Island Dispatch | Fall 2025
IT TAKES A NEIGHBORHOOD
Small-scale conservation can add up to something big
Photo Credit | Staff Archive
Protecting the Future Mt. Ben West Preserve
Membership Matters
Sunny Point: Love, Lost, and a Lasting Legacy
Newsletter Archives
Photo Credit | Staff Archive
On the western flank of San Juan Island, a ridge near Mt. Ben rises above Haro Strait, overlooking Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula. Rocky balds dot the landscape, and veteran Douglas firs stand firm. Huddled among young conifers, pockets of Garry oak—one of the most threatened keystone species in the San Juans—reach for sunlight. Eagles drift overhead, and the scent of madrone leaves warms in the afternoon heat.
This is the future Mt. Ben West Preserve, a 30-acre property that, if conserved, will fill a critical gap between existing San Juan County Conservation Land Bank and SJPT preserves, opening the way for a continuous public trail stretching from the shores of San Juan Island to the top of Mt. Ben.
Getting the youth involved in structure repair | Staff Archive
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
As a member of the San Juan Preservation Trust, you ensure that even more of the beautiful places we all treasure are conserved and cared for, now and for generations to come. Here are just some of the ways you are helping to advance our mission with your membership:
CONSERVE
This March, we celebrated the official recording of the North Shore Preserve conservation easement, securing the protection of 58 acres of upland forest and 1,850 feet of Orcas Island public shoreline as a permanent site for conservation and restoration. We’re now thrilled to announce a major new effort to safeguard 30 acres of veteran Douglas firs, rocky balds, and Garry oak habitat along with sweeping views of Haro Strait at the future Mt. Ben West Preserve. (Read more inside this newsletter!)
CARE
With your support, our stewardship staff have been hard at work restoring riparian habitats, planting over 500 plants along San Juan Creek at our Sundstrom Farm Preserve, including a grove of 35 Garry oaks on the creek’s east side. The 2025 Western Bluebird season saw record returns, with 28 adults returning to San Juan Island this spring. Thanks to our dedicated partners and volunteers, we built a temporary aviary at Krystal Acres farm, where we successfully translocated and released another adult pair and their nestlings.
CONNECT
We’ve welcomed many familiar and new faces to our new monthly “Walk ‘n Talk” series—an engaging way to bring the community together for fresh air and meaningful conversations on protected lands. The Youth Conservation Corps joined us again for several service-learning outings, including installing new raised walkways at the Ihiya Biological Preserve on San Juan Island.
Our members are true partners in all that we do. Together, we conserve and revitalize critical natural systems, creating a brighter future for the people, wildlife, and landscapes of the San Juan Islands. Renewing your membership with the Preservation Trust helps us carry this mission forward, and we are deeply grateful for your continued partnership!
Sunny Point: Love, Loss, and a Lasting Legacy
In 2018, thanks to Molly Laxström Ciliberti and in honor of her late husband, Jack, the San Juan Preservation Trust established a conservation easement to protect 7.7 acres at the southern tip of Stuart Island. Last year, Molly generously offered to donate the entire property—lovingly known as “Sunny Point”—to the Preservation Trust.
Molly and Jack met in Seattle while working as a nurse and a doctor, marrying in 1982. Sailing trips to the San Juans and Alaska drew them to Stuart Island’s Reid Harbor for safety and rest. In 1988, they purchased Sunny Point, which over the years became their cherished paradise. “You can’t sell paradise,” Molly says. “You can only love and protect it, and all its inhabitants.” Jack’s life was tragically cut short in a 2014 plane crash, and in the following years, Molly’s health and the ache of missing her husband kept her from visiting Stuart Island. Still, she never let go of her love and obligation for Sunny Point.
Molly’s family has long been tied to nature. Her ancestors are the Saami, the Indigenous people of the Arctic regions of Scandinavia and Russia, whose lives as reindeer herders have long been intertwined with the rhythms of the land. In her letter of intent for the parcel gift, Molly wrote, “I can’t save the world, but I can save our precious place. There is no other like it in the world.”
Sunny Point officially became the San Juan Preservation Trust Sunny Point Preserve in 2025. This June, our stewardship team began assessing its 1,400 feet of rocky, meadow-rimmed shoreline and 7.7 acres of mixed forest.
As for Molly’s hope for the future of Sunny Point, she says: “The Saami believe we don’t really own this land; the eagles would be quick to point this out. We are here for a snowflake’s time—to crystallize and then be gone. The Earth owns itself … we are visitors, blessed just to be here. My profession as a nurse was to save lives; I want to save this special place for the lives that depend on it.”
The San Juan Preservation Trust is honored to fulfill Molly and Jack’s dream of preserving Sunny Point in perpetuity. We acknowledge the privilege of caring for and conserving this beautiful place as a gift for generations to come.
