Park Cautions Visitors Against Aggressive Attacking Owls San Juan Island National Historical Park is cautioning people recreating in the park about recent and aggressive behavior from owls that has resulted in at least four known attacks on visitors in the park. These encounters have been reported on English Camp’s Bell Point Loop Trail in recent  Continue Reading

The Animal Protection Society – Friday Harbor (APS-FH) is happy to announce that Reneé Koehne and her daughter, Brittany Koehne have been selected as our October Volunteer(s) of the Month. Reneé and Brittany have spent their summer weekends, for the past two years, helping trap feral cats for APS-FH’s TNR (Trap Neuter Return) program. In  Continue Reading

More good news from J-Pod… The Center for Whale Research confirms that another calf has been born into the Southern Resident killer whale community, and the mother is J41. CWR will eagerly await the whales’ return to evaluate the calf’s condition and hopefully determine its sex. J41’s new calf is the second birth in J  Continue Reading

Here’s some happy news from the Center for Whale Research… Updating our recent announcement concerning J35’s new calf, J57: we can confirm that it is male (see top photograph). This feisty young boy was seen last evening, September 22, near Point Roberts, Washington. He was photographed rolling, spyhopping, and swimming alongside his mother, who was  Continue Reading

San Juan Island Library announces that renowned regional author Clare Hodgson Meeker will host a Zoom talk on Friday, October 2, at 7:00 p.m. Meeker’s latest book, Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together, is a 2020 Washington State Book Award Finalist for Young Readers. Meeker will discuss writing Growing Up  Continue Reading

Resource Allocation to Growth and Structure: The Energetic Cost of Mussel Byssal Thread Attachment, by Molly Roberts Dr. Molly Roberts completed her PhD with Dr. Emily Carrington in 2019 in the Biology Department at UW. Her research involved both experimental work at FHL and fieldwork at Penn Cove Shellfish in Coupeville, WA. Prior to her  Continue Reading

FREEZER BURNED: Tales of Interior Alaska is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Steve Ulvi… (Author’s note: This campfire story is mostly fiction in terms of characters and events. Historic, ecological and political themes will always be sculpted factually. The wonders of the subarctic natural world are as I understand them  Continue Reading

San Juan County Master Gardeners welcome keynote speaker Robin Haglund to the Annual Gardening Workshop Series. Robin’s presentation, Growing a Year-Round Hummingbird Habitat Garden, guides you through crafting and maintaining a gorgeous year-round garden that provides habitat for our resident hummingbirds. You will learn the vital elements needed for food and nesting, while enjoying the  Continue Reading

We hear from Tanja at the Land Bank… Make some room in your freezer – deer hunting is open for early and general seasons only at Lopez Hill and Mount Grant Preserves. Specific dates are as follows: Archery: September 1 -25 Muzzle loader: September 26 – October 4 Modern Firearm: October 17 – November 1 Be  Continue Reading

Bug Count hosted by Bugs of the San Juans… Activity for Islanders! End of Summer Porch Light Bug Count! August 20 at 12 PM – August 31 at 3 PM   So, I’ve been checking out what insects show up at our porch light around 10:00 pm and took a short video clip last night after  Continue Reading

State receives more than $11 million in federal grants to benefit Southern Resident killer whale and Chinook recovery… The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) today announced the award of more than $11 million in grants to 11 Chinook salmon habitat and hatchery projects from a new grant program under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.  Continue Reading

The Animal Shelter (AP-FH) is participating in this year’s San Juan Island Community Fair’s “Virtual Fair”  August 12-15.  It is a fund-raiding opportunity for us, one of very few this year, unfortunately. Your help is needed to feed our 4-legged friends! COVID has hit us hard but homeless dogs and cats continue to need our care.   Think about  Continue Reading

On Sunday, August 2, five North Carolina hound-dog mixes arrived at Animal Protection Society – Friday Harbor where they will be cared for until adopted. Landing in their “forever homes” will be an incredible end to an epic journey for these dogs. The story begins with a kind and generous gentleman bringing a stray dog  Continue Reading

We hear from artist and animal activist Jan Murphy… Friday Harbor Artist Jan Murphy uses her art to help exploited Asiatic Bears. Jan is an artist at the Friday Harbor Atelier, 313 Spring Street. “Hi, my name is Jan Murphy, and at 59 years old, I can finally say that I no longer feel timid about calling  Continue Reading

SJ Historical Museum with their History Column for August… It was pretty easy to choose a topic for this month’s history column. Last month’s column suggested a theme when we came upon the fun photo from the 1981 Fourth of July Parade and decided to use it, since we didn’t have a parade this year.  Continue Reading

Olympia—Throughout August, the Washington Invasive Species Council and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are asking the public to take 10 minutes to check trees in their communities for invasive insects. August is the peak time of year that wood-boring insects are most often spotted outside of trees. “State and federal agencies do a  Continue Reading