Topic: Nature

Construction of New Interpretive Center on Orcas’ Mount Constitution Continues

Written on April 19, 2021 at 4:30 am, by

From Wash­ing­ton State Parks Mount Constitution’s tow­er­ing height and unique geog­ra­phy have made it a gath­er­ing place for diverse human and nat­ur­al com­mu­ni­ties, for thou­sands of years. Wash­ing­ton State Parks and Recre­ation Com­mis­sion has sit­ed this new inter­pre­tive cen­ter con­tain­ing sig­nif­i­cant inter­pre­tive exhibits below the tow­er near the sum­mit of Mount Con­sti­tu­tion in Moran State Park. Zer­vas Group  Con­tin­ue Reading

American Camp Visitor Center Portable Restrooms, Bottle Filling Station Open April 16

Written on April 16, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

The Build­ing is Expect­ed Open Around Memo­r­i­al Day   From San Juan Island Nation­al His­toric Park The Amer­i­can Camp Vis­i­tor Cen­ter site opens 9 a.m., Fri­day, April 16. The park­ing lot will remain open and a new bot­tle fill­ing sta­tion will be avail­able. Restrooms are cur­rent­ly avail­able as port-a-pots as per­ma­nent facil­i­ties are being fin­ished and will  Con­tin­ue Reading

SAFE San Juans and San Juan County Land Bank ‘Sow Seeds of Hope’ During Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Written on April 16, 2021 at 4:30 am, by

From SAFE San Juans SAFE San Juans is work­ing with the San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank’s Sal­ish Seeds Project to sow seeds of hope dur­ing Sex­u­al Assault Aware­ness Month in April. Through­out April, staff from SAFE San Juans will be hand­ing out Sal­ish seeds through­out the coun­ty in spe­cial­ly designed pack­ets with art and mes­sages of hope  Con­tin­ue Reading

Join Great Islands Cleanup April 24 On San Juan, Orcas, Lopez And Shaw

Written on April 12, 2021 at 5:00 am, by

By Mark Ing­man, San Juan Coun­ty Sol­id Waste Pro­gram Coor­di­na­tor Have you ever noticed a mossy, weedy tire while walk­ing along roads or beach­es? There is a chem­i­cal com­pound in tires that wash­es off in the rain and is linked to killing salmon — bring­ing in a cast-off tire along with your lit­ter to the  Con­tin­ue Reading

Join Spring Street International School Lecture On Herbalism

Written on April 5, 2021 at 5:00 am, by

From Spring Street Inter­na­tion­al School   Don’t miss out on Spring Street Inter­na­tion­al School’s final event in our 2021 vir­tu­al nature speak­er series, fea­tur­ing herbal­ist Cal­lie North at 6 p.m., Thurs­day, April 14.   Reg­is­ter for the event here.   North co-owns and runs two busi­ness­es on Lopez Island: a brick-and-mor­­tar shop North­sea Apothe­cary and The  Con­tin­ue Reading

First Annual Daffodil Frolic At San Juan Islands Sculpture Park

Written on March 23, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

From San Juan Islands Sculp­ture Park Join the San Juan Islands Sculp­ture Park’s first-ever Daf­fodil Frol­ic, a spring cel­e­bra­tion of thou­sands of Daf­fodils and Iris­es. (Sor­ry, the deer ate the tulips.)While you are at the park, enjoy our 150 sculp­tures, nine new sheep, “Sound­henge,” new West­cott Bay trails, “Whim­sy Woods,” three orca fins, “Starfish” for kids,  Con­tin­ue Reading

Celebrate Earth Day Throughout April In San Juans

Written on March 21, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

From the Stew­ard­ship Net­work of the San Juans “Here we all are, with noth­ing but our wit and our will to save the world.” – Samuel L. Jack­son. We might not have a vibra­ni­um shield, a fan­cy met­al suit designed by Tony Stark, or a ham­mer only we can lift, but we can still be the  Con­tin­ue Reading

Zylstra Lank Preserve Offers 70-acre Agricultural Hay Lease

Written on March 14, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

From San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank The San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank is request­ing pro­pos­als from any­one inter­est­ed in a short-term agri­cul­tur­al hay rental agree­ment of the Zyl­stra Lake Pre­serve Prop­er­ty on San Juan Island. The prop­er­ty has approx­i­mate­ly 70 acres of hay pas­ture. Indi­vid­u­als or orga­ni­za­tions inter­est­ed in this lease should go to the Land  Con­tin­ue Reading

