Bainbridge Island Land Trust

The Bainbridge Island Land Trust's mission is to preserve and steward the diverse natural environment of Bainbridge Island for the benefit of all. To achieve this goal, the Bainbridge Island Land Trust acquires interests in land having significant or potentially significant conservation values such as scenic vistas, wetlands, open spaces, tidelands, forest, unique plant and animal habitats and stream and wildlife corridors. We work with private landowners to protect their land using land protection agreements called conservation easements. We also work with a variety of partners to acquire land for parks, trails and public use.

The Bainbridge Island Land Trust?s mission is to preserve and steward the diverse natural environment of Bainbridge Island for the benefit of all. The Bainbridge Island Land Trust was started in 1989 by architects Nate Thomas, Jim Cutler, Mike Ryherd, a state lobbyist and Paul Kundtz, an attorney. This group and others were concerned about growth on Bainbridge Island and established the Land Trust to provide a mechanism for landowners to protect and preserve their property. The first two conservation easements followed quickly after the organization's inception. Willowbrook Farm, at the corner of Highway 305 and Day Road, was originally slated to become a driving range. The Land Trust worked to acquire the property, sell it to a conservation-minded buyer and place a conservation easement on the piece, protecting the scenic rolling hills and meadows we enjoy today. Phyllis Young placed the second conservation easement on her property at Battle Point Spit on the west side of Bainbridge Island soon after the Willowbrook Farm transaction was completed. The agreement with the Land Trust protects a marine estuary and important shoreline habitat. Twenty years after its founding, the Land Trust has helped to protect over 1,100 acres of vulnerable forestlands, wetlands, meadows, shorelines, agricultural lands, riparian corridors and scenic vistas, of which more than 897 acres are open to the public.