From the Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor

The Animal Protection Society – Friday Harbor is happy to announce Jim O’Brian of San Juan Island as the volunteer of the month for March 2021.

Since October 2015, Jim has volunteered his time doing basic building maintenance, acting as a parking attendant for many fundraisers, and barbecuing for the shelter’s annual volunteer appreciation picnic.

He has also been known to restore furniture for Treasure Hounds, the shelter’s home furnishings resale store.

When shelter volunteers were furloughed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jim did not think twice. He came up with the idea of making masks as a fundraiser. The masks were made available at Treasure Hounds for a donation of any amount. To date, Jim has made 958 masks and raised almost $8,000 for APS-FH!

When asked why he volunteers for the animal’s shelter, he simply replied, “because the animals cannot help themselves.”

Thanks so much, Jim, for making a difference in the lives of shelter animals. Your dedication and hard work are deeply appreciated.

APS-FH has numerous volunteering opportunities. If you are interested in helping, please visit apsfh.com to learn more about our volunteer program.

Contributed Photo/San Juan Island Sculpture Park. Bird watching at the San Juan Island Sculpture Park.

From the San Juan Island Sculpture Park

Join us from 9-11 a.m. every third Wednesday of the month from March 17 through September to watch for our fine feathered friends at the San Juan Island Sculpture Park located next to Roche Harbor Resort.

Phil Green, a local bird enthusiast and member of the nature conservancy, has identified over 40 bird species this winter at the sculpture park. He will lead us to several places around the sculpture park where we can look for and identify the various birds now visiting.

We also have a new trail along Westcot Bay to get us closer to sea birds! So bring your binoculars, cameras and curiosity for an adventure in bird watching.

Don’t forget your masks!

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

As most are aware, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is now the third vaccine approved for use in the United States.

While it is unclear when this vaccine might become available in San Juan County, some supplies could potentially arrive in the near future.

If you have an opportunity to get a shot, get a shot. Regardless of the type of vaccine.

There has been discussion about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine being less effective than the existing Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. 

The official measure of effectiveness for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (72% vs 95%). However, comparing those numbers alone is very misleading.

First off, as a comparison point, the flu vaccine is usually about 40-60% effective. The flu vaccine does an exceptional job of preventing people from developing severe flu. It saves countless lives each year. It is a very good vaccine. 72% effectiveness is remarkable, and well above initial estimates of how a COVID vaccine might perform. Continue Reading

From Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor

Age: 10 months
Sex: Female
Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Dilute Orange Tabby
Application: www.apsfh.com/adoption-program/feline-application/

Meet Biscuit!

Originally from Texas, she is a southern girl with that sweet, southern charm…she just doesn’t know it!

Biscuit is working on gaining her self-confidence; she will need to find a patient, friendly family that will provide her with reassurance on just how great she really is.

Once she has warmed up, Biscuit can be very playful and inquisitive. She likes most toys, but her favorites are flirt wands and crumpled-up paper!

Biscuit would love to find her forever home as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can find her at the APS-FH shelter in Cat Room #2.

About

Continue Reading

From Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor

One year ago, just a few days before the event, COVID-19 forced Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor to cancel its St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza.

This year, as people are being vaccinated, we were looking forward to celebrating in person with the island community. However, as vaccine distribution has a long way to go, and the county still only being in Phase 2, Soroptimist of Friday Harbor decided to postpone the St. Patrick’s Day event again this year.

We currently plan to return in 2022, better than ever. Continue Reading

The following is an open letter to the San Juan County Council from dozens of San Juan Island businesses, including Mike’s Café and Wine Bar, San Juan Hostel, Crystal Seas Kayaking, Island Pets, On Point Barber Shop and more.

Dear San Juan County Council,

We are strongly opposed to the moratorium that you have recently enacted on new vacation rental applications for the following reasons:

Less than three years ago San Juan County Council adopted updated vacation rental standards with Ordinance 02-2018. (18.40.275 of the Unified Development Code). Within this ordinance are “rules of conduct” that address environmental impacts, safety, noise, trespass, a required 24/7 local representative for each VR and public health.

