South Whidbey State Park History

South Whidbey State Park owes its preservation in no small part to a group of citizens who put their bodies on the line for its protection.

Indigenous Land

This cherished place lies within the traditional territories of Coast Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Tulalip Tribes, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Suquamish Tribe, and Lummi Nation. For thousands of years the rich waters of Admiralty Inlet on the park’s shore and the towering forests inland have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.

Local tribes ceded ownership of the area to the US federal government in the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, keeping rights to harvest natural resources in their usual and accustomed places, including the lands and waters around Whidbey Island. After government land surveys were completed, land making up today’s park was granted to the State of Washington on July 2, 1890, part of millions of acres granted to the state to be held in trust to generate revenue for the University of Washington.

Making a Park

On March 3, 1959, Washington Governor Albert Rosellini approved Senate Bill 34, authorizing and directing the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to negotiate a lease with the board of regents of the University of Washington. With their agreement, Commissioner of Public Lands Bert Cole ordered the lands withdrawn for park purposes and a lease agreement was signed on July 1, 1960. The lease covered 85 acres of forested land west of Smugglers Cove Road with 4,500 feet of shoreline on Admiralty Inlet.

In 1971 the Washington Legislature decided that continued lease of trust lands for park purposes was not in the best interest of the state. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) negotiated a sale of the leased lands, including the 85 acres in South Whidbey State Park. The timber was initially excluded from the sale, but in 1980, the legislature authorized the sale of bonds to cover the cost of the timber. The timber was deeded to WSPRC on October 7, 1992, securing its protection.

Save the Trees

The trust lands east of Smugglers Cove Road continued to be managed as trust land for the benefit of the University of Washington. In 1977, controversy erupted when the Department of Natural Resources announced plans to clear-cut 255 acres of the trust land forest across Smugglers Cove Road from South Whidbey State Park, locally known as the “Classic-U” forest. Local loggers Neil Colburn and Jack Noel recognized the forest's value as the last remnant of old growth on South Whidbey Island. This forest has all the components that make old-growth forests so valuable for wildlife habitat—large old Douglas fir and western red cedar trees (some over 500 years old), large standing dead snags, large decaying logs on the forest floor and a diversity of tree sizes and species.

On August 9, 1977, as a contractor began the clear-cut operation, neighbors gathered at the site. One neighbor, Debora Valis, later recalled:

 “We stood in front of the trees. Some of us stood where a tree would fall if it were to be cut down. We lay down in front of the bulldozers. We stared the loggers down. It was tense and terrifying, but they blinked first and left after a few hours’ stand-off. We had no idea what we were doing. We just knew it was so obviously important.”

Noel and Colburn rallied the community, and a group called Save the Trees was formed to support the effort. Noel hired Seattle environmental law attorney Charles Ehlert, who filed a landmark lawsuit, Noel v. Cole. Ehlert argued in court that state forests were not exempt from environmental rules. Commissioner of Public Lands Bert Cole disagreed, stating:

“Those lands were granted to the state for income purposes, not for recreation, and they will be managed that way. Persons without professional forestry backgrounds are not going to make decisions for this office while I’m here. If the legislature wants the lands for other purposes, it can buy them and set them aside for those purposes.”

The case was widely publicized, and in 1978, the court ruled in favor of Noel, forever changing management of trust land forests. In an August 1981 ceremony, new Commissioner of Public Lands Brian Boyle signed an agreement with Save the Trees and others to work together to preserve the forest.

Land Added to the Park

On April 25, 1985, Governor Booth Gardner approved Substitute House Bill No. 958 which included a provision for the protection and eventual transfer of the “Classic U” forest lands to the WSPRC for addition to South Whidbey State Park.

In 1989, the legislature authorized the Trust Land Transfer Program, which provided funding to pass special trust lands to other agencies, protecting the land from the trust requirement to harvest the timber for income.

On August 4, 1992, the “Classic U” forest was added to South Whidbey State Park. The $3.2 million purchase price for the land and timber was paid to the University. On July 23, 1993, the WSPRC classified some of the forest lands in the park as a Natural Forest Area, defined as an area with a principal function of “maintaining the state’s biodiversity while expanding human understanding and appreciation of natural values.”

Taking Care of the Land

Based on observations of fallen trees in the winter of 2015, park staff evaluated tree health in the park’s campground and identified native tree pathogens that posed a risk to park visitors from falling trees and tree limbs. Instead of removing all the trees to keep the campground open, it was decided to close the area to camping. The former campground area was included in the Natural Forest Area in 2017, allowing natural processes of decay and renewal to continue.