Submitted by Kirman Taylor for Lopez Trails

In the 1990s, the Lopez community lost a 387-acre community treasure when Paul Allen bought the land on which Camp Nor’Wester sat. Lopez temporarily avoided a similar loss a decade ago, when Lopez Hill was put on the market by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Our community now has an opportunity to acquire Lopez Hill and Odlin South forever.

Lopez Hill is 400 acres of wooded land owned by the DNR and managed by San Juan County Land Bank. Located just east of Lopez School it is crisscrossed with 4.5 miles of trails for hiking and biking. Friends of Lopez Hill and others developed the trails over many years. Odlin South has100 acres of undeveloped land south of Odlin Park, presently managed by San Juan County Parks.

In April 2006 it came to the attention of FOLH that the DNR was negotiating with Tim Blixeth, a developer, to trade Lopez Hill for timberland in Eastern Washington. The DNR had been divesting all its holdings of Trust Lands in San Juan County because it could not harvest the timber on SJC lands to fund State Schools, which is their mission.

When the Friends of Lopez Hill learned about the trade deal they mobilized to stop it.

The Lopez community’s efforts succeeded in preventing the sale to the developer. Instead, the State of Washington funded (in advance) a 50 year lease of the land to San Juan County through bonds. The revenue from this lease enabled the DNR to give almost 85 percent of the land’s value in cash to fund State Schools. (Land sales by the DNR require 90 percent to be reinvested in replacement property.)

Both Lopez Hill and Odlin South are now leased by the DNR to San Juan County for 50 years. Both leases include the option to purchase the properties. Because most of the value of the land has already been paid to the DNR there is a unique opportunity for our community to acquire the ownership of these lands for less than 25 percent of their value at the time the leases were signed (2007 for Lopez Hill and 2009 for Odlin South).

Why should San Juan County purchase Lopez Hill and Odlin South? They are beautiful public properties we can all share; the price is low; we can keep them for conservation and recreation forever.

The Land Bank, as the county agency managing the property, has asked Friends of Lopez Hill and Lopez Community Trails Network to assess the community’s support for the purchase of these two properties. Once assured that the support exists, the County can move ahead with exercising the option to purchase, which starts with an appraisal of the land to establish the acquisition price. When the cost is known the County will endeavor to raise the funds.

There will be no levies or taxes involved in this purchase. Funds will come from San Juan County via the Land Bank, which already collects a tax on real estate sales. They will search for other organizations to contribute, apply for grants and possibly, like Watmough, ask the community for voluntary contributions. Presently emails soliciting replies are being sent to members of the community. Those who do not receive an email, can express their opinion on this matter by emailing info@LopezTrails.org. Those without email can call 468-2474. Everyone with a concern for our island and its natural resources is welcome to reply.