Lopez Community Land Trust

2025 Annual Report & 2026 Spring Newsletter

Land and Community

By: Sandy Bishop, Executive Director

Against the backdrop of global upheaval, changing climate, mean-spirited politics, and uncertainty, 2026 is shaping up to be a year marked by creativity, generosity, and mutual aid.

I’ve recently been introduced to philosopher and activist Bayo Akomolafe through the Schumacher Center in Great Barrington, MA. Paraphrasing what he said in a recent discussion, “the logic of the familiar is repeated in the solutions that we prefer.” He goes on to say that it is important to disrupt the familiar. By listening to those who have always lived closer to the land, spending time observing the natural rhythms of the changing ecology, and recognizing that we can find our way, despite a time when so many systems are stressed and under pressure. It is then that we can rise to the reality before us.

In 1989, when we began LCLT, we dreamed that one day LCLT would steward lands that hosted housing, agriculture, cooperatives, cottage industries, and forests. Now 37 years later, LCLT stewards 134 acres, which is host to a variety of activities ranging from housing to food production and cottage industries. It’s important to be intentional and thoughtful when dreaming up a world. It’s challenging to know how to disrupt what is unfolding, but over time, we see that our actions can change us in ways that make us more honest in our relationships and the environment around us.

At the Annual Meeting on March 21 from 4 p.m. until 5:30, we invite you to join us in a conversation about land, community, food, and housing. As a land-based organization, LCLT has much to learn, and we are interested in being updated by all of you. What are you discovering about community needs during this time? We look forward to it.

2025 Recap: A Heavy and Rewarding Lift

2025 was a busy year for construction. The six new households in the Oystercatcher neighborhood, located on Crayfish Way, were all able to move into their finished homes in the summer of 2025. Landscaping continued throughout the year and into 2026. The single-family home on Portobello Road was formally gifted to LCLT just in time for the Lopez librarian and his partner to move in while their house is being remodeled. After their departure, we are making the home available for a new physician. Should a physician need housing, they will have first rights. Meanwhile, the Forest House, adjacent to Still Light Farm, received the final occupancy permit with new homeowners moving in late January of this year.

In the area of sustainable agriculture, 2025 was the year to produce the Farm Products Guide for ’25-’26. The Grain CSA garnered about 40 shareholders. The Harvest Dinner in October was a grand success with an engaging and inspiring presentation by Laurie Bullock and Natalie Wilson on the latest for the Taproot Commercial Kitchen. Finally, LCLT sponsored Sophie Citro through a Thrift Shop grant to upgrade the elementary school garden beds. She did a truly beautiful job.

LCLT lost a beloved Morgantown resident with the passing of Mary Wondra. LCLT also lost a creative and dedicated supporter with the death of Diana Bower. There were two major staff changes at LCLT. The position of Assistant Director was eliminated, and Breton Carter moved on to be Assistant Director of the San Juan Ag Guild. A new position of Stewardship Manager was created by LCLT, and Clauda Costa was hired for that position.

LCLT had a very successful intern season in both construction and regenerative agriculture. LCLT gains so much from their energy, creativity, and thoughtfulness. Speaking of creativity, LCLT won the Chamber of Commerce Best Theme float price for its entry I Dream a World in the 4th of July parade. 2025 was successful in its fundraising, with the highlights being two presentations by Sammy Miller and the Congregation at the Jazz Garden and Jazz Ball. The New Year is exciting already, so look forward to our next newsletter.

Introducing our new Stewardship Manager

By: Rhea Miller, Community Liaison

Readers will be surprised to learn that our new Stewardship Manager started volunteering with LCLT at the age of 9! Little did she know then that 16 years later, she would actually be employed by LCLT. With LCLT’s ever-increasing lands, housing, and farms, the organization became aware that it needed someone to do all those unending errands and project management that come with sustainably caring for its assets.

Clauda Costa was born in Brazil, one of twins, and is able to make her way in Portuguese as well as English. Clauda attended American University in Washington, D.C. for two years before transferring during COVID and graduating summa cum laude with her BA in International Relations and Labor Studies from the University of Washington.

