About the Preserve

A community gem

Sixteen acres of forest, meadow and Cozy Cove shoreline spanning the towns of Yarrow Point and Hunts Point, Washington.

“A natural place providing in perpetuity a habitat for flora and fauna of the Northwest. A retreat in which to commune with nature.”

History

A gift of the land

In the Wetherill Nature Preserve the visitor sees the conscientious attachment to the land of several generations. In 1988 Marjorie Baird and her sister Sidonia Foley gave sixteen acres of prime property, originally purchased by their grandfather, Seattle financier Jacob Furth, to the towns of Yarrow Point and Hunts Point to protect, in perpetuity, the land from development and to preserve its wildlife and native plants.

The sisters dedicated the Preserve to their mother, Sidonia Furth Wetherill, and their father, Army Colonel Alexander Wetherill.

For more on the history of the Preserve, see A Point in Time, A History of Yarrow Point, Washington on HistoryLink.

The Preserve

A natural place, a habitat

What surprises new visitors are the Preserve's number of trails and its size, and also the variety of bird life. Waterfront vistas across Cozy Cove sparkle in the sunshine. A kingfisher sometimes chatters from the water's edge or an eagle will land in the lily pads, dipping its wings for a bath.

A sign at the entrance announces that the Wetherill Nature Preserve is a “natural place, a habitat” area. True to that concept, any designs for it have remained simple, primarily giving the public access rather than creating a landscaped garden.

The Preserve is a nature preserve, not a park, and it is cared for that way. When a tree falls in the forest, it is left where it lands: fallen and decaying wood is a natural part of the ecosystem, sheltering wildlife, feeding the soil and nursing the next generation of plants. Our volunteers clear fallen trees only when they block a trail or otherwise get in the way of visitors.

16 acres given to the two Towns
5,020 feet of trails
8¾ acres of wetland designated critical area

The Preserve on Cozy Cove, between Hunts Point and Yarrow Point. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Governance

A joint preserve of two Towns

The Preserve belongs to the Towns of Hunts Point and Yarrow Point, which own it jointly in equal shares under an interlocal agreement made in 1988. A seven-member volunteer commission cares for it on the Towns' behalf: three residents from each Town and one at-large member from the surrounding community. The commission is advisory; each Town's council approves the budget.