Avent/Thomas/Devore Neighborhood Conservation Easement

Lopez Island

Three Lopez families long recognized that the expansive forest-lined meadow they share forms an important agricultural resource, wildlife migration corridor and a popular sweeping view of Swifts Bay for motorists traveling along Center Road (Lopez’s main thoroughfare).

Together, the Avent, DeVore and Thomas families approached the Preservation Trust to create a 70-acre “neighborhood easement” that would permanently conserve the natural assets they owned in common.

“The meadow we share is important to Lopezians, and we know that future landowners may not necessarily be as inclined to work together to make something like this happen,” remarked Barb Thomas. “So we took it upon ourselves to do something to protect it.”