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Land trust works to keep South Sound natural

From its humble beginning in 1989, the Capitol Land Trust has been key in staving off development on 41 special places in South Sound totaling more than 2,800 acres.

The land trust uses all of the tools in the book to keep natural areas natural, leveraging state grants and private donations to purchase property from willing sellers or negotiate conservation easements that allow private property owners to live on their land, but keep the developers permanently at bay.

As I drove to the Capitol Land Trust's fourth annual conservation breakfast earlier this week at Saint Martin's University's Worthington Center, I had plenty of visual reminders of South Sound growth and development and memories of a less hectic, pastoral time when Thurston County was home to fewer than 60,000 people.

To reach the breakfast, I traveled down College Street, just ahead of the morning rush-hour traffic that clogs the four-lane road that runs north-south through the heart of Lacey.

As a young teen, I remember cutting firewood with my father in what seemed like a never-ending forest next to a one-lane, rutted road. This was the southern end of today's College Street.

Near the intersection with Yelm Highway was a Christmas tree plantation where Lowe's sits today. A dairy farm down the road - where my father, a veterinarian, treated the milk cows - became the Capitol City Golf Course and housing development.

I thought about the tentacles of growth radiating from what was once the tiny village of Lacey as I drove to the Capitol Land Trust breakfast fundraiser, an event where the pro-growth and no-growth factions check their guns at the door and rally around the community benefits of protecting valuable open space and habitat in a nonregulatory way.

"Conservation is the concern of all of us," Capital Land Trust board president Pene Speaks said succinctly. "It's not a partisan issue."

Fromhold was instrumental in securing $100 million last year for the state's Wildlife and Recreation Program, a pot of money that the land trust has dipped into to conserve South Sound special places. That's double the typical two-year budget for the program.

"Don't let go of that

Swecker, a recent graduate of The Evergreen State College's master's program in environmental studies, talked about the need to work with landowners who are willing to go that extra mile to be good stewards of their land.

Homestreet Bank also was recognized for its longtime support of Capital Land Trust efforts.

The master of ceremonies for the breakfast was former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, an active member of the land trust and someone whose standing as a South Sound mover and shaker might be unparalleled, especially in his ability to forge unique partnerships around conservation and civic projects.

By the time I left the breakfast, I once again was convinced that the Capitol Land Trust is the most successful soldier in the never-ending battle to keep sprawl from spilling into the environmentally sensitive places that continue to make South Sound a wonderful place to grow up, raise a family, work and - I hope - retire some day.

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The below excerpt is from teh Article originally published by The Olympian on March 2nd, 2008 by John Dodge. John Dodge is a senior reporter and Sunday columnist for The Olympian.