Our 2025-26 Annual Report Is Here!
With support from our amazing members, volunteers, landowners, and community and business partners, Skagit Land Trust (SLT or the Trust) has protected and stewarded nearly 12,000 acres and over 52 miles of shoreline since 1992.
The past operating year brought many accomplishments, thanks to your support. Together, we have completed another impressive year of conservation, stewardship, and community outreach. Read on for a few of the year’s highlights.
Conserving Land
Spring 2025: We protected 26.5 acres of special wetlands and uplands in the upper Samish River. This property is habitat for the endangered Oregon spotted frog (whose egg masses have been found nearby) as well as for black bears, herons, swans, native fish, and elk. The purchase was possible due to help from Skagit Land Trust supporters and a Washington Wildlife & Recreation Program grant.
SLT also purchased 15 acres of Chinook salmon habitat in Nookachamps Creek. This was done with support from Washington State’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SFRB).
With the help of this same state grant source and generous landowners, the Trust also acquired (at a bargainsale price) a 21-acre conservation easement (CE) on Diobsud Creek outside of Marblemount. This CE protects lush forest and high-quality salmon habitat along a pristine creek. The property borders the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and connects to other properties protected by SLT and our conservation partners. Skagit Land Trust’s protection in beautiful Diobsud Creek now totals 117 acres and nearly a mile of shoreline.
Summer 2025: SLT added a parcel of mature island forest on the upper part of Guemes Mountain to our Guemes Mountain & Valley Conservation Area. The area features interesting geology and steep, complex topography. The property is adjacent to other protected lands, helping to ensure the forest on the mountain remains intact.
We also supported partner organization Seattle City Light in acquiring 221 acres where Tank Creek meets the Skagit River (below, left), just outside of Lyman.
Fall 2025: In late fall, conservation-minded landowners donated a conservation easement on 26-acres of their property (above, right) on Francis Road overlooking the Nookachamps Valley and the Skagit River. The property’s agricultural fields and forest provide high-quality open space for birds and wildlife. It will serve forever as the beautiful, natural entrance to the City of Mount Vernon along Francis Road.
Winter 2025-26: This season marked the completion of a long-anticipated project to expand and reopen what is now Yudwasta Big Rock Park (pictured right) on the edge of Mount Vernon in the Nookachamps. Over a two-year period, Skagit Land Trust, a neighboring family, and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe worked with Skagit County Parks to add 83 more acres to the park. The project’s success was possible thanks to hundreds of community donors, a state grant, a conservation loan, Skagit County funds, and a land donation. Washington Trails Association has built a new route to the summit, and Yudwasta Big Rock County Park is now available for the public to enjoy.
On Fir Island, a landowner donated 43 acres of agricultural land (below left) on Dry Slough. This property is farmed, while also serving as a stopping ground for wintering swans ducks, and snow geese.
In northern Snohomish County, using SRFB grant funds, Skagit Land Trust placed a conservation easement on 18.6 acres of salmon habitat and shoreline forest in the Sauk River floodplain (pictured above, right).
The Trust also purchased a valuable piece of coastal shoreline and wetland habitat on Alice Bay, assisted by a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant and member support. This property has historical significance as it was the mouth of the S7amésh Seqelích Slough that joined Padilla and Alice Bay until the 1930’s.
Spring 2026: Just before the end of the fiscal year, SLT acquired 56 acres of forestland and almost a half mile of river shoreline of Hansen Creek. This property was logged and slated for development 25 years ago. The landowner donated the land to SLT to preserve in its natural state for fish and wildlife.
All these conservation projects help support the seasonal pull of migrating fish and wildlife, sustaining clean water in our creeks and rivers, the working rhythm of farms, and all the quiet processes that define life here in the Skagit. We are grateful to the landowners and partners who worked with us this year to conserve so much land we love.
Stewarding the Skagit
This past year, our Stewardship Committee, staff, land stewards, and work party volunteers spent countless hours tending to the properties in our care. Just a few of the numerous accomplishments include:
- Receiving a riparian (shoreline) restoration grant for six Skagit Land Trust (SLT) conservation areas. The grant will fund maintenance of plantings and noxious weed control work on these properties. A noxious weed is a plant designated as harmful to local agriculture, public health, or wildlife. This work will benefit shoreline habitat on waterways including the mainstem Skagit River, Day Creek, Childs Creek, Wiseman Creek, and Trumpeter Creek.
