On Saturday, June 15, the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank, in partnership with the San Juan Preservation Trust, held a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a new trail on the Cady Mountain Preserve. A dedicated group of hikers, volunteers, Land Bank and Preservation Trust staff gathered for the momentous occasion that culminates nearly twenty years in the making. The 2-mile trail connects to Roche Harbor property as well as Mitchell Hill and English Camp, allowing hikers to walk all the way from the trailhead on Three Corner Lake Road all the way to Roche Harbor.

The acquisition of the Cady Mountain Preservation has involved six separate transactions between 2003 and 2022, with 470 acres of protected land, according to the Land Bank’s website. During the ceremony on June 15, Lincoln Bormann, Director of the Land Bank, mentioned that when he first started working for the Land Bank in 2005, he was met with criticism about the property.

“‘I don’t know why the Land Bank is buying property out in Cady Mountain. That’s never gonna be developed, no one will ever see it,” quoted Bormann of the naysayers, followed by laughter from the ceremony attendees.

Bormann went on to describe the uniqueness of the property and the subsequent trail that the public has access to for the first time.

“It’s really a special place from an ecological standpoint,” said Bormann. “It goes all the way up over the top of Cady Mountain and things are quite different over there: you’ve got Garry oaks, south-facing slopes, a lot more wildflower areas in places. On the other side, you’ve got more of the wet forest and wetlands areas. It’s a real wildlife haven for the islands as well, so obviously, everyone who comes here should think of themselves as a visitor.”

The trail connects to the Roche Harbor Highlands which is privately owned and is open to the public by permission only, which could change. Additionally, the trailhead on Three Corner Lake Road is surrounded by a residential area, another reason that visitors should take care to treat their surroundings with respect.

Vickie Edwards, Conservation Director for the San Juan Preservation Trust, came forward to thank the attendees as well as the Land Bank and the many partners that helped make the Cady Mountain trail a reality.

“This [project] could not be done without the unique partnership that the San Juan Preservation Trust has with the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank and all of you,” said Edwards. “This is building upon the many partnerships we have with the Land Bank. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we’re able to bring in private dollars to be able to support these projects and leverage our resources with the public entity, [like] the real estate excise tax as well as other sources to see these projects come to fruition.”

Edwards gave other examples of successful projects that the Preservation Trust and Land Bank have partnered on, such as work on Beaverton Marsh, Turtleback on Orcas, and now Cady Mountain. According to Edwards, these projects include many phases, the first being initial conversations to discuss who brings what to the table to eventually have it completed, followed by a second phase in which the Preservation Trust purchases a conservation easement from the Land Bank. Edwards concluded by thanking the 50 individuals and entities who helped raise $500,000 to complete the Cady Mountain trail and mentioned that other exciting projects were expected to be completed this year including Northshore on Orcas.

The ceremony closed with final remarks from Doug McCutchen, San Juan Island Preserve Steward for the Land Bank. McCutchen thanked the many organizations who worked on the trail and parking area, including the Washington Conservation Corps and the Island Conservation Corps, as well as American Hiking Society Volunteer Vacations, where participants across the country traveled to San Juan Island to work on the trail, digging up roots and moving rocks.

McCutchen also thanked the many local volunteers who dedicated their time to the project, some of whom were retired contractors and landscape architects who helped build the kiosk at the trailhead. McCutchen estimates that thousands of hours were spent by the volunteers and organizations to create the trail, emphasizing how the community effort made the trail a reality, and hopes that those who come to enjoy the trail truly connect to this place and share their experience.

“What I really want to hone in on is this community effort, and this root of the community being ‘common unity,’ this sense of shared values and a sense of shared place and belonging,” said McCutchen. “It’s more than just us humans, but it’s the non-human world as well, and there are stories that go along with that….Trails are a story that you read and you experience: it’s a visual experience, it’s an auditory experience, it has a beginning, middle and an end. It changes over time, and we are a part of that change, we are a part of that place.”