5/6/2009 10:58:00 AM Families preserve prairie farmland
Justin Burnett / The Whidbey Examiner
In a field now permanently protected from development, longtime Coupeville farmer Freeman Boyer, left, talks with the property’s new owners, Erin and Mike Borden and their children Konrad, Riley and Drake. The Bordens plan to farm the land and use it to graze livestock.
By Justin Burnett Examiner Staff Writer
More than 80 acres of farmland near Coupeville will be protected from development thanks to the efforts of two local farming families.
Working with the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Freeman Boyer and Mark and Erin Borden worked out a deal that resulted in a permanent conservation easement on two contiguous properties near Engle Road southeast of the Jenne Farm.
Under the easement, the property owners agree to sell their rights to develop the land, but can continue to use it for farming.
Boyer, a third-generation farmer whose family history includes one of Central Whidbey's pioneer families, already has used scenic easements to protect about 175 acres. He said the new agreement is another opportunity to preserve a slice of Central Whidbey's rich agricultural heritage.
"I'm trying to preserve all the land I can," Boyer said. "I don't like to see houses draped all over the place. I was born here. I grew up here."
Like his father before him, Boyer farmed the land and raised sheep, retiring in 1987. But because his children chose to pursue other careers, Boyer is the last farmer in the family. Boyer, who sold his farmland outright as part of the deal, said letting go of the land was a difficult decision. But he said that at 87, he is getting too old to manage so much land.
Comparatively, the Bordens are relative newcomers to Central Whidbey, having moved to the Island from California in 2005. But they also want to do their part to keep local agricultural land from being developed. Mark Borden noted that when his wife Erin was a child growing up on Mercer Island, it had a rural feel similar to what still exists near Coupeville.
"She just didn't want that to happen here," he said.
Mark Borden is the director of Whidbey General Hospital's emergency room, and Erin Borden, a member of the Whidbey Island Conservation District Board of Supervisors, holds a Ph.D. in entomology from Washington State University.
The deal required to protect the land is a bit complicated. The Land Trust purchased 45 acres from Boyer, then sold the land to the Bordens. The Land Trust then purchased the development rights to the 45-acre parcel plus a 38-acre parcel that already was owned by the Bordens. The Bordens reserved the right to build one home on a 10-acre lot for their children, Konrad, Riley and Drake.
"The bottom line is that we started with a small piece of farmland we could build a lot of houses on and ended up with a lot of farmland we could only build one house on," Mark Borden said.
The Land Trust used grant money to buy the development rights. Some of the money came from a Farmland Preservation Grant from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program and most of the rest came from a farm and ranchland protection grant from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The deal looked like it might be delayed when it turned out that the Land Trust wasn't able to come up with the last $20,000 needed to seal the deal.
No problem, the Bordens said.
"We just said, 'keep the change,'" Mark Borden said.
Borden said he plans to farm about 50 acres of the property, growing barley, buckwheat, grain and hay and possibly even planting a nut and apple orchard.
Except for about 15 acres of forestland that is to be preserved as wildlife habitat, the rest of the land will be used to graze donkeys, mules, goats and sheep.
"The Land Trust is very excited about completing this first of many agricultural conservation easements it is working on in Ebey's Reserve," said Chris Hilton, a land protection specialist with the Land Trust.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Ray Hull
GBood work,Freeman. Preservation of "Old Whidbey" means a lot to we old-timers. Your older sister Alice, and I were in the CHS class of '34. Now, I hope Old Ft. Casey park can be kept open Ray Hull
