The San Juan Preservation Trust has conveyed a 26-acre property on the northeast shore of Orcas Island to Washington State Parks, providing Moran State Park with its very first accessible saltwater beach.

Originally purchased in 2008 from an Orcas Island family with a strong desire to see the property folded into the adjacent park, the Preservation Trust had held the property for the past two years while State Parks assembled the funds it needed to acquire the property. A Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant, subsequently secured by State Parks, was used to purchase the property from the Preservation Trust.

Initially lacking funds for the purchase, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission approached the San Juan Preservation Trust in 2007 to explore alternative ways to acquire the property. Recognizing this unique opportunity to add the first accessible saltwater beach to Moran State Park, the Preservation Trust’s board of trustees approved a plan to acquire the property on behalf of the park.

“Connie Collingsworth and Allen Wilcox, the original landowners, deserve credit for bringing this all together,” said Tim Seifert, Executive Director of the Preservation Trust. “They were resolved to make this land part of the park, so they sold the property to us at a price significantly below its market value.”

In addition to providing an accessible saltwater beach to Moran State Park, this undeveloped parcel will eventually give park visitors access to new trails, an historic lime kiln, stunning views of Mt. Baker, and over 1,200 feet of shoreline along Orcas Island’s remote northeast shore on the Strait of Georgia (directly across from Clark and Barnes Islands).