There are “teeth” in the ordinance if there is non-compliance (paragraph J): “Vacation rental permits vested or approved after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section shall expire two years after the date of approval unless the annual certificates of compliance meeting the requirements of subsection (K)(4) of this section are on file with the administrator.

Clearly, the county council, planning staff and the planning commission put a lot of thought into creating an enforceable set of standards to manage potential impacts from the VR businesses. Continue Reading

“Freezer-Burned: Tales of Interior Alaska” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Steve Ulvi.

Contributed Photo/Loren Isaac. Snowy Alaska mountains.

The Confines of Heaven

The Alapah carves sinuous bends in a spacious valley side to side, flowing into the upper Kuuk River, a large tributary of the Yukon River whose milky waters bend west across the Interior of Alaska well to the south.  Forty miles up the Alapah River (meaning ‘cold’ in Inupiaq) the cloak of boreal forest slowly gives out to a few dwarf spruce and poplar, wracked by decades of ecological struggle, marking the circumpolar northern tree-line.   From there the river landscape is raw and angular, large boulders and gray talus slopes draping dark peaks, riparian willow and tundra margins. 

The Alapah forks again and again, becoming a creek, smaller and steeper, falling from the rocky clefts of the Brooks Range that arcs across northern Alaska. Historian Bill Brown prosaically referred to this northern-most major mountain range on earth as a place of “gaunt beauty, tenuous life”.

Sitting at his rough table, strewn with maps and books, eased by the muffled song of rushing water as the Alapah mixed with the larger Kuuk, the last thing that Nathan Cutler fancied, as his arduous preparations for the onset of winter slowed, was to endure being alone at his remote cabin for several more months.  But there was no way to change that situation now.  

He was in a familiar state of limbo, cloud watching, awaiting winter storms to transform his world.  Ice-building temperatures and especially blanketing snow, would enable him to expand his activities; there were loads of dry wood to drag in, water to haul and opening his established trapline trails in readiness for furbearer season openings.  For now, he had time on his hands to tend to small tasks, rethink new marten lines and stew over the heart-wrenching loneliness to come.  Looking up into the immense emptiness of the uncountable stars, separated by unimaginable empty distance, said to be expanding endlessly outward, fed his aloneness. Continue Reading

Ration your gas this weekend and fill up your tank Friday, March 12.

Island Petroleum Services (IPS), located at 315 Carter Avenue, is generously donating 50 cents per gallon of your purchase to the San Juan Island Service Scholarship program.

Formerly known as Dollars for Scholars, this program provides needed scholarship funds to graduating seniors who successfully complete a minimum of 80 volunteer hours for nonprofit organizations on San Juan Island.

Fill up a tank or two and help a student succeed upon graduation. Now that’s good mileage!

Thank you for your support! Interested in learning more about SJISS? Visit our website at sjiservicescholarship.org.

San Juan Island Service Scholarship is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible. 

From San Juan County

As vaccine distribution efforts continue, it is worth looking at what vaccine has been received to date in San Juan County.

These numbers are just a snapshot. Please recognize that this is a constantly evolving situation.

To date, seven vaccine providers in San Juan County have been approved to distribute vaccine and have received doses to administer. These numbers are as of Feb. 23 and may or may not reflect doses that have arrived or are being administered this week.

Based on these numbers, just shy of 25% of San Juan County residents have received at least their first dose of vaccine.

All providers would eagerly welcome more vaccine. The limitation to providers receiving and delivering more vaccinations is almost always lack of supply.

All providers play a critical role, regardless of volume. Medical providers and pharmacies offer a vital service in that they can reach out directly to client and patients of theirs that they know are most at risk.

Over time, first dose and second dose numbers will be equal. A second dose will be delivered and administered for all first doses. Continue Reading

By Travis and Jennifer Ayers, Friday Harbor

We encourage all eligible voters to join us and vote YES for the renewal of Island Rec’s levy on April 27.

This is not a new levy; it remains at $0.385 per $1,000 of assessed property value. It is worth noting that this rate is only 64% of the amount allowed by law.

At the requested rate, a $500,000 property would pay $193 per year, which is a very reasonable amount of money when you consider all of the wonderful programs that Island Rec provides.

The $0.165 of the levy would continue to support Island Rec programs and trails.

