If you would prefer not to have an otter family under your house or a raccoon family in your attic this spring, now is a good time to do some preventive maintenance. Look around the outside of your house. Are there holes beneath the skirting or loose covers on vents that would allow critters easy  Continue Reading

This article written by Dominic Sivitilli… The lab was buzzing with excitement when I arrived. A few weeks into the summer term, the water tables of Lab 3 were teeming with invertebrate life. All varieties of morphology and behavior were on display for our class to study. But something was different today: the lab had  Continue Reading

This is from the Center for Whale Research… Please help us raise $74,000 by year’s end! The $74,000 represents one thousand dollars for each of the seventy-four (74) whales in the Southern Resident orca community. We all remember J35. In 2018, the whole world watched J35 carry her deceased baby for 17 days and 1,000  Continue Reading

San Juan County, WA, USA. – The recently updated Salish Sea Vessel Traffic Projections (PDF – Nov. 2021) provided by Friends of the San Juans shows that at least a 25% increase in large, ocean-going commercial vessel traffic could occur if all of the proposed new and expanding terminal and refinery projects are permitted and  Continue Reading

Trail Times is a continuing series of articles introducing the Old Military Road Trail (OMRT), a proposed 18-21 mile cross-island non-motorized multi-use trail linking English Camp and American Camp and honoring the original Old Military Road. The King Sisters Preserve is an often overlooked little gem in our San Juan Island Trail System. Strategically located  Continue Reading

Wolf Hollow shares this story of a Great Blue Heron they took care of in September… Our most notable patient in September was a Great Blue Heron. This adult heron arrived near the beginning of the month, thin and unable to fly. When we did an intake exam and took radiographs, we discovered that the  Continue Reading

The following story is from the Center for Whale Research (CWR)… In the following Q & A with CWR’s Dr. Michael Weiss, we learn what it’s like to fly a drone over top of whales and the new knowledge gained from the captured video footage. 1. Do you launch and fly the Center for Whale  Continue Reading

At 7:00 pm, Saturday, October 23, 2021, join Shona Aitken, Education Coordinator at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, to explore the fascinating world of island owls, and learn about the many different owls that live here on the San Juan Islands. We hope you can all attend this enlightening talk. To register email: giverson@sjlib.org You will  Continue Reading

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA. – As summer Chinook salmon runs wane in the Salish Sea, Southern Resident Killer Whales typically begin to travel further south in Puget Sound in search of prey. A study compiling 10 years’ worth of data found evidence that the whales’ diets shift from primarily Chinook salmon in the summer months to a  Continue Reading

Joint media response concerning “the discovery of a new kind of killer whale” off western North America On October 4th, Hakai Magazine published an article with a headline reporting the discovery of “a new kind of killer whale”. Other media outlets subsequently reported similar headlines in Canada, theUSA and internationally, and although some content has  Continue Reading

All four of the Harbor Seal pups we cared for throughout summer were released on Sept 11, 2021. These pups were all brought to Wolf Hollow by San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network in late June and July, but they came from different parts of the county. The first orphaned/separated pup was found on  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

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

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

You can see thousands of gulls on the shore or in the water around the San Juans right now. It would be easy to dismiss them as “just a bunch of seagulls”, but next time you see a flock of gulls, take a closer look. Are there different sizes of gulls? Do they have different  Continue Reading

In late August, the SRV SAM, a 48’ aluminum ketch, set sail from the Haida Gwaii Islands in British Columbia to the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs (FHL) – the latest leg of its 8,000 nm voyage across the North Pacific for the Ocean Genome Atlas Project (OGAP). The vessel will be moored at  Continue Reading

The Center for Whale Research shares this story… What is it, when does it happen, and what are the causes? Several weeks ago, K21, the oldest male killer whale (orca) in the Southern Resident community, was photographed and videoed in a state of severe emaciation, showing an extreme version of what killer whale researchers sometimes  Continue Reading

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA. – Labor Day weekend is approaching, the last hurrah for many summer boaters before buckling down for the fall. As scores of vessels take to local waterways over the holiday, it’s an important time to stay vigilant and keep safe on the water. San Juan County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship calls on  Continue Reading

Signs of wildlife were on high display during this month’s easement monitoring. Low tide provided a good look at some gooseneck barnacles that remained healthy despite the recent heat. The San Juan County Land Bank Commission will hold its monthly meeting on August 20, from 8:30am-11:15am via Zoom. The public is invited to attend. Click  Continue Reading

Trail Times is a continuing series of articles introducing the Old Military Road Trail (OMRT), a proposed 18-21 mile cross-island non-motorized multi-use trail linking English Camp and American Camp and honoring the original Old Military Road. As the summer’s heat wanes, here’s a fun easy hike to get you out there. This approximately mile-and-a-half long  Continue Reading

This Wednesday, August 18th, you’re invited to join Phil Green at the San Juan Island’s Sculpture Park for a morning of birdwatching, from 8:00 to 10:00 am. Dress appropriately and don’t forget your binoculars!

In 2020, the San Juan Island Community Foundation quickly adapted to a “virtual” San Juan County Fair by taking their popular annual matching grant event online. Nearly $140k was donated by hundreds of generous community members during the 4 days of the fair. After matching grants by SJICF were added, more than $170k was granted  Continue Reading