“Natural Skagit: A Journey from Mountains to Sea,” a new book packed with stunning images of the county’s magnificent natural beauty, will remind residents exactly why they choose to live here — and will make everyone else envious that they don’t.

“We want this coffee-table book to be dog-eared and passed on to friends, neighbors and relatives. It says, look at this remarkable place we live in. This is a place where the best mix of nature and human is still possible,” said Skagit Land Trust executive director Molly Doran.

“Natural Skagit” was published by the trust and proceeds will benefit the organization.

“All of the funds, 100 percent, are going right back into conservation,” Doran said. “The money will go right back into conserving more Skagit land.”

Equally important to raising funds, the book will raise awareness.

“We want to keep Skagit County special — in 100 years we want it to still be called ‘the magic Skagit.’ But it won’t save itself — it needs us all to share that vision and work towards it,” Doran said in an e-mail.

In the book’s epilogue, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dietrich puts it more poetically:

“We are stupefied by our good fortune and scared to death we’re going to pave paradise and be cast out of the Garden. When you live in a place, it’s easy to take it for granted or to not notice the gradual, insidious changes gnawing away at heaven. When you see every other pretty place overrun with uninspired development, it’s easy to be resigned to the same happening here.”

Readers are duly warned. However, most of the book is a joyous celebration of the paradise that still remains.

Sixty photographers, including a dozen from Fidalgo and Guemes islands, contributed 240 images to the 126-page volume, which is printed on 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper. The writers and artists donated the text and photographs.

Lavishly illustrated, the book’s gorgeous images are printed in a large scale that does the subjects justice. There are sweeping views of the river valley, mountains, tulip fields and pristine islands, as well as intimate portraits and snapshots of residents and close-ups of the area’s native plants and wildlife.

The text is in the form of short, readable stories about individuals and tribes who have cared for the landscape, and about specific places such as Padilla Bay and the March Point heronry. The last third of the book is dedicated to the shorelines and islands of the county.

Many of the book’s writers and photographers are from Fidalgo, Guemes and Cypress islands. Leslie Eastwood wrote an entry on the Samish Indian Nation. Jan Hersey wrote the “Islands” chapter, and she and Anna Fahey wrote about the Fahey family’s decision to put a conservation easement on 100 acres on Cypress Island. Islanders profiled include Swinomish Tribal Chairman Brian Cladoosby, artist Phil McCracken, volunteer and philanthropist John Tursi and Skagit Land Trust co-founder Gene Murphy.

Island-based photographers include Win Anderson, Steve Berentson, Thea La Cross, Michelle Blaine, Sandy Carter, Dave Smith, Dick Smith, Jan Hersey, Denise Crowe and Nicole Herman. Jim Ramaglia and Kelly Scarzafava contributed underwater images and Suzanne Fogarty did all the portrait photography.

After the trust put out a call to the community, about 2,000 photographs were submitted. A committee met eight times to select images in the Sedro-Woolley studio of iconic Skagit photographer Lee Mann, who also contributed to the book. When they found a few gaps, they asked specific photographers for additional images. The resulting book, the first to depict the county’s rich natural diversity, is the culmination of more than 13 months of collaborative effort, Doran said.

The book comes when the state has started an effort to restore and protect Puget Sound by 2020. With a population of 120,000, Skagit County remains rural, but is under tremendous growth pressure complicated by geography. Most growth is funneled into the Skagit River’s flood plain. The flood plains of the Skagit and Samish rivers include rich farmland and wildlife habitat, and make up one of the last strongholds of wild salmon in the lower 48 states, according to the trust.