Published Valentines Day 2019

Today you know it as Frog Holler Forest, Vashon's newest Community Forest Preserve. It might

never have come to be, if not for a child of

the Island who happened to become a Land

Trust Board Member in 2005.

She grew up with the island as her playground.

Today, armed with a PhD in ecosystem analysis

and a passion for educating and connecting

people to Vashon’s diverse ecosystems, Bianca

Perla is the Director of Vashon Nature Center.

She remembers being able to leave her house

at Lisabeula on horseback, heading either north

through what is today known as Island Center

Forest - or south to Lost Lake; never having to cross more

than two roads each direction. Most of these trails were on private property. They might shift or get

rerouted when a property changed ownership, but it never occurred to Bianca that they could be

blocked.

Bianca began to notice a change in the mid-1990’s when visiting home from college. Fences and

Keep Out signs started showing up along the old trail routes. The long, contiguous, off road sections

she loved were becoming shorter and shorter. “It felt less welcoming”, said Bianca in January.

The good news was that despite the changes to the island’s trails, the beauty and ecological

functioning of the islands landscapes seemed to be largely intact. Having spent time in Palo Alto,

California and Flagstaff, Arizona, Bianca appreciated that.

Relative to those places, Vashon hadn’t changed much.

Photo Bianca and baby Orion

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Frog Holler Forest photo by Woody Peterson 2019

Continued,

When Bianca and her husband, Rusty, moved to the island in 2003, the Land Trust recruited

Bianca to join the Board of Directors. She had deep, local knowledge, a PhD in ecosystem

analysis, experience working on large scale conservation planning projects, and had recently

completed a course in Geographic Information System

(GIS) tools and applications. GIS was catching on as a

mapping tool 15 years ago, but using it to analyze

landscapes was still quite rare.

The beauty of GIS for conservation planning lies in the

way it sorts and displays spatial data. It can answer

complex questions in ways that simply looking at a

map can’t.

While the Land Trust had already been thinking

spatially in terms of wildlife corridors and linked

habitats (think Fisher Pond to Fern Cove along

Shinglemill Creek and Island Center Forest to

Quartermaster Harbor along Judd Creek), that focus

had centered around creeks with watershed protection

as the goal.

But Vashon is more than watersheds. What could this

fancy new tool, GIS, tell us? Bianca had a question.

How many undeveloped parcels, 10 acres or more,

were left on Vashon? And where were they?

She called it her Big Parcel Project.

When she ran the analysis, the whole south end of Vashon glowed

red on the map. There were many of these parcels - most of them

fully forested. They were unprotected, undeveloped and easily

buildable. There also weren't any public trail systems on that part of

the island. The GIS map was telling her that this area of the island

was at high risk for change. Bianca knew that these forest blocs

were vital for migratory songbirds, pollinators, and large carnivores.

Forests play an important role in addressing climate change –

cooling the air, seeping water into the aquifer, and capturing

carbon.

The Land Trust has long had its eye on the forested acres around Lost Lake. It has tried for years

to broker a deal to protect them. But beyond that, we hadn’t thought much about the rest of the

south end.

Photo Frog Holler Forest by Bella Ormseth

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Continued,

After Bianca’s GIS analysis it became clear that we should.

So Tom Dean, Land Trust Director, did what he always does when a property or an area become a

conservation target. He reached out to landowners. What were their plans for the land? If not

development, had they ever thought about putting the acres into

conservation? In the case of Sheila and Richard Doane in 2016,

Tom found an interested party.

But the Land Trust did not have the money to purchase 60 acres or

the staff to steward a property of this size. Maybe King County

would partner with the Land Trust on this project. Tom had the

relationship with the landowners. The County could bring financial

and human resources to the table.

Initially the county wasn’t interested. They were more focused on

forests located in the eastern part of the county. But one thing

about the project caught and held their attention – the existence of an established network of multi-

use trails.

Lucky for all of us, Sheila and Richard Doane agreed to hold the property until county funding

came available. In December 2017, the sale was completed. Out of the proceeds, Sheila and

Richard made a gift to the Land Trust. Frog Holler Forest was born. That was just the beginning.

Early in 2018, a phone call came from Chicago

regarding the estate of an off-island landowner

that included 40 acres near the Doanes. Then

in August of 2018, Don Cole and Joan Wortis

sold their neighboring acreage to the county as

well. Like the Doanes, they too made a gift to

the Land Trust out of the proceeds.

Frog Holler was growing and growing fast.

Then unexpectedly, in the dead of winter

between Christmas and New Years last year,

Emma Amiad, Land Trust Founder, called Tom with an alert regarding a property that had just

been listed. Two parcels – nine acres of undeveloped forest on the west side of Wax Orchard

across the street from Frog Holler Forest. The parcels are adjacent to 16 acres that were gifted to

the Land Trust by Tom and Margaret Hodnett back in 2004.

Thanks to a generous community, the Land Trust’s Opportunity Fund had the resources available

Photo Sheila and Richard Doane at Frog Holler Community Ribbon Cutting 2017

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Continued,

for Tom to make an offer and go into

contract immediately on December 30th.

It’s called the Opportunity Fund for a

reason! It will be looking a bit sad today

after the closing…

The Land Trust closed the property

purchase February 15, 2019. For now,

the Land Trust will hold the property with

the hopes that the county will be able to

purchase it when funding comes

available. King County funding cycles

don’t typically line up with acquisition

opportunities. That’s where the Land

Trust comes in.

These new 25 acres will be added to Frog Holler Forest, bringing it to 135 acres of carbon

sequestering forest habitat with miles of trails for our enjoyment. And opportunities to build new trails

- permanent routes that can be passed on to Bianca’s children and their children. Trails to be

enjoyed by those who are rooted here by many generations as well as newcomers.

The what, when, why, and how of conservation on Vashon has a distinct flavor to it. It results from a

special recipe that includes intimate knowledge of the landscape, lucky timing, and a super-sized

commitment that can only come from people who know and love the magic that is Vashon. That's

you!

Happy Valentines Day, Land Trustians!

We (heart) you!

Photo Frog Holler Winter Light by Woody Peterson 2019

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