Working with Washington State Parks and landowners Allen Wilcox and Connie Collin, the San Juan Preservation Trust has purchased a 26-acre low-bank waterfront parcel adjacent to Moran State Park to be held by the Trust until State Parks has funds to purchase the property.

A lease, at no charge to the park, is being negotiated to provide public access to the trails, historic limekiln, views of Mt. Baker, and 1,200 feet of shoreline along Orcas Island’s remote northeast shore (directly across from Clark and Barnes Islands) until the state park has the funds to purchase the property. The land will give the state park its first accessible saltwater beach.

Wilcox and Collin had offered the parcel to State Parks at a price below market value. The San Juan Preservation Trust (www.sjpt.org )is a private, non-profit land conservation organization.