Since graduating, Clauda’s work experience includes being a project manager for True Blue Strategies, an award-winning creative agency dedicated to sparking change and building momentum in environmental conservation. Her clients ranged from conservation nonprofits, Tribal nations, and city governments, and she focused her project management on media campaigns, website development, and newsletter programs.

In the summer of 2024, Clauda found herself interning on the Crayfish construction site, and something clicked. She realized she had to move to Lopez. She began a remote job from Lopez that fall at PRR: a women-owned, mission-driven agency that worked mostly with state and local governments. Here, she led the management of community education around upcoming transit issues.

In addition to her work for LCLT, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Madrona Institute and is presently enrolled in Leadership San Juan Islands’ Cohort 16.

You will find Clauda doing a wide variety of tasks around LCLT, from repairing clay walls to working with contractors on various LCLT lands, to facilitating lobbying efforts for Limited Equity Cooperatives (LECs) at the state-level.

“I find a lot of fulfillment in committing to the spectrum of responsibilities this role requires. To plant ferns at Crayfish one day, then to testify in front of the state legislature the next, and then to work with leaseholders and contractors on driveway repair the next, you start to realize the impact of continuous intention—how each part of the community land trust model becomes stronger through the dependence of the other. Doing this real and meaningful work aligns exactly with how I want to show up for my community and the world.”

Field Notes from Barn Owl Bakery

Text by: Sage Dilts & Nathan Hodges

We were treated to a stunning sunset here at Grayling tonight – golden light beckoning us to ribbons of rose lined rainbow iridescent clouds spiraling and churning, pinks and mauve deeper to the east, pure molten light to the west, building in form and texture – we gave a shout and the bakery folks and our landmates all came out to watch the show, shivering a bit, joking, exclaiming at the show that the sky gave us.

But beyond the more practical benefits, it is also enlivening to share land and space with other people – not always easy, there will be conflict, times where we are pushed out of our comfort zone – but it’s a dynamic, challenging, rich loam of interaction and being that can grow into something a little bit like what it might have felt like to live in a village – a place to belong.

Like many Americans we both come from ancestors who were movers – leaving behind hardship, hunger, war, boredom, lack of belonging, whatever it was and changed their homes – looking for an opportunity, land, a chance at a better life – and drifting westward until generations later we washed up on the shores of this little island, a bit rootless, but looking for a life that connected us to the land and to people. And here we are, 15 years later, watching the sunset with a sweet group of folks as the land we steward comes into its spring.

We’ve been doing more clearing of underbrush- opening up areas for small meadows, planting more seeds where we disturb the ground, putting in bare root cuttings along the edges. The ewes are set to lamb in about a month, and we’ve been figuring out how we can better create a silvopasture system here – a mix of woods, shrubs, and grass that give sheep a rich mix of fodder, making for more nutritious meat. We have a healthy aerobic compost pile going – a so called “worm nest” system that our friend Davis Limbach taught us – and it’s been eating the scraps that the chickens don’t eat as well as garden waste, chicken bedding, hay the sheep have trampled, and all the stalks and leaves we trim from the land as we tend to it. After a feeding, it’s fun to see the thermometer rise and the compost pile start to steam, a little spirit kindled. These efforts to tend to the land, bring abundance and diversity, create community – that’s how we try and grow roots in a place, create new traditions that might become old ones, and create new gardens and hedgerows and orchards that might become old ones.

There are people in this world who we are fortunate to meet, and now that they have passed, we remember them and thank them for graciously spending time with us...

