BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The City of Bellingham has bought more land in the pursuit of protecting the city’s water source.

Last week the Bellingham City Council unanimously approved a purchase of two parcels of land in the Lake Whatcom watershed.

Public Works’ Stefanie Cilinceon says one of the properties is a four-acre forested property with substantial evergreen tree cover on the north side of the lake. The property near Donald Avenue was purchased from William and Duane Schenck and Barry Collman for $340,000.

 

Cilinceon says the other property is nearly 41 acres of forested land with some fields on the southeast end of the lake off of Park Road. The city purchased the land from Dennis and Maureen Handel for $205,000.

The Park Road property features a seasonal creek on its west end that flows into Anderson Creek which in turn runs into Lake Whatcom.

So far, the city has purchased 2,815 acres of land around Lake Whatcom. Here’s a map of the total land owned by the city as part of the Lake Whatcom Land Acquisition and Preservation Program.

Cilinceon says that there are no plans to create recreation on either parcel of land. Rather, management activities on the properties will include cleanup, restoration and ecological forest management.