By San Juan Island Nation­al His­tor­i­cal Park San Juan Island Nation­al His­tor­i­cal Park announces its sea­son­al clo­sure of the 4th of July Beach park­ing area effec­tive, Sun­day, Nov. 1. The clos­ing of the park­ing area is an annu­al event to pre­vent dam­age to the area due to high rain­fall, poor drainage, and heavy vehi­cle use. Access out­side of  Con­tin­ue Reading

Thanks to the coop­er­a­tion of the Land Bank and the San Juan Preser­va­tion Trust we now have a beau­ti­ful new and his­toric pub­lic land to explore. On Sep­tem­ber 26th, Nation­al Pub­lic Lands Day, 5 years of nego­ti­a­tions and plan­ning came to fruition when the 285-acre Zyl­stra Lake Pre­serve on San Juan Island offi­cial­ly opened part  Con­tin­ue Reading

By WSU Exten­sion Learn to be a bet­ter home gar­den­er and stew­ard of the envi­ron­ment this win­ter with Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty San Juan Coun­ty Extension’s new online Home Hor­ti­cul­ture Train­ing pro­gram. Train­ing focus­es on a wide range of hor­ti­cul­ture top­ics taught online by WSU fac­ul­ty, staff, Mas­ter Gar­den­ers and oth­er region­al experts on Sat­ur­day morn­ings  Con­tin­ue Reading

Almost sev­en years ago, Friends of the San Juans began work­ing with Wash­ing­ton State Parks on a salmon recov­ery project on Sucia Island. After a lot of research, sur­veys, designs, engi­neer­ing, and per­mit­ting, the on-the-ground work to restore habi­tat has come to fruition. Locat­ed along a major migra­to­ry path­way for juve­nile Chi­nook salmon, Sucia’s marine  Con­tin­ue Reading

Thanks to John Miller for cap­tur­ing this sun­rise image… click to enlarge photo…

Robin Don­nel­ly for the Old Mil­i­tary Road Trail Com­mit­tee… What a great time to be explor­ing our trails. Covid seems to have made us all more aware of the heal­ing pow­er of nature and our for­tu­nate abil­i­ty to be part of it. As sum­mer is wan­ing, fall col­ors are tak­ing over for the vibran­cy of  Con­tin­ue Reading

OLYMPIA–On Sept.1, eli­gi­ble orga­ni­za­tions may begin apply­ing for grants to con­serve com­mu­ni­ty forests, the Recre­ation and Con­ser­va­tion Office announced today. The new state Com­mu­ni­ty Forests Pro­gram will offer grants of up to $3 mil­lion. But orga­ni­za­tions need to hur­ry. Appli­ca­tions are due Oct. 1. The grants must be used to buy at least 5 acres of  Con­tin­ue Reading

Join the MAC Meet­ing on August 27, 9:00am ‑5:00pm, Pacif­ic Time (see Zoom link below)… Click on pho­to to enlarge… The MAC (Mon­u­ment Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee) will be hear­ing from sub­ject mat­ter experts and the pub­lic to inform their delib­er­a­tions as they dis­cuss and present their input to the BLM. The full meet­ing agen­da (PDF) can be  Con­tin­ue Reading

Many thanks to Liz Smith for this mag­i­cal pho­to of Fri­day Harbor…

FREEZER BURNED: Tales of Inte­ri­or Alas­ka is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Steve Ulvi…  The plane lift­ed off the state run­way in Eagle on dense morn­ing air on anoth­er blue­bird July day. The drowsy sprawl of town and sweep of the Yukon Riv­er reced­ed under the right wing as we climbed with  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 I’d  Con­tin­ue Reading

Fri­day Har­bor Film Festival’s Sum­mer 2020 Vir­tu­al Cin­e­ma will present a FREE vir­tu­al on-demand screen­ing of Pub­lic Trust, pro­duced by Patag­o­nia Films, on August 19 through 23, fol­lowed by a host­ed audi­ence dis­cus­sion on August 23 at 6 pm PDT.   To view the film any­time on the spec­i­fied dates and par­tic­i­pate in the webi­nar, RSVP  Con­tin­ue Reading

San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank is seek­ing pub­lic input on its updat­ed Inter­im Stew­ard­ship and Man­age­ment Plan (SMP) for the Zyl­stra Lake Pre­serve on San Juan Island. This updat­ed inter­im plan details the Preserve’s abun­dant wildlife and habi­tat areas; pro­vides a col­lab­o­ra­tive strat­e­gy for engag­ing with agri­cul­tur­al inter­ests; and pro­pos­es open­ing approx­i­mate­ly two miles of trail this  Con­tin­ue Reading

Great news from San Juan Preser­va­tion Trust! Record gift expends Turtle­back Pre­serve plus the pre­ce­­dent-set­t­ing dona­tion also returns land to the Lum­mi Nation. The San Juan Coun­ty Land Bank and San Juan Preser­va­tion Trust today announced the acqui­si­tion and per­ma­nent con­ser­va­tion of a 36-acre addi­tion to the Turtle­back Moun­tain Pre­serve on Orcas Island. Con­cur­rent­ly, an  Con­tin­ue Reading

OLYMPIA–Communities want­i­ng to con­serve forest­lands now have a state grant pro­gram to help, the Recre­ation and Con­ser­va­tion Office announced today. Begin­ning Sep­tem­ber 1, com­mu­ni­ties can apply for grants of up to $3 mil­lion in the new­ly cre­at­ed Com­mu­ni­ty Forests Pro­gram. The grants must be used to buy at least 5 acres of forest­land and the  Con­tin­ue Reading

Giant crab joins giant bear at San Juan Islands Sculp­ture Park Thanks to a loan by Cat­tle Point Rock & Top­soil, “Rusty” the giant crab, now has a tem­po­rary home near the bay at the Sculp­ture Park.  “Rusty” is the work of artist Zackarya Leck, on Orcas Island.  Come see them both along with 150 oth­er sculp­tures  Con­tin­ue Reading