Marvin Peterson, January 11, 1943—January 1, 2026

Marvin moved to Lopez in 2014 and lived with his wife Karan Yvonne in Common Ground. He also served on LCLT’s Board of Directors. Born in Bellingham, he grew up on a small farm in the Bow-Edison area in Skagit Valley. He served in Army intelligence in Germany and Vietnam, and worked for the U.S. Government for 37 years in Washington, DC, and in Europe. His work culminated in Vienna, Austria, as the U.S. intelligence liaison with the International Atomic Energy Agency in their nuclear inspection work in Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. His principal work focus was on nuclear safeguards, with the personal goal of improving international nuclear safeguards to support President Obama’s goal of abolishing all nuclear weapons. With his wife Karan’s firm guiding vision, he was a strong supporter of affordable housing and the Green New Deal Resolution. Those of us around the office knew him as Marvelous Marv and awarded him a red cape for all the volunteer hours he spent during the building of the first three houses on Salish Way. He passed peacefully from this life on January 1st, 2026.

Nancy Skinner Nordhoff , November 3, 1932—January 1, 2026

“I remember the first time I met on Nancy on Lopez.  She had a fierce but twinkling look in her eyes. I was struck by the way she balanced between intensity of focus and a realm of playful abandon. She was always very intentional.  A supporter of women making change, a courageous soul, a dreamer, she was a willing mentor to so many.  I liked her right away and we stayed in touch for over 20 years. Nancy was a generous supporter of LCLT. She taught me so much about leadership, raising funds, and stewarding ideas. I find myself still talking with her about ideas, approaches, and strategies. She was always willing to deeply listen before offering advice, recognizing that sometimes solutions don’t make themselves known until further down the road. And yet when they do, to be ready to act.” – Sandy Bishop, Executive Director

Diana Luhn Bower, November 22, 1930—August 28, 2025

Come celebrate the life of Diana Luhn Bower on March 18 from 2-4 p.m. at LCCA.  Bring stories, memories, and a treat to share.  We’ll have other light refreshments available. This will be a time to honor our friend Diana and also view some of her prints.  They will be on sale to support the work of the Land Trust.  Diana was a member and supporter of LCLT for 36 years.  Diana saw the world in color and had a unique ability to create beautiful and serene spaces with the simplest of objects. She delightfully suggested ideas, created ‘A Dream of Houses’ for LCLT’s logo, and was often in touch about how she could help us carry out our work. She graciously offered to be the source of LCLT’s first friendly loan during a difficult time. She served on the Board of Directors and playfully and studiously encouraged us to dream up the world we wanted to see.

Wendell Berry and Community

By: Clauda Costa, Stewardship Manager

“We are working well when we use ourselves as the fellow creatures of the plants, animals, materials, and other people we are working with. Such work is unifying, healing.”

Wendell Berry stands out when I think of a prolific writer on land and community. As part of my onboarding, I decided to read books from the LCLT library that interns might pick up over the summer while they get familiar with what we stand for. Since reading The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, I have found myself returning to its wisdom.

Berry argues that family farms offered cultural and spiritual discipline, and their loss to industrial agribusiness has destroyed rural communities, degraded the land, and estranged Americans from their food and culture. The book was published in 1977, and the issues are still relevant today— we feel less connected to our neighbors, to our bodies, to the foods we eat, and where they come from. We’ve lost the reciprocal ways of living with the natural world. This has led us to monocultures in every industry, and all have direct ways of depleting the health of the land and our community.

Berry and Lopez share a different sentiment. Here, there are still natural spaces that invite us to be in regenerative relationship to nature, communal spaces to be in relationship to each other, and farms, with farmers new and old, that feed us delicious food as a direct product of their continuous and intentional relationship with the land.

As we face the challenges of this great turning, this book invites us to pause and make connections. How does the health of our community and the health of the land affect our own? What does this earth require of us if we want to continue living on it?

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it, we can have no community, because without proper care for it, we can have no life.”

Food (In)security and Community Health: North Sound ACH Conference

By: Rhea Miller, Community Liaison

A video of Natalie Diaz reciting her poem “Why I Hate Raisins” started off the Conference of Food (In)Security by the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH). As an Indigenous woman, Natalie vividly exposes the humiliation of an Indigenous population not having access to its traditional lands.

