

Today, the dreams of the Friends of Fern Cove have become a reality. Thanks to a small group of dedicated volunteers, we have the natural jewel of Fern Cove protected in perpetuity.

It’s vital that we remember our history, thank those who have served our community and remain aware of the hard work it takes on the part of many volunteers to bring these visions to reality. I am proud to have been a part of such a vision.

— Julie Burman was the executive director of the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust from 2000 to 2003 and a board member of the Vashon Park District from 2004 to 2007.

t Fern Cove is a ‘natural jewel’ on the north end of Vashon.