One woman’s vision becomes a reality.

SUQUAMISH — Virginia Cowling, 92, is leaving a legacy for generations to come — her backyard.

The trails of Cowling Creek Forest Preserve are ready for the public to peruse and it’s all thanks to an original idea expressed by Cowling almost a decade ago.

Cowling, who traveled the world in her 70s, was tired of seeing her backyards become freeways or university expansions in Seattle, so she and her husband Bill moved to Suquamish more than 30 years ago.

They wanted to make sure they were far enough away city structures wouldn’t back into them again.

“She’s really the inspiration,” said Nancy D’Archangel of Friends of Miller Bay, the group that purchased the land. “She’s the one who really kicked us in the rear end to get going with this. I’ll never forget that day when Virginia came and said ‘I have 18 acres and I think you need to buy it.’ I remember thinking it was a crazy, silly idea. I kept asking myself, ‘How many bake sales is that?’ ”

The idea was to keep the 18 acres, bought for $273,000, development free — a natural habitat for local ecosystem to flourish untouched by pipes, drainage systems and floor plans.

To top it off, Cowling believed it could be used as a living education sanctuary where people (no pets) could watch nature’s creations interact.

Friends of Miller Bay became interested in the land because by preserving the forest, the two nearby streams filtering into Miller Bay remained clean, keeping bay quality high. No impervious structures could cause water run-off. No more wells could take water away from the streams.

Cowling said she proposed the project idea, “When I was younger and didn’t know what I was doing,” she said.

“She knew exactly what she was doing,” said D’Archangel laughing.

Cowling cautioned in her old age she was a little fuzzy on the details but she still had the spark that got people talking about buying the property years ago.

“If people didn’t move fast enough for her, she was on the phone with the county commissioners,” D’Archangel said.

In November 2007, eight years after Cowling proposed the idea, the group had raised enough money to payback Kitsap County Parks and Recreation for the purchase of the 18 acres.

Parks had bought the property with the agreement they would be paid back in full by October 2007.

D’Archangel said it wouldn’t have been possible without the land’s current owners, The Great Peninsula Conservancy.

“They came to us and said we needed a plan — we couldn’t do it on bake sales,” Nancy said.

The group started hosting benefit concerts in 2003 and after five years of adamantly searching for donations, the group garnered enough to make the purchase final.

The group didn’t host one single bake sale.

Walking through the trails, D’Archangel and her husband Dick D’Archangel point out nurse logs and an old fish hatchery.

Sparrows fly through the green overgrowth and a leopard slug slimes its way over the fallen leaves.

It’s exactly the backyard Cowling wanted. And it’s here to stay, exactly as nature intends.

Cowling, the D’Archangels said, never had any children.

Through her backyard the children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren of the masses can explore the Cowling Creek Forest Preserve for years to come.

“We feel like we’re all her children,” D’Archangel said.

Parking signs will soon be posted along Miller Bay Road, directing people to trail heads, currently accessed from Miller Bay and Essex roads and Urban Street.

To get a map of the trails, e-mail the D’Archangels beforehand at darchangel@embarqmail.com.

The preserve, totaling more than 50 acres, is comprised by private, public and tribal ownership.