Our much-loved Foulweather Bluff Preserve was created in the 1960s, when the Rawson family generously donated about 50 acres of iconic shoreline on Hood Canal at the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula.

Visitors relax on the beach at Foulweather Bluff Preserve. © TNC

Since then, the Preserve’s footprint has grown as surrounding private lands have been acquired with funds from generous donors and from the endowment originally established by the Rawsons.

Foulweather Bluff has an active group of volunteers dedicated to its well-being, and it is a popular destination for visitors.

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In December the Conservancy acquired the final in-holding to complete this iconic preserve. A generous private donation as well as funds from the Preserve’s endowments paid for the acquisition.

The 5-acre property, owned by a local family for over forty years, was sold to the Conservancy to be managed in concert with the rest of the Preserve. This acquisition, following acquisition of an adjacent 14-acre property in 2017, means we have finally secured the entire area south of Twin Spits Road for conservation and the aesthetic enjoyment of many, uninterrupted by residential development. This is especially critical as the rest of the northern Kitsap Peninsula is developed with many more homes and second homes.

This latest acquisition protects the Preserve’s second-most important physical feature, after its namesake 50-foot feeder bluff, a brackish marsh which is fed by a freshwater drainage from the northeast. This site has been identified by the Washington Natural Heritage Program as one of the top 20 most significant coastal wetlands in the Puget Sound region.

The driftwood berm separating the marsh from Hood Canal is breached periodically by winter storms and high tides, introducing a more saline element into the marsh. (Approximately 3,700 linear feet of Hood Canal beach and tide flats are included within the Preserve with feeder bluffs found along the north portion of shoreline).

Today the Preserve stands as a testimonial to a committed group of landowners who ensured wildlife an enduring place on the Kitsap Peninsula. Making the Preserve whole means this treasured stretch of forest, wetland, and coastal bluff habitat will be stewarded for conservation purposes and enjoyed for generations to come.

Visit Foulweather Bluff Preserve

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5 Nature Conservancy Preserves in Washington You Can Visit Anytime

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Here are five Nature Conservancy preserves in Washington that you can visit anytime to immerse yourself in the beauty of nature, while learning about The Nature Conservancy’s conservation efforts.

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Celebrating 2022: Successes and Fun

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It’s in the spirit of joy and delight that we would like to share a look back at some of the conservation success stories, innovation and fun in 2022, shared with gratitude for the support of you and many others that makes this work possible. 

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preserves, Eastern Washington, Nick Altadonna

Rock Creek Acquisition

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This 55-acre acquisition gives the Rock Creek Preserve a more contiguous stretch of habitat and strengthens the landscape scale conservation efforts of nearby tribal, federal, state, and private landowners.

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preserves, Yellow Island, staff

The Yellow Island Experience

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"Hey, that island looks pretty yellow. That must be it!" I hear someone cheer over the wind.

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Grant will support taking youth to TNC preserves

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The Nature Conservancy’s Partners to Preserves program has been awarded a grant through Washington’s No Child Left Inside grant program to support bringing 400 youth to TNC preserves across Washington over the next two years.

TNC’s Partners to Preserves program works with organizations serving youth to bring their outdoor programs to TNC preserves in Pacific, Jefferson, Okanagan, San Juan, Island, Kitsap, Snohomish, Kittitas, Grant, and Douglas counties. Youth will participate in science and learn natural and cultural history, art, hiking, and camping.

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Gift of Land Will Aid Pygmy Rabbit Recovery

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A new gift of land to The Nature Conservancy, 282 acres near Quincy, will help secure a future for tiny endangered pygmy rabbits.

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Moses Coulee, Beezley Hills, stewardship, preserves, our preserves, Americorps, staff

Exploring Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills

Moses Coulee, Beezley Hills, stewardship, preserves, our preserves, Americorps, staff

Exploring Moses Coulee I walk past a Say’s phoebe nest in the rafters of the patio. The parents seem to have adjusted to my common intervention into their space. I follow the edge of the lake to the trailhead and as I enter the trail, my attention shifts from the mallards and American coots diving in the water to the tall sagebrush and rubber rabbitbrush. Remnants of several different animals remind me of the varying wildlife that also call the Preserves home. I step over mule deer and sage thrasher tracks in the dried dirt, pass jackrabbit scats, and hike around large badger holes that are likely now home to smaller mammals.

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Conservancy’s Washington Lands Reopening with Caution

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In alignment with Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision to partially reopen state recreational lands incorporating social distancing guidelines, lands owned or managed by The Nature Conservancy in Washington will reopen May 5 with some important exceptions.

Both the Yellow Island Preserve in the San Juans and the popular Bluff Trail at the Robert Y. Pratt Preserve at Ebey’s Landing on Whidbey Island, will remain closed for the safety of our staff, volunteers and visitors, and for preservation of fragile lands.

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We Can Be Champions for Biodiversity

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Washington is home to special landscapes, from snowcaps to shrub-steppes, orchards to seastacks. Within these wonders, life ebbs and flows with countless animals, insects, plants, fungi… people too. (And that’s just what our eyes can see.)

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