The San Juan Preservation Trust held its first annual “Summer Social” event on Saturday, Aug. 2 on Dodie Gann’s Red Mill Farm on San Juan Island. Billed as a “Celebration of Art, Islands and Conservation,” this event was a collaboration of the Preservation Trust, the artists of Plein Air Washington, and Gallery San Juan in Friday Harbor.

An exhibit of plein air (outdoor) paintings created on Preservation Trust lands and public lands throughout the San Juan Islands was unveiled at the Summer Social event, and will be on display at Gallery San Juan in Friday Harbor beginning Aug. 9. Proceeds from the sale of these paintings are being donated to the Preservation Trust to advance land conservation efforts in the islands.

The San Juan Preservation Trust is a private, non-profit conservation land trust founded in 1979 by a group of local citizens. Governed by a volunteer board of trustees representing islands throughout the San Juan archipelago, the Preservation Trust provides its membership with the opportunity to vote for new or incumbent trustees. In addition to electing incumbents Mary Riveland (Orcas), Fred Ellis (Shaw), Charles Givens (Lopez), Steve McKeon (Orcas) and Roger deRoos (San Juan), Preservation Trust members elected five new trustees including Margaret Carper (Orcas), Carolyn Haugen (San Juan), Samantha Martin Sprenger (Shaw), Brian Windrope (San Juan) and Cynthia Dilling (Lopez).

Visit wwwsjpt.org for profiles of these new trustees or to learn more about the Preservation Trust and its membership program.