October 10, 2006

One doctor is applying a defibrillator while another is removing developers and tossing them into a waste can.Larson and his wife, Toni Carmichael, who own a place on Orcas, are members of the campaign steering committee.”Having spent time on the island off and on since I was a kid, it’s amazed me that to this day it’s been able to retain as much of its unspoiled beauty as it has,” said Larson, who grew up in Tacoma.To donateFor more information and to donate:www.saveturtleback.comThe San Juan Preservation TrustBox 327Lopez Island, WA 98261360-468-3202″My sense of why this is so is because many, if not most, of the people who live here are like-minded in their appreciation for the island’s intrinsic beauty and disconnect from the kind of blight we all see around other parts of the state, where farmlands are converted into shopping malls, rolling hills have become housing developments and sprawl goes unchecked.”Turtleback is owned by the Medina Foundation, a Seattle-based philanthropic organization started by the late Weyerhaeuser tycoon Norton Clapp….  Private gifts total about $6 million so far, and the San Juan Preservation Trust has added $1 million.If the goal isn’t reached, the groups probably would borrow the remaining money and consider selling pieces of Turtleback for development, said Tim Seifert, executive director of the San Juan Preservation Trust.No new development is planned on the mountain’s slopes or summit, beyond carving out hiking trails and possibly a small cabin for the caretaker.More than 540 individuals have donated to the campaign, some inspired by the gift of Sue Cooley, of Seattle, and her son-in-law, Bob Cooley-Gilliom, who are matching individual donations up to $1 million.