"For Sale": fighting words on Whidbey Island forestland

LANGLEY, Island County — Sue Ellen White went right to work when she heard that a "For Sale" sign was posted on a trail that leads to a tract of old-growth forest she's visited for decades in South Whidbey State Park.

She arranged a community meeting. She called the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. She was prepared to restart her defunct activist organization.

Thirty years ago, White was among the Whidbey Island residents who fought to preserve the 255 acres of towering trees known as the Classic U forest. The controversy got so heated that activists blocked bulldozers from building roads through the trees and filed a lawsuit to stop the forest from being logged.

Now, she and other people who were in the 1977 battle worry that the sale of 7.3 acres of private land that borders part of the Classic U will restrict access to the forest.

"It's sort of like the sacred cow that's been threatened here," said White, 61, who lives in Langley.

The 0.8-mile Wilbert Trail leading from Smugglers Cove Road to the Classic U crosses the private parcel that's now for sale.

The trail is well-used by park visitors and provides easy access to a nearby giant Western red cedar that stands hundreds of feet tall and 27 feet in circumference.

White also worries that if the private land is sold and logged, some old-growth trees on park land would be at risk for wind damage and other ecological imbalances.

The current owner said she can no longer afford the taxes on the land and is looking for a buyer who will preserve the forest. The State Parks Department has been interested in buying the land for years, but says it doesn't have the money and is looking for help.

Realtor Diana Campbell, who owns John L. Scott South Whidbey Island, said there is little chance the private land would be logged because of its link to the Classic U, an area prized by the community.

Whidbey Island residents mobilized to protect the Classic U in 1977 when the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) planned to clear-cut the timber. The DNR at the time managed the land to generate revenue for the University of Washington.

White co-founded a group called Save the Trees, which tried to delay the clear-cutting by suing the state for not preparing an environmental-impact statement.

The activists declared victory when then-Gov. Booth Gardner signed a bill in 1985 that made the property part of South Whidbey State Park.

"The whole community came together to save the Classic U forest," said Patty Anderson, manager for South Whidbey State Park. "So there's a real tight bond with the community to see that this property is purchased and not developed."

Undisturbed forest

The Classic U is one of the few remaining patches of relatively undisturbed forest in the lowland Puget Sound area, said Steve Erickson, a restoration ecologist.

For some South Whidbey residents, conserving the adjacent private parcel would help protect a landscape that's becoming increasingly rare in an area that's seen rapid growth.

"The town is growing very quickly because a lot of people want to get their piece of a rural island while they still can," said Nancy Rowan, executive director of the Langley Chamber of Commerce.

On a walk this week along the Wilbert Trail, streams of sunlight filtered through the trees, some so tall that their tops disappeared into the canopy. Erickson picked up hemlock cones and pointed to alders and leafy skunk cabbage, naming species as he moved along.

"The forest provides profound rest for human spirits, clean air for the lungs and visual aesthetics," said Karen Epifano, a Clinton resident who wore a tie-dyed shirt and no shoes as she walked the trail.

Taking a break, she wrapped her arms around the trunk of a nearby hemlock.

Searching for a buyer

Paula Carroll inherited the 7.3-acre parcel in 1989 from her father, who bought it in the early 1970s.

She hasn't developed the property and has allowed park visitors to cross the land when walking the trail.

Save the Trees cut the trail in 1977 to guide tours as part of its campaign to protect the forest, not knowing it was on private land, White said.

Carroll said she can't afford to continue to pay the property taxes and decided to sell.

"My entire postulate is to find an environmentally friendly person who wants to conserve this land," Carroll said.

She said she won't sell to a logging company and that condominiums can't be built there because of zoning restrictions that limit development to one home for every five acres.

Carroll offered to sell the land to the State Parks Department about two years ago, she said.

An offer arrived at the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission last year for $283,000, about $100,000 below market value, said Bill Koss, the department's planning program manager.

The Parks Department looked at a couple of possible sources of money to buy the property, he said.

But the land wasn't a good match for the first grant, which was aimed at recreational property, and was too expensive for the second grant, Koss said.

State parks officials also explored the idea of buying an easement for the trail, or buying the two acres that include the trail, Koss said. Carroll, however, said she wants to sell the property as one piece to provide a buffer for the state park.

Now, the state Parks Department is looking for help to pay for the land. On Wednesday, it contacted the Whidbey Camano Land Trust to negotiate a deal with the owner.

"The idea is to secure the land so that we can figure out if there's a way to acquire it," said Virginia Painter, a state parks spokeswoman.

White said she'd be thrilled if that happened.

"It represents in our history our willingness and ability to pull together as a whole community over a long period of time for something that was extremely important to us," White said.

Anne Kim: 206-464-2591 or akim@seattletimes.com