The SJC Land Bank invites you to to meet your new Orcas Stewardship Staff and throw in a little habitat restoration to boot. Join us in the oak restoration units to help plant plugs grown in the Salish Seeds Project nursery. We will depart promptly at 9:45 am from the South Trailhead parking area (Deer  Continue Reading

Here’s a message from the State of Washington Recreation and Conservation Office… OLYMPIA – Earlier this month, a woman reportedly released two large coolers of live tilapia into Sammamish Lake, a popular location for water sports and hiking. A concerned citizen saw the act and reported it to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.  Continue Reading

Stuff: We Become Our Things And Retrospective Artist Nicola Wheston’s exhibit on now at SJIMA till December 10, 2018 Our planet is drowning in pollution and plastics and we still worship consumerism… Artist Nicola Wheston is not afraid to talk trash, but her latest exhibit, Stuff: We Become Our Things, does the trash talking for  Continue Reading

  A panel of San Juan Island Master Gardener volunteers will share their ornamental obsessions and inspire you to join them in their love of salvias, roses, and plants with beautiful leaves at the Annual Gardening Workshop, this Saturday, October 20th. Ornamental garden plants aren’t ‘idle lovelies’ – they create pollinator habitats and bird joy,  Continue Reading

The following is a guest post from Neil Stawski with Climate Wise… There are nearly 7 billion humans on the planet, with more being born every day. And each person comes with their own ecological footprint. When you add up the ecological footprints of 7 billion people, you begin to understand the enormous environmental effect  Continue Reading

  The San Juan County Master Gardeners are pleased to welcome Craig Cogger, WSU Soil Scientist Emeritus, and Everett Chu, Owner of Azusa Farm and Gardens LLC, Certified Professional Horticulturist and Landscape Designer, to the Annual Gardening Workshop. Dr. Cogger will discuss “Assessing and Amending Your Garden Soil,” with guidelines for testing, fertilization and organic  Continue Reading

Love to problem solve? Interested in gardening? Looking for a fun way to get involved? Applications are now being accepted for the 2019 San Juan County WSU Master Gardener Training Program. Volunteer trainees receive over 60 hours of training, both in the classroom and online. The training is taught by local and regional experts and  Continue Reading

by Theresa Simendinger… KYI Walks are Great Events to Find New Areas and Trails on San Juan Island On September 22 seven brave folks, in spite of morning-long rains, met at Horsetrail Road for a tour of the Mitchell Hill area …led by a horse! The mare above is Zanzibar, a Tennessee Walker who did  Continue Reading

Lopez, WA – [On October 5th] the Bureau of Land Management announced the release of the Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the San Juan Islands National Monument (Monument). This Draft RMP/EIS is available to review at https://go.usa.gov/xRphc and addresses a range of alternatives for the purposes of providing overarching goals and  Continue Reading

From the Master Gardeners… Did you know that most plant problems are not the result of disease or insects? But differentiating between a disease, a pest, or a disorder to correctly treat the problem can be a real challenge. Last year’s popular keynote speaker, Dr. Linda Gilkeson, returns to the Master Gardeners Annual Gardening Workshop  Continue Reading

San Juan Island resident, Jan Murphy, will be on-hand at the San Juan Island Public Library Monday, October 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 to give a presentation on Bear Bile farming and other animal welfare issues in China and Vietnam. Jan will discuss her work with the organization, Animals Asia and show a film, “Jill  Continue Reading

Thanks to Nancy DeVaux for sharing her visit to the Land Bank’s Lake Zylstra Preserve… (click on the photos for a larger image). “As the rain let up Sunday afternoon a steady flow of islanders showed up at the Open House to get an early look at Zylstra Lake, a new 60-acre acquisition by the  Continue Reading

EDC presents Climate Change for Business – a workshop on mitigating climate change impacts… Business and farm owners or managers are invited to join the San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) for a 5-hour workshop and discussion on the topic of Climate Change for Business, Thursday, October 18th, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.  at  Continue Reading

Friday Harbor Film Festival is very excited to announce our 2018 Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Awardee; Captain Paul Watson, founder of both Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd… Each year since 2013, the Friday Harbor Film Festival, located on beautiful San Juan Island, Washington, invites dedicated and talented Filmmakers to showcase their Documentary films unique ability to  Continue Reading

Dr. Astrid van Ginneken has worked with the Center for Whale Research since 1987. She is co-principle investigator for CWR’s Orca Survey and has published both scientific and popular articles in addition to a book about killer whales. Astrid has great enthusiasm for Southern Resident orcas and her stories of these wonderful creatures are beautifully  Continue Reading

Co-op members understand the power of the vote – it’s in our DNA. With Americans holding more than 350 million co-op memberships and rural electric cooperatives serving 75% of our country’s land mass: we have the power! OPALCO, the Orcas Food Co-op and San Juan Island Food Co-op encourage you to register to vote, cast  Continue Reading

On September 25, Dr. John Durban from NOAA and Dr. Holly Fearnbach from SR3 SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research will present on “Photogrammetry Study of the SRKWs.” The lecture will take place at 7:00 pm at The Whale Museum.  Dr. Durban leads the Cetacean Health and Life History Program at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center  Continue Reading

On October 13thfrom 11 am to 5 pm, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) will deliver a free training session in Friday Harbor, WA for citizens interested in surveying for marine debris. The COASST Marine Debris program is focused on the intersection of science, conservation, and communities. Rather than simply identifying debris, the  Continue Reading

Here’s a note from Safe Shippers… Proudly, our San Juan County Council Members recently joined their Canadian counterparts, the Islands Trust Council, in calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project, once and for all. As Safe Shippers well know, if approved, this project would increase tanker traffic by 700%  Continue Reading

The recent rains have resulted in San Juan County moving the fire risk level to Moderate. This does not change the status of burning in the county, it is merely a risk level modification that reflects fuel moisture levels rising.  Campfires remain allowed in San Juan County.  Residential burning remains closed until the expected opening  Continue Reading

Did you know that most of the otters we see around here are river otters? It is true. The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) has adapted to our salt water environment. “River otters are semi-aquatic mustelids (the weasel family), and are traditionally thought to be freshwater animals.  However, across both coasts of North America, river otters  Continue Reading

San Juan Island National Historical Park Issues Fire Restrictions Due to very dry conditions and increasing fire danger on San Juan Island, Superintendent Elexis Fredy has announced fire restrictions in San Juan Island National Historical Park. Beginning August 21, 2018, fire restrictions prohibit: Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire, charcoal grill, tiki  Continue Reading