Every year, hundreds of hikers trek along the Ebey’s Landing bluff trail, a unique area with views across Admiralty Inlet to the Olympic Range and back across the farmland of Ebey’s Prairie.

Until 1984, this property could have been developed with private homes, but instead it will be protected forever.

The Heath easement, named after former owner Albert Heath, is one of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s 38 conservation projects completed so far, with more than a dozen on North Whidbey. In its 25 years, the nonprofit has preserved about 6,100 acres of land.

And that’s reason to celebrate.

Trudy Sundberg of Oak Harbor is organizing a party on North Whidbey for the Land Trust’s anniversary, Sunday, Sept. 20.

It isn’t widely known, Sundberg says, that the first projects by the Land Trust began on the north and central areas of the island. These include the Heath easement in Coupeville and the Hayes easement northeast of Oak Harbor.

“Three of the first five protected were north of Coupeville,” Elizabeth Guss, director of outreach and development, said. “It’s a bit of a coming back home.”

The party will be held at the home of Scott and Suzanne Ashworth on San de Fuca Road. Sundberg described their house as a “wooded castle” with about 74 acres near the beach.

There will be speeches by park rangers Jack Hartt and Rick Blank, Land Trust staff and landowners who granted conservation easements. The party will also display a youth photo story project.

This year, high school students took their own photos and borrowed historic photos to help them connect with historic families on Whidbey and Camano and learn about their relationship to the land. They were shown at the Island County Fair and Stanwood Camano Fair.

There will also be small passports handed out, which can be stamped during land trust activities. After a person collects nine stamps, they will be entered into a drawing for a cruise along the coast of Whidbey and Camano.

“Scientists will be on board talking about the land and the significance of the different types of land,” Guss said.

The birthday party is really one part of a year-long celebration for the organization. There have been smaller house parties, picnics, hikes and major events such as the Plein Air Painters’ U.S. Open, in which artists painted in preserved areas.

“We are recognizing that 25 years ago, the community said this land is precious, we really care about it and we want to protect it for future generations,” Guss said.

The birthday party will be held Sunday, Sept. 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2438 Juan de Fuca Rd., off Swantown Road. It is sponsored by Windermere Real Estate and admission is $10. There will also be food and entertainment. For reservations, call 675-0860.