Just 3% of the prairies which originally spanned Western Washington — including Whidbey Island — remain today. With the help of new leadership, a Central Whidbey nonprofit is trying to change that.

Founded in 2009, the Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Stewardship is steadily rehabilitating 140 acres of prairie and savanna located just east of Coupeville through the reintroduction of many of the region’s native species.

Now, bringing on Murietta Mitschak as executive director and electing Jim Peskuric as board chair earlier this month, the institute is trying to obtain a conservation easement which would permanently protect the land from development.

“As we bring (the native plants) back, we’re bringing back the native pollinators, we’re bringing back the whole food chain,” Peskur

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