“For Jim Salter’s birthday, he and the city exchanged gifts.In a Thursday morning ceremony that included a round of Happy Birthday to the 86-year-old islander, city officials concluded purchase of Salter’s five-acre woodland off Wardwell Road.Purchase price is $140,000, to be paid to Salter and his wife Lucille in installments over 10 years. Payments began with a check for $10,000, handed to Salter by Mayor Dwight Sutton at the ceremony.I’m just trying to find out if it’s certified, Salter said, examining the draft.Cash it quick – that’s disappearing ink, Sutton rejoined.We need a bigger one – that one’s spent three times over, Lucille Salter said.While officials basked in the successful transaction – the deal had been announced in March, but stalled while the parcel was appraised – it was actually the second of two city land deals this week.The city council Wednesday also authorized purchase of the 14.5-acre Johnson farm on Fletcher Bay Road, southwest of the High School Road intersection.Purchase price was $750,000, city Administrator Lynn Nordby said. Funds came from a catch-all bond issue authorized by the city council a year and a half ago, some of which was earmarked for open space purchases, he said.The parcel had been under short-term option by the Trust for Public Lands, a national conservation organization working in concert with the newly formed and island-based Trust for Working Landscapes.The city was asked to step in and purchase the property, to give the local trust a chance to get organized and raise funds of its own.Dan Suchman, legal advisor for the trust, and Nordby said that the group will have a three-year option to purchase the land from the city at a reduced rate. Goals of the Trust for Working Landscapes including establishing farms and affordable housing, organizers said. A board of directors is now being formed.It takes it off the market, and the pressure to sell it will be off, Nordby said.As to the Salter land, city and park district officials see it as a new south access for Meigs Park.The Salters purchased the land in 1960, next to the family homestead where Jim Salter grew up.Although they now reside in Winslow, the couple held onto the five acres, where Salter has continued to hand-make cedar shakes from fallen trees.He and his wife had hoped for some time to see the property – which includes several trails, and gives access to what is said to be the largest Sitka spruce in the Northwest – preserved.Several logging outfits came out and wanted to buy the trees, Lucille Salter said. We didn’t want that.A deal had been discussed informally for several years, after Salter and park district Director Dave Lewis met at an outdoor concert at Waterfront Park. Neither the park district nor the Bainbridge Island Land Trust had funds for a purchase, but the city came into play this past spring.Sutton said he would like to see the parcel retain the name Salter, denoting the trailheads or some other feature.It’s a real testimony to their generosity and love of nature and community spirit, said Sallie Maron, a Bainbridge Island Land Trust member. “