Protectors of Ebey’s National Historical Reserve have turned innovate in their efforts to help preserve Whidbey Island’s number one treasure.

A proposal before Congress would turn management of historic Ferry House property over to the National Park Service, while providing on-going funding for the property.

“We’re hopeful that the innovative nature of this project …. will ultimately carry the day,” said Leslie Brown, communications director for The Nature Conservancy of Washington.

At present, the Nature Conservancy owns the 35 acres surrounding the 150-year old Ferry House, which overlooks Admiralty Inlet and welcomed visitors to the island in the 19th Century.

The proposal is for Congress to provide $500,000 for the Park Service to acquire an easement, allowing the Park Service to manage the property.

The money would not go into Conservancy coffers, however. It would be divided into two separate permanent endowments, one under the direction of the Ebey’s Trust Board to take care of historic structures, and the other to be used by the Conservancy for ecological stewardship.

Rob Harbour, manager of Ebey’s Reserve, said the endowments would produce an estimated $25,000 annually for preservation activities. “It wouldn’t be federal money anymore, you could count on it,” he said Tuesday. Federal funding has been hard to come by in recent years. Harbour said endowment money could be “leveraged” to bring in more donations without having to wait for appropriations from Congress.

With the Park Service controlling the 35 acres, it could be maintained as farmland and provide hiking trail corridors. Harbour said the Park Service put a new roof on the deteriorating Ferry House last year, but finding future funding for the house is “more of a challenge.”

The Conservancy’s Brown said it’s in the process of lobbying Congress for the $500,000. The money would come from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund which uses revenues from offshore oil and gas receipts to protect land and water for recreational uses, open space and wildlife habitat. The Park Service received $3.2 million from that fund for Ebey’s Reserve in 2001 and $1 million in 2002, but funding has fallen off in the last few years.

Once under Park Service control, the land surrounding the Ferry House will be free from any threat of development. “It’s not the last piece, but it’s a very important piece in the protection of Ebey’s Landing,” Brown said. “It’s such an icon.”

Brown said it’s been “very difficult” acquiring funding from Congress the last few years, but the Conservancy is hoping this new approach will find favor. “We’re currently putting this proposal before several members of Congress, seeking their support,” she said. The hope is to have the $500,000 included in the budget the President will sign later this year.

Harbour said people who support the easement sale should contact members of Congress to show the public backs the idea.

The Ferry House itself was earlier donated to the Park Service by the Nature Conservancy, which has protected 544 acres of Reserve property since the death of landowner Robert Pratt in 1999.