Island Dispatch | Spring 2023
IT TAKES A MOUNTAIN
A pair of projects on Cady Mountain add to one of the largest conservation complexes in the San Juans.
View of Cady Mountain | Staff Archive
In a group of islands known for magical places, Cady Mountain literally stands out. Rising to just under 900 feet, the heavily wooded mountain provides a “window to a hidden world,” says Lincoln Bormann, Director of the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank.
“Who knew about its extensive forests and wetlands, Garry oak woodlands and flower-filled meadows?” he adds. “The acquisition of properties on Cady Mountain has unlocked this for all of us.”
Keynote Speaker Valerie Segrest | Courtesy Tahoma Peak Solutions
You’re Invited!
Please join us online for the San Juan Preservation Trust’s Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting.
When: Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 5:00pm
To attend: Sign up here: sjpt.org/meeting2023
We look forward to sharing the many ways in which, thanks to your support, SJPT’s board and staff have worked hard this past year to advance our mission to CONSERVE island land, CARE for the land we protect with our partners, and CONNECT land and people.
Join us as we:
• Share the year’s program highlights
• Review the organization’s finances
• Announce results of the Board of Directors election*
• Present awards and special recognitions
To top off the evening’s agenda, keynote speaker Valerie Segrest will give a presentation titled “The Gift of Native Foods.” Valerie, a member of the Muckleshoot Tribe, is a cofounder of Tahoma Peak Solutions, an Indigenous women-led consulting practice that specializes in cultural education, strategic communications through a Native lens, and food-systems planning based on Native plant ways of the Northwest.
We look forward to seeing you on May 18!
* If you are a current SJPT member and have not received an email with a link to vote in this year’s Board of Directors election, go to sjpt.org/2023ballot
Announcing Our 2022-23 Volunteer of the Year
Each year, the San Juan Preservation Trust’s staff selects an individual whose efforts exemplify the best qualities of our awesome volunteer corps—cheerful dedication and diligence in support of our mission. We have chosen to honor Kristin Tolle as our 2022-23 Volunteer of the Year.
Kristin, a resident of Orcas Island, topped the list of our volunteers in the number of hours logged over the past year, pitching in to help with a variety of stewardship projects on multiple islands.
Kristin is often at Orcas Island’s Turtleback Mountain Preserve and, a bit farther along the trail, Turtlehead Preserve, where she helps keep trails clear from debris, removes invasive plants such as tansy and mullein, and assists in locating previously unidentified Garry oak trees for mapping and protection. She’s also logged countless hours submitting scientific observations through her detailed Preserve Steward reports.
Kristin has also made herself indispensable on Reef Island, where she set up and refined our Littoral and Marine Observation Project in iNaturalist. Kristin also attended volunteer work parties on Stuart Island and at the Keel Preserve in 2022.
After purchasing a home near West Beach on Orcas Island in 2014, Kristin quickly jumped in to become an active member of the community. She was recognized in 2021 for her outstanding volunteer work at OPAL Community Land Trust, where she applied her
background in data science to improve OPAL’s planning and file-storage processes.
Thank you, Kristin, for all you’ve done to make the islands a better place.
