Interested in using native plants in your landscape? There are many wonderful reasons to use PNW natives: they are often long lived and don’t need maintenance, they provide year-round color and garden interest, they can be used to stabilize hillsides and prevent erosion, and some are drought and heat tolerant, helpful in a warming  Continue Reading

WA State determines San Juan County’s Shoreline Master Program is compliant with state law On January 8, 2019, the State Growth Management Hearings Board found that San Juan County’s Shoreline Master Program including its shoreline management regulations comply with the State’s Shoreline Management Act.  San Juan County adopted Ordinance 21 – 2018 that addressed areas  Continue Reading

WSF: Electrify the San Juan Islands Ferry Routes FIRST Don’t delay protection of the Salish Sea The current WS Ferries Long range plan for deploying electric ferries puts the San Juan routes last on the list. Why lose decades in our efforts to protect the Salish Sea – and all of the species who depend  Continue Reading

Did you know that our local sand and gravel beaches nurture incubating fish eggs? These eggs are virtually undetectable to the naked eye and come from two species of marine fish – surf smelt and Pacific sand lance. These species are among those referred to as “forage fish” for the vital role they play in  Continue Reading

State Investing in Youth Outdoor Education, Recreation OLYMPIA–Washington State is accepting applications for the No Child Left Inside grant program, which aims to give at-risk children opportunities to experience the outdoors. No Child Left Inside grants fund programs that provide youth in Washington with outdoor recreation and education programs, including summer camps, natural resource-based education  Continue Reading

Interested in using native plants in your landscape? There are many wonderful reasons to use PNW natives: they are often long-lived and don’t need maintenance, they provide year-round color and garden interest, they can be used to stabilize hillsides and prevent erosion, and some are drought and heat tolerant, helpful in a warming climate. And  Continue Reading

This article was contributed by Friends of the San Juans… As residents of a community of islands, we are no stranger to coastal storms like the one that hit northern Puget Sound just before Christmas. While winter storms themselves are not uncommon, the larger events that cause serious damage from erosion or flooding are actually  Continue Reading

Local photographer John Miller shares this view from 300 feet elevation of Wasp Passage, taken with a DJI Phantom adv. Great shot – Thanks John!

Tom Doenges, owner of Computer San Juans wants you to know about this new service coming to an island near you… Calling all small businesses, schools, ports, town and individuals… I am joining forces with a friend who runs an electronics recycling company in Bellingham called 1pc.com. Because I feel I contribute to bringing these devices  Continue Reading

The following article is a guest post written by Neil Stawski… How Your Home Could Be Making You Sick, and How to Change It Our homes are the places we go to find comfort, the places that make us feel safest and happiest. However, there are many things about your home that can be unhealthy,  Continue Reading

With sunshine forecast, our stewards are organizing TWO work parties this week focusing on construction of split rail fencing: Wednesday and Friday, 10am to 2pm. We’ll meet and park in the vicinity of the lower road junction, where you would take a left to get to the current “non-motorized” route to the top. Please bring  Continue Reading

A Unique Challenge: Marine Subtidal Ecology at UW Friday Harbor Labs by Pema Kitaeff & Alex Lowe Despite windy weather and choppy water just the day before, the morning of Friday June 22nd 2018 dawned gloriously sunny and calm: a gift of optimal conditions bestowed on the patient planners of field work. Few have been  Continue Reading

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