- Planting over 1,000 native trees and shrubs at our Barney Lake Conservation Area in a degraded former pasture near Trumpeter Creek. This restoration project will increase wetland habitat diversity and improve water quality and floodwater storage at the edge of Mount Vernon.
- Undertaking restoration of wetland and sensitive habitat. We completed site clean-up at two conservation areas. The clean-up at our Samish River Wetlands Conservation Area was extensive, with multiple buildings involved. The removal of a cabin on our Samish Island Conservation Area was complex, as there is no road to the site and the cabin was on a sensitive marine shoreline. Volunteers helped plant native trees and shrubs on the Samish Island property.
- Hosting 30 work parties. Work crews, contractors, and 139 dedicated stewardship work party volunteers pulled hundreds of pounds of invasive vegetation and planted 3,750 native trees, shrubs, and live stakes this year! Volunteers also helped clear more than a thousand pounds of illegally dumped debris from our conservation properties. In total, volunteers, land stewards, and work crews contributed over 3,226 hours to the care of SLT lands.
This year and every year, stewardship work spans everything from responding to on-site incidents to clearing away deserted vehicles. Many thanks to the many stewardship volunteers who go above and beyond to monitor and restore the properties we protect!
Connecting Our Community to Nature
This past year’s outreach programs created opportunities for thousands of community members of all ages to learn about and enjoy nature, conservation, and each other. Over 140 outreach volunteers contributed 1,650 hours to support this year’s events, youth programs, and community science activities. Highlights included:
Nature Walks: Our swan events at Barney Lake welcomed over 220 community members. We also co-hosted a Salmon Sighting and walk with Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, led a community hike up Guemes Mountain, and welcomed young readers to our Barr Creek Story Trail.
Community Science Programs: We involved 30 community members in monitoring herons at our March Point Heronry and Barney Lake Conservation Areas. These volunteers tracked heron nesting, egg-laying, and rearing of chicks.
At the end of the season, March Point volunteers counted 520 nests – 55 more than last year! Community Science volunteers contributed 1,242 hours.
Youth Education Programs: SLT connected with nearly 1,750 youth this year! The Trust hosted nature-oriented field trips for over 400 second graders and nine nature field trips for the dozens of youth and parents served by our Kulshan Creek Neighborhood Youth Program. We also continued to provide field trips for Mount Baker Boys & Girls Club, Skagit Wild, Transitional Kindergartners, and Mount Vernon High School’s AP Environmental Science students.
SLT’s Speaker Series hosted seven online, educational talks with experts on beavers, hiking, geology, swans & snow geese, green burial, and wildfire prevention and mitigation. Over 350 participants joined us for these conversations. Many of the talks are now available to watch any time on our Youtube channel.
Other Outreach Events during 2025-26 included a community partner-supported screening of Fish War at Lincoln Theater (pictured right), wreathmaking and luminary-making workshops (below), a winter open house, several community festivals, and three large annual events.
We look forward to another rewarding year of community outreach events and programs in the year to come!
Financial Report for April 2025-26
Skagit Land Trust received a clean audit for our fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. SLT’s general operating and program expenses were $1,573,338. The Trust spent $1,616,288 to purchase conservation easements (CE) and land. We also received four land donations. SLT earned Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars.
SLT’s funding comes from diverse sources. About 38% of our income came from 1,500 member and supporter households and businesses. Funds to purchase land were assisted by state, federal, foundation grants, and member support. The stewardship program, which cares for SLT’s lands, is partially funded by interest and dividends from stewardship fund reserves. Member donations also help fund stewardship and outreach work.
Not accounted for in the numbers are conservation land and conservation easement donations and the value of volunteer time — both of which are fundamental to our success.
Thank you to our members, community partners, and volunteers for everything you do to protect and steward the Skagit! You can find a full list of our contributors in our Fall Newsletter and Annual Report.