Staff members Sandy Bishop, Clauda Costa, and Rhea Miller from LCLT, and Pedro Mendes and Elizabeth Romney from the Lopez LIFRC attended the conference in Everett on February 25th. One of the many nuggets of wisdom shared was how one organization conducts its program decision-making process. It has three criteria: 1) Is it positive? 2) Are the stakeholders involved in the decision-making, and 3) what is the potential for harm or for unintended consequences?

The conference made clear that the world of food security changed dramatically during COVID. Many food banks, food pantries, and food share organizations discovered that simply distributing surplus goods did little for the health of those in need. It was necessary to buy fresh produce directly from farmers and fishers, and they needed to take into consideration what is culturally appropriate. Perhaps the biggest insight is that food banks in the region all say that their services are no longer a matter of emergency usage, but rather are critical everyday services that are unfortunately not publicly funded.

Particularly heartening was hearing the Community Outreach & Project Coordinator, Felisa Garcia, for the Latino Educational Training Institute in Lynnwood say how important it is for community land trusts to own land, so that people could learn to grow their food. We were made aware that this is true for all cultures. The side benefit of the conference was Clauda discovering the importance of potlikker (pot liquor). Make sure to ask her about it!

2026 Ag Summit

Since 2013, WSU Extension Service, the SJC Ag Resource, and other local ag groups have supported an Annual Ag Summit. LCLT has participated since its inception. This year, Sandy Bishop and Clauda Costa attended. The theme was “Growing Resilience” with keynote speaker Helen Atthowe, a farmer, author, and national leader in ecological farming. Some of the topics included: the future of agrivoltaics, Indigenous food pathways, input reduction in organic farming, and dry farming practices, to name a few. As with most conferences, a major added benefit was connecting with summit participants. The February date makes the exchange possible since farmers are not yet consumed by tasks in the field. It’s an opportunity for farmers and farming advocates to come together and strengthen connections and deepen relationships. It is humbling to be around so many hard-working, knowledgeable, resourceful people. Let’s all strengthen our local food system by eating more local food, supporting farmers, and celebrating the bounty of our growing local food system.

Looking ahead in 2026

Coming into 2026, we are continuing our renovation of the Stonecrest Farmhouse, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, as an exploration of a bunkhouse concept, with expected completion in May. With the wrapping of the new Oystercatcher Co-op and Forest House builds, we are working to develop a pollinator garden, “Garden Song.” With generous funding from North Sound ACH, the garden will be a place of enjoyment and reflection for the surrounding neighborhood. We are also continuing to explore housing development on the remainder of our 11 acres of land in the Lopez Village Urban Growth Area and searching for additional, farmable land.

LCLT is searching for farmland. Please contact us if you know of any leads.

We have exciting projects in the works — please join us for special announcements at the Annual Meeting on March 21 at 4 PM at the LCCA.

Upcoming Events:

Diana Luhn Bower’s Celebration of Life – March 18

Diana Bower Loves LCLT: A Special Sale of Her Work – March 20

Annual Meeting – March 21

JazzGarden & JazzBall – August 7 & 8

Harvest Dinner –  October

Changes to the Board

Quiniqua Williams has formally resigned from the board and Luis Felipe Cisneros will not seek to run for re-election. Running for their first term, we’d like to introduce…

Kenny Mai

Kenny Mai moved to Lopez Island in 2020 to pursue the opportunity of small business ownership. An avid cyclist who spends much of his time outdoors, he values the connection between community, place, and belonging. Kenny believes that equity and inclusion extend to land access and affordable housing. Having witnessed and personally benefited from the impactful work of LCLT, he is eager to give back and serve its mission.

