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Open your wallets for the Lily Point park

By Meg Olson

The Whatcom Land Trust had hoped to close the deal on the purchase 90 acres of uplands and 40 acres of tidelands at Lily Point by early December, but have had to get an extension to close the fundraising gap.

“We reserved the right to extend and it’s going to close on April 18 now,” said land trust property steward Eric Carabba. “We’re still scrounging for more money.”

Carabba said they were $400,000 short of the $3.5 million sale price of the property. A state shoreline protection grant covered half the sale, with $500,000 grants from both the county and the state department of ecology leaving $750,000 in funds to be raised privately or through additional grants. One large anonymous donation of $200,000, a few donations in the thousands of dollars and then “a bunch of small ones,” have raised almost half of the money needed.

When the sale is finalized the deed for the property will go to the county and the county parks department will manage the new park. “We will retain a conservation easement to make sure they do the right thing and it’s protected,” Carabba said.

The newly formed Point Roberts Conservation Society is also raising funds first to finalize the current sale but then to buy additional acreage to add to the Lily Point Park. “We’ve raised about $60,000 and we have some things on the burner now,” said society spokesman Michael Rosser. Rosser said they would hold onto the money until it was determined if it was needed for the current sale. “If this deal doesn’t go through we want to make sure it’s used for protecting open space in Point Roberts,” he said, adding he was confident that fundraising goals would be met or exceeded before the April 18 deadline.

Both the county and local conservancies are working with a similar group north of the border to allow them to issue tax receipts to Canadian donors, and are also registered non-profits able to issue tax receipts for U.S. donations.

To make a U.S. donation through the Whatcom Land Trust mail to WLT, Box 6131 Bellingham, Washington, 98227, or call 360/650-9470. The Point Roberts Conservation Society’s mailing address is Box 675, Point Roberts, Washington 98281. Rosser can be reached at 604/813-7515.Canadian donors can write checks to the Land Conservancy of B.C. and include Boundary Bay in the memo line to insure it’s properly credited to the Lily Point acquisition.

Donations for the Whatcom Land Trust purchase should be mailed directly to the Land Conservancy of B.C. 301-1195 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, B.C. V9A 3N6. Rosser asks that the checks for donations to the local conservation society be mailed to the Point Roberts address to keep the funding streams separate.