Bayshore Preserve & Inspiring Kids Preserve
We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the country. From the oak-dotted prairie and estuary habitat of Bayshore Preserve to the forest and wetlands at Inspiring Kids Preserve, each of these places offers a unique but quintessential Pacific Northwest experience.
Your support for the Connecting to the Land Campaign will:
Provide access, meaningful experiences, and long-term care.
At both preserves, the Connecting to the Land Campaign aims to create welcoming, accessible places where people can explore, learn and connect to the land and each other. Supporting the Connecting to the Land Campaign will provide:
- Safer, more welcoming entrances and parking areas that make it easier for individuals, families, and school groups to visit
- An open-air gathering pavilion at Inspiring Kids Preserve, designed to support year-round learning, group experiences, and community connection
- Accessible trails and improved trail systems that reduce barriers and make it possible for more people to experience these landscapes
- Interpretive signage and wayfinding signs that helps people understand the land’s ecology, history, and ongoing restoration, and invites people to form their own multi-sensory relationships with nature
- Viewpoints and bird blinds that allow people to explore while protecting sensitive habitats
- Outdoor classrooms, learning stations, and gathering spaces that support hands-on education and small-group experiences
- Nature play areas that encourage curiosity, creativity, and connection for younger visitors
- Places to rest, reflect and take in the landscape, including benches and scenic viewpoints
The Places
Inspiring Kids Preserve
Inspiring Kids Preserve is 113 acres along Henderson Inlet in Olympia. Originally two properties, a homestead and a tree farm, Capitol Land Trust has conserved both and combined them to form the Inspiring Kids Preserve.
This property is home to nearly every native species of tree in western Washington and protects a mile of Puget Sound shoreline. Diverse and abundant wildlife includes many species of birds, beavers and otters, coyotes, deer, porcupines, and more.
It’s these inspiring natural features that make the property a fantastic place for an outdoor learning laboratory. Inspiring Kids Preserve lies within a 20-minute bus ride of 32 schools in Thurston County. This makes it a place rich in educational opportunity for outdoor STEAM learning, as well as for nature play and rejuvenation.
We chose the name Inspiring Kids Preserve for two simple reasons: to inspire kids through hands-on experiences in nature that spark a lifelong love of the land, and to inspire the kid in all of us to reconnect with the outdoors. At Capitol Land Trust, we believe that when people feel a genuine connection to a place, they are far more likely to care for and protect it. By helping young people and families build those connections today, we are nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards. That is exactly what we hope this special preserve will do—create a place where curiosity, joy, and a love of nature can grow.
Bayshore Preserve
This 78-acre peninsula preserve is located north of Shelton on the shore of Oakland Bay. Since first being formed by a major stream deposit created by the glaciers as they retreated 17,000 years ago, this land has gone through many changes. Once home to a large village of the extended family groups of the Squaxin Island Tribe, this shoreline along Oakland Bay has long been a place of community and connection. Historical accounts describe several longhouses here, supporting vibrant village community. Following European settlement, the property was used as a homestead and sawmill, and more recently, as a golf course.
Restoration projects undertaken since we purchased the property are returning it to a more natural state, which includes a pristine saltmarsh, open grassy areas, oak woodland savannah, and upland forest and riparian habitat. Since being conserved in 2014, Bayshore Preserve has been open to the public, and is one of our most visited sites – a place where salmon return each year, students learn about estuaries and wildlife, and families come to explore the beauty of South Puget Sound.
Supporting the Connecting to the Land Campaign is a meaningful way to give back
help shape and care for places your family and community can return to again and again.
Long-Term Care: The Public Access Fund
Ensuring these places are cared for – today and for years to come.
Each visitor leaves a footprint; but footprints mean that the landscape is available for us. Our vision is to create places where people can visit safely and delight in nature. This means constant care and attention to improvements. Maintaining trails in good repair, clearing downed branches and trees from storms promptly, and addressing other issues that are bound to arise requires dependable funding and resources. We want preserve visitors – today and forever – to have the same welcoming experience. The Connecting to the Land Campaign will ensure our Public Access Fund is large enough to keep these preserves barrier-free and in good condition for generations.
At Capitol Land Trust, we conserve land in perpetuity. So, planning for things with long time horizons is in our DNA. Access and enrichment improvements are large investments, and our goal with the Public Access Fund is to create the capacity to do the work; to be prudent stewards of all the resources that we manage.
Supporting the Connecting to the Land Campaign will provide:
- Ongoing trail care and maintenance to keep paths safe and accessible
- Stewardship work that addresses hazards and protects the health of the landscape
- Ongoing care and updates to signage, learning materials, and visitor infrastructure to keep experiences fresh, relevant, and engaging
- Care for essential facilities like parking areas and restrooms
Outdoor Experiences & Learning Laboratories
Collaboration is one of our core values. Working with partner organizations is a critical element of our success. By combining our decades of local on-the-ground experience with the expertise of partner organizations, we’re able to maximize the impact of our activities and increase the quality of programming. Organizations such as Puget Sound Estuarium, the Olympia Mountaineers, The Evergreen State College, Northwest Youth Corps, Squaxin Island Tribe, South Sound Bird Alliance, and many others deliver educational activities on Capitol Land Trust preserves. With increased accessibility and fewer barriers, a wider variety of community organizations will be able to incorporate the natural world found on our preserves into their programs to better serve their constituents. The Connecting to the Land Campaign is a way to expand opportunities for people of all ages to experience conservation in meaningful ways.
Supporting the Connecting to the Land Campaign will provide:
- Expanded partnerships with schools and higher education partners – bringing more students onto the land for hands-on learning
- Partnerships with community organizations that connect more people to nature through guided experiences
- Increased access for groups who have had fewer opportunities to spend time in nature
- A volunteer docent program that creates welcoming, educational experiences for visitors
- Building and deepening relationships with Tribes, with opportunities to learn from and support Indigenous knowledge, cultural connections to the land, and shared stewardship values