Current Board of Directors

Joe Schneider, Board Chair; Luis Cisneros, Vice Chair; Grant Carlton, Secretary;

Eleanor Brekke, Treasurer; Jan Marshall, Jonathan Cargill, Carl Petterson, Mark Eames, Hannah Rose, and Eli Derzay

Staff

Sandy Bishop, Executive Director; Clauda Costa, Stewardship Manager;

Marly Schmidtke, Administrative & Project Director; Rhea Miller, Community Liaison

Sign up for our Grain CSA

Steve Lillestol is once again offering locally grown wheat for the 2026 Grain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The variety is Fortuna wheat, a hard, red spring wheat with good protein and baking qualities. Steve will mill all the wheat for you at a nominal price, or if you like, the Locavores and LCLT offer the use of a smaller stone mill to LCLT members. The Grain CSA provides shares of 20 pounds of whole wheatberries for $24. To order shares, make a payment of $24 per share prior to April 18th. Checks are payable to LCLT, PO Box 25, Lopez Island, WA, 98261, or pay online on our website under the “payments” tab. Impress your friends with baked goods from this delicious wheat.

Feel free to email Rhea for further information.

Lands Owned & Leases Granted

In 2025, LCLT owned 11 parcels of land on Lopez, approximately 134 acres. Four housing cooperatives — Morgantown, Coho, Innisfree, and Oystercatcher —  lease separate parcels under the terms of a 99-year ground lease. Three housing cooperatives — Common Ground, Tierra Verde, and Salish Way — each lease a portion of a 7-acre parcel, also under the terms of a 99-year ground lease. LCLT has eight rentals: 64 Portobello Road, 45 Pear Tree Lane, 408 Westpark Lane, Stonecrest Farm, and Tuatara Road. Additionally, LCLT holds 4.5 acres of land on Crayfish Way, 4 acres of undeveloped land on Lopez Road, and a one-acre parcel on Lopez Sound Road with a single-family home.

Stonecrest Farm & Graziers, LLC, lease Stonecrest Farm, a 48-acre parcel located at Kjargaard Road, with a 15-year lease. Still Light Farm, LLC, leases 42 acres of farm and forest land-only at Lopez Sound Road through a 99-year ground lease. Sage and Nathan lease 17.5 acres of land-only at 108 Grayling Lane with a 99-year ground lease.

Treasurer’s Report

LCLT ended 2025 in a stronger financial position than 2024, with substantial growth in total assets, improved liquidity, positive net income, and a strengthened net asset base. LCLT continues to have a significant impact in the Lopez community thanks to our members and contributors. As we embark on a new year of working to strengthen our community together, your continued support is deeply appreciated. We could not do it without you!

LCLT received a total income of $2,030,031; 54% from private contributions, which exceeded the 2025 fundraising goal of $849,010 by 29%. Grants from the SJC Home Fund, WSDOT, and Banner Bank contributed to 31%. The remaining 15% came from leases, rents & fees, interest income from accounts and notes receivable, and Endowment and Investments.

Expenses totaled $2,345,076 – 72% of which was expended finishing the construction of seven new single-family homes and installing capital improvements at one of our rentals; 13% went toward sustainable ag, including remodeling the farmhouse at Stonecrest Farm. Operating, maintenance, and repair costs of the Common Field water system and rental properties 3%, and 12% towards other LCLT programs and general operations.

2025 brought an 8% increase in fixed assets with the gift of a home on Portobello Road. Investments increased by 23% due to funds recouped from capital outlays in 2024. Revolving Notes & Notes Receivable, all in good standing, showed a 92% increase in total assets. The substantial increase in Notes Receivable reflects continued lending and project financing consistent with LCLT’s mission.

Long-term liabilities come in the form of long-term loans, forgivable loans, and friendly (community-based) loans.

The amounts shown on these statements are preliminary and subject to adjustments made during our regular audit. If you’d like a copy of our audited 2024 statements, please inquire. We expect to have our audited 2025 statements completed later in 2026.

We were made for these times

Funding for agencies that support our work on affordable housing and sustainable agriculture at the federal, state, and county level continue to experience constraints and cuts. This is our new normal, calling for a time to lean on each other for support and dream bigger.

At LCLT, we are grateful to count on the community for support through private donations and county grants. Your gifts are essential to our work of building homes, strengthening our local food system, and supporting a resilient island community.

We invite you to make a donation today.