Daphne Laureola Cannot Be Sold Or Traded In State

Written on March 4, 2021 at 4:30 am, by

By Jason A. Ont­jes, pro­gram coor­di­na­tor, San Juan Coun­ty Nox­ious Weed Con­trol  Daphne lau­re­o­la, or spurge lau­rel, has been on the state’s nox­ious weed list since 2007. This ever­green orna­men­tal shrub, which is native to Europe and north­ern Africa, was once sold by plant nurs­eries in the Pacif­ic North­west, but it is now on the state’s  Con­tin­ue Reading

Spring Street International School Presents Forager Discussion Online

Written on February 24, 2021 at 5:00 am, by

From Spring Street Inter­na­tion­al School Join Joshua Hoyt for a dis­cus­sion on for­ag­ing, a word empha­siz­ing the act of search­ing for wild edi­bles, at 6 p.m., March 16. While mod­ern for­ag­ing is often about the search, indige­nous peo­ple thought very dif­fer­ent­ly about what it meant to get food from their envi­ron­ment. Far from a pas­sive, prim­i­tive  Con­tin­ue Reading

Register for Virtual San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit

Written on February 23, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

From event orga­niz­ers The 2021 San Juan Islands Agri­cul­tur­al Sum­mit will be held vir­tu­al­ly from March 20-April 16. Reg­is­tra­tion clos­es March 14.  Designed as a space for inspi­ra­tion, edu­ca­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty build­ing, the 2021 Sum­mit is bring­ing togeth­er farm­ers, pro­duc­ers, and food sys­tem advo­cates to learn and dis­cuss ways to build an equi­table future for all  Con­tin­ue Reading

Mysterious Pond Designs In Friday Harbor

Written on February 20, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

By Krista Mat­tox, Fri­day Har­bor I live in the North 40 neigh­bor­hood of Fri­day Har­bor. Over the past cou­ple of days, there have been mys­te­ri­ous designs in the frost cov­er­ing my pond. I’m curi­ous if any­one else has expe­ri­enced this in their pond. The designs have been there since Mon­day morn­ing and haven’t changed at any time  Con­tin­ue Reading

San Juan Land Bank’s Tale Of Two Eagles

Written on February 5, 2021 at 5:30 am, by

From San Juan Coun­ty Lank Bank On Jan. 22, Tom Marschn­er and his faith­ful walk­ing com­pan­ion, Ellie the Gold­en Retriev­er, encoun­tered a rare and sad occur­rence near the sum­mit of Mount Grant. Splayed out on a mossy out­crop, with bro­ken-tipped beaks, were two dead Bald Eagles. Tom and Ellie prompt­ly report­ed the inci­dent to Land Bank staff,  Con­tin­ue Reading

Friday Harbor Labs Tide Bites

Written on January 19, 2021 at 5:00 am, by

Sea Otter Dis­tur­bance By Dr. Tiff Stephens In the sum­mer of 2017, I trav­eled to Fri­day Har­bor Labs for one of my usu­al short vis­its of recon­nect­ing with res­i­dent sci­en­tists and div­ing into the waters to see how the sea­weed com­mu­ni­ties have changed at favored sites (Reuben Tarte, Cat­tle Point, Dead­man Bay). I also trav­eled there  Con­tin­ue Reading

Join Virtual Land Bank Meeting

Written on January 14, 2021 at 5:00 am, by

From San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank The San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank Com­mis­sion will hold its month­ly meet­ing on Fri­day, Jan. 15, from 8:30–11:30 a.m., via Zoom. The pub­lic is invit­ed to attend. Click here to down­load the agen­da, Zoom link and meet­ing mate­ri­als. The San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank is a local land con­ser­va­tion pro­gram, cre­at­ed  Con­tin­ue Reading

Donate to Friends of the San Juans During $100K Match

Written on December 15, 2020 at 4:30 am, by

By Friends of the San Juans This year has been life-chang­ing for all of us to vary­ing degrees. In ear­ly March, the mes­sage from Friends of the San Juans was one of chang­ing times, as direc­tives unfold­ed with cau­tion and delib­er­a­tion. Those same feel­ings con­tin­ue to unfold in a vari­ety of ways. Yet today, we are filled  Con­tin­ue Reading