Mystery novelist Elizabeth George of Langley has donated $100,000 to help protect the island’s Trillium forest, and she challenged other Whidbey artists to follow suit.

George’s donation will help the Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s effort to save the

664-acre former Trillium Woods property between Freeland and Greenbank, the island’s largest remaining contiguous forest.

The land trust has an option to buy the property, which fell into foreclosure this past year, and is in the middle of a campaign to raise $4.2 million by June 10 to protect it from development.

George launched a national book tour at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley this week and announced the donation during the event.

George moved to Whidbey Island five years ago after more than 30 years in Orange County, Calif.

“Vast expanses of farmland in Southern California are now covered in concrete,” she said. “Once it’s paved, it’s lost forever.”

George’s promotional tour will take her back to Southern California, following stops in Seattle. The tour promotes her latest book, “This Body of Death.”

To donate, or for more information, visit www.savetheforestnow.org, call 222-3310, or send contributions to the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Attention: Save the Forest Now, 765 Wonn Road, Barn C-201, Greenbank, WA 98253.