Special events throughout 2018 are planned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, a successful community partnership that has preserved, maintained and enhanced the area’s unique history, rural and agricultural heritage, and sweeping natural beauty.
On Nov. 10, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation passed by Congress to establish the nation’s first National Historical Reserve.
Forty years later, the Reserve’s more than 17,500 acres – still mostly privately owned – retain their rural, agricultural heritage and gorgeous views, thanks to a community partnership that includes private landowners, the National Park Service, Washington State Parks, Island County and the Town of Coupeville. It has also benefited from the help and generosity of the Nature Conservancy, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust and the Friends of Ebey’s, a nonprofit organization that raises private funds to support the Reserve.
Today, as local farmers continue to farm, just as they always have, the Reserve has also become a magnet for thousands of visitors from around the world.
“When the Reserve was established 40 years ago, the idea of local citizens working together with government to manage and protect a nationally significant place was a bold new idea. Now 40 years later, the place, the people and the idea are worth celebrating,”
— Kristen Griffin, Reserve Manager for the Trust Board of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve
