DESCRIPTION
The San Juan Preservation Trust in conjunction with the San Juan County Land Bank will purchase the 313-acre Zylstra Lake property in San Juan Valley on San Juan Island. The purpose of the acquisition of the Upper Lake and Lower Lake parcels of Zylstra Lake is to protect natural habitat, water quality and riparian vegetation in the False Bay Creek/San Juan Valley watershed for restoration of chum and coho salmon and anadromous trout populations. This acquisition project will also help secure senior water rights to the lake complex, essential to restoration plans for year-round instream flow in False Bay Creek. The target property is located in the largest watershed in San Juan County and drains into False Bay Biological Preserve, a unique habitat managed by the University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs for critical intertidal and marine research. As such the acquisition will secure a key property integral to the restoration of salmonid fish populations on the west coast of San Juan Island. The target property is adjacent to Red Mill Farm, already protected by the San Juan Preservation Trust. In total, the San Juan Preservation Trust and the San Juan County Land Bank have protected over 1,000 acres in San Juan Valley.
The San Juan Preservation Trust in conjunction with the San Juan County Land Bank will purchase the 313-acre Zylstra Lake property in San Juan Valley on San Juan Island. The purpose of the acquisition of the Upper Lake and Lower Lake parcels of Zylstra Lake is to protect natural habitat, water quality, water quantity and riparian vegetation in the False Bay Creek/San Juan Valley watershed for restoration of chum and coho salmon and anadromous trout populations. This acquisition project will also help secure senior water rights, essential to restoration plans for year-round instream flow in False Bay Creek. The target property is located in the largest watershed in San Juan County and drains into False Bay Biological Preserve, a unique habitat managed by the University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs for critical intertidal and marine research. In total, the San Juan Preservation Trust and the San Juan County Land Bank have protected over 1,300 acres in San Juan Valley. The UW Preserve includes an additional 22 acres of uplands and approximately 300 acres of tidelands. The twelve (12) development rights extinguished by the purchase and permanent protection of the 122 acre Zylstra Lower Lake Acquisition along with the inclusion of a Conservation Easement on the adjacent October Farm parcel will insure protection of the lake and also False Bay Creek.
