In 1854, Chief Seattle of the Duwamish tribe predicted that white settlers would soon “fill all the land.” Since then, the City of Seattle, (named for the Native American chief), King County, local jurisdictions, state agencies and the federal government have permanently protected almost half of King County’s total land area, effectively keeping Chief Seattle’s prediction from coming true.

The hike to Lower Melakwa Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness starts only 50 miles east of downtown Seattle.

In addition to fees and taxes, King County finances preservation through its Conservation Futures Tax, a portion of the property tax reserved exclusively for the protection of open space and natural resources. From 1989 to 2004, $150 million of Conservation Futures Tax preserved 15,000 acres, primarily by simple land acquisition. However, in 2004, the County used $22 million of Conservation Futures Tax to buy the development rights on 90,000 acres of land, an area twice the size of the City of Seattle. Hancock Timber continues to own this land, known as the Snoqualmie Forest, and use it for timber management. By preserving this land, King County permanently draws an urban limit line, protects timber industry jobs and creates outdoor recreation opportunities.

King County skillfully combined its Conservation Futures Program with its transfer of development rights program by creating transferable development rights, or TDRs, from the 90,000 acres preserved in the Snoqualmie Forest, holding them in the County’s TDR bank and selling them to developers who can use TDRs to achieve additional development potential in areas designated for growth. When King County sells TDRs from its TDR bank, the revenue can be used for additional preservation, thereby changing the Conservation Futures Tax into an ongoing revolving fund for preservation. In 2008, Plum Creek Timber Company placed another 45,500 acres of forestland under easement in return for 514 TDRs. In total, TDR has preserved over 138,000 acres of land here, making King County’s program the most successful TDR program in the United States.

In addition to land preserved through TDR, King County owns over 31,000 acres of forestland, farmland, ecological reserves and parkland with over 100 miles of trails. The 2005 Greenprint for King County also estimated that the County contained 143,000 acres of city public lands and 97,500 acres of state public lands, including the Iron Horse State Park featuring a 100-mile long bike path on a former railroad right-of-way.

Another 354,200 acres in King County are federal public lands. For example, the Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest protects the eastern third of King County, which includes the forested slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range. Almost half of this national forest is protected as wilderness. The 362,789-acre Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, only 40 miles east of Seattle, offers 615 miles of trails and spectacular scenery, making it one of the most popular wilderness areas in the nation.

Many of King County’s most successful preservation efforts have been facilitated by the Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC), the largest independent land conservation and stewardship organization in Washington State. In 2005, CLC launched the Cascade Agenda, an ambitious regional planning and preservation strategy implemented by market-based mechanisms. Rather than focus on the traditional 20-year horizon, the Cascade Agenda looks ahead 100 years to a four-county region that is double its present population of 3.5 million people. This 100-year horizon generates idealism and cooperation because the work is clearly aimed at future generations. Optimism is also critical since the Cascade Agenda proposes to preserve no less than one million additional acres of privately-held land with conservation easements and purchase another 265,000 acres for public parks, natural areas and shorelines. Of the estimated $7-billion total price tag, $4 billion is projected to be supplied by the aggressive use of TDR.

In 2007, CLC and consultants began studying the feasibility of a regional TDR program that would facilitate the transfer of development potential within and between communities in Kittitas, Pierce, Snohomish and King counties. In other regions, such goals might seem overly ambitious. But with almost one half of its land area in public ownership, King County has already demonstrated what can be accomplished with vision, cooperation and determination.