OLYMPIA–Washington State’s Recreation and Conservation Office is asking people to help determine how funding should be spent by taking a survey about what kind of outdoor recreation they do. The State is updating its statewide recreation and conservation plan, which includes a state trails plan, to unlock grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  Continue Reading

The San Juan County Land Bank Commission will hold its monthly meeting on October 15, from 8:30am-11:30am via Zoom. The public is invited to attend. Click HERE to download the agenda (includes ZOOM link) and meeting materials. To learn more about your Conservation Land Bank, visit sjclandbank.org. If you’re interested in volunteering and/or joining our  Continue Reading

The Town of Friday Harbor has contracted with Redside Construction to replace its existing submarine sewer outfall line with new 18-inch diameter HDPE pipe via directional drilling and placement on sea bed. Then connect the line upland to existing sewer utilities from the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Two aerial views are provided to help understand the  Continue Reading

Our islands became much cleaner during the Great islands Clean-up on September 25 thanks to dedicated volunteers on Orcas, San Juan, Shaw, and Lopez Islands. Over 100 Islanders participated! Total garbage picked up was 2,318 pounds (plus 11 garbage cans and 1 dumpster). It really does take a village to care for our home! Thank  Continue Reading

Following a delay due to Covid-19, the Washington Plastic Bag Ban (RCW 70A.530) will go into effect statewide on October 1, 2021. This means that retailers and restaurants throughout the state will be prohibited from providing single-use plastic carryout bags. As Washington prepares for the statewide plastic bag ban to take effect, San Juan County  Continue Reading

Friday Harbor announces pilot program for residential curbside plastic film recycling FRIDAY HARBOR – The Town of Friday Harbor, in partnership with SC Johnson, a manufacturer of household consumer brands, is kicking off a pilot program to offer curbside collection and recycling of plastic film to its residents, the second program to launch in Washington.  Continue Reading

Follow OPALCO’s EV Road Trip in October: Starting October 6th, an exclusive team from OPALCO (Communication Specialist Krista Bouchey and the “Switch it up pup” Pepper) will be driving the Co-op’s Kia Niro 100% electric vehicle (EV) to Eastern Washington and back, making stops to visit wind and hydro projects, innovative public power projects and  Continue Reading

OLYMPIA–The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board today announced the award of $21 million in grants across the state to aid in salmon recovery. The grants, given annually, went to 105 projects in 29 of the state’s 39 counties. The grants will pay for work to restore salmon habitat, including repairing degraded habitat in rivers,  Continue Reading

People who want to make a living working with trees or forests are invited to a free, hands-on, outdoor course offered by the Economic Development Council of San Juan County (EDC).  The course will be taught by Carson Sprenger, proprietor of Rain Shadow Consulting at their Orcas Island facilities, Saturdays Oct. 30th – Nov. 20th,  Continue Reading

Local shoreline habitat restoration actions support marine food webs It was an exciting week for local forage fish and out-migrating juvenile salmon as Friends of the San Juans and the Salmon Point Community have successfully restored priority shoreline habitat along their local beach. At the south end of Lopez Island, two areas of failed rock  Continue Reading

The Madrona Institute has awarded $22,500 in grants to local nonprofit organizations in its first year of grant making based on revenues received from sales of the San Juan Islands Special License Plate. This year’s grantees include: San Juan Islands Conservation District for their San Juan Islands Youth Conservation Corps ($6,000), Friends of the San  Continue Reading

The San Juan County Land Bank Commission will hold its monthly meeting on September 17, from 8:30am-11:15am via Zoom. The public is invited to attend. Click HERE to download the agenda (includes ZOOM link) and meeting materials. To learn more about your Conservation Land Bank, visit sjclandbank.org. If you’re interested in volunteering and/or joining our  Continue Reading

Olympia – Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the appointment of Kaleen Cottingham, a life-long Washington resident, to serve on the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Cottingham, of Olympia, recently retired as the director of the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, which provides support to the Governor-appointed Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the Governor’s Salmon Recovery  Continue Reading

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), today, announced it will hold a meeting of the San Juan Islands National Monument Advisory Committee (MAC). The public is welcome to attend the meeting which will occur on Tuesday, Sept. 14, via Zoom from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Planned agenda items at the meeting  Continue Reading

It takes a village to clean an island! The Great Islands Clean-up is back! In honor of National Public Lands Day, join your fellow islanders for the 2021 Fall Great Islands Clean-up on September 25th. This one-day household or individual effort is an opportunity for our community to get outside, connect with our home, and  Continue Reading

The recently formed Camas Club launches a website https://camas.club created for and by islanders to connect with other backyard habitat enthusiasts. It is a place where native habitat aficionados can ask questions, share resources, organize seed swaps, and more. By exchanging information about aspects such as restoration techniques, lessons learned, trusted sources of native plant  Continue Reading