Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust

Mission

For over 30 years, the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust has worked to conserve and care for the wild and working lands of our island home. 

Why Conserve Land?

Forests: Mature and diverse forests will stand up better to the longer, hotter summers of climate change. Forests catch and slow the hard rains, filling the aquifer with clean water for us to drink.

Farms: Regenerative farming captures carbon in the soil – helping the planet and feeding the plants. Matsuda Farm grows healthy, fresh produce for the Vashon Island School District, the Vashon Food Bank, and the Vashon Island Farmers Market.

Streams: The wild-spawning Coho of Shinglemill and Judd Creek are a precious and rare resource. Our restoration projects provide juvenile Coho with cold water, logs to hide under, and bugs to eat before they venture out into Puget Sound.

Shorelines: Sea level rise is coming, as are more intense rains that cause landslides. These climate impacts compound on our shorelines. We work with nature in response, using habitat restoration as a resilience strategy.

Place: Trail networks provide a refuge from heat and stress. The Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust has created and preserved trail networks in many places you know and love, like Shinglemill, Fisher Pond, Island Center Forest, Judd Creek, Matsuda Farm, Frog Holler, and Dockton Forest. These natural preserves are now accessible for recreation, education, and food. In these ways, the land gives back – completing the cycle of care we give to the land.