The $0.10 would continue support for school sports, and the remaining $0.12 would continue to support operations and maintenance of Island Rec Parks.

Over the past six-year levy cycle nearly 18,000 participants have benefited from Island Rec programming! Continue Reading

From “Bugs” to Shrimp: the Saga of an Evolving Nervous System

By Jim Truman, Friday Harbor Labs

Things can change a lot in 60 years.

I grew up with a fascination both with invertebrates and water, but living in northeastern Ohio, the invertebrates I knew were insects and the water was the fresh stuff in Lake Erie.

My amateur interests in collecting insects turned to a fascination with their biology while I was an undergraduate at Notre Dame, and solidified into a life-long career with my PhD from Harvard. I thought that insect diversity was rich enough to keep me occupied for a lifetime, yet sixty years later I find myself studying their relatives, the crustaceans.

In the last 60 years, there has also been a change in our understanding of the relationship of the various classes within the Arthropoda, the phylum of animals with an exoskeleton and jointed limbs.

Early on, I had learned that there were three main branches in the arthropod family tree – the Chelicerata (spiders and their kin), the Crustacea, and the Tracheata (arthropods with single-branched limbs including insects, centipedes, and millipedes).

Over the decades, though, a number of lines of evidence including the increasing power of molecular tools upended this view and showed that the insects were not related to the centipedes and millipedes after all, but arose from within the Crustacea.

Continue Reading

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

San Juan County Health and Community Services will be opening registration for a very limited number of first dose vaccine appointments at 9 a.m., Monday, March 8.

San Juan Island Clinic: Tuesday, March 9, 50 slots.

Orcas Island Clinic: Friday, March 12, 40 slots.

Those who are eligible and wish to register for an appointment should go to www.sanjuanco.com/1737/COVID-Vaccine-Info at 9 a.m., Monday, March 8.

There will be two links clearly marked for each clinic. At the moment, Phase 1a and Phase 1b Tier 1 are eligible for vaccination.

The links will be shown in the “STEP 2” section, highlighted in orange.

In addition to the healthcare workers eligible in Phase 1a. Phase 1b Tier 1 includes: Continue Reading

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

Since the last update on Friday, Feb. 26, total cases in San Juan County have remained steady at 129.
Note that there are 0 close contacts of a positive case currently in active quarantine.

Orcas Island

There are no new cases on Orcas Island since the last update. There are no positive cases under active monitoring on Orcas Island at this time.

Lopez Island

There are no new cases on Lopez Island. There are no positive cases on Lopez Island at this time.

San Juan Island

There are no new cases on San Juan Island. There are no positive cases under active monitoring on San Juan Island at this time.

Overall:

COVID life has been an exercise in pattern recognition. With no precautions, cases rise. When cases rise, we use more precautions. When we use precautions, cases fall. When cases fall, we eliminate precautions. Then repeat. This ebb and flow is a natural human reaction to a very complicated (and difficult) situation and is our collective way of balancing protection from COVID with protection from harming the social and economic fabric of our lives. Continue Reading

EDC Offers Free Application Help

From the San Juan County Economic Development Council

The Economic Development Council reminds business owners and managers that the deadline for the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program is approaching. Small businesses with fewer than 20 employees can apply during an exclusive application period for microbusinesses, until March 9, 2021. All businesses must apply by March 31 for businesses.

The EDC offers free technical assistance to small businesses and nonprofits, in partnership with SCORE and other entities, including in languages other than English.

The PPP program has improved since last year, specifically: Continue Reading

From Griffin Bay Bookstore

Griffin Bay Bookstore’s doors are open!

We welcome you back to the bookstore after a two-week break with lighter hearts, our spirits buoyed by the many letters, notes, e-mails, and postings demonstrating your appreciation and thanks for what we do. Your kind words, your well-wishes were enlivening and encouraging as we started our break.

We were relaxed and able to enjoy quiet times in the store to tidy up, spruce up, and complete our inventory. Thank you all for your warm and supportive messages. While we were closed, staff members had the chance to be a part of the ABA’s Virtual Winter Institute and were brought into contact with the resilience of America’s independent bookstores—the many booksellers who remain undaunted in spite of the many challenges and economic fallout the pandemic has wrought.

This too buoyed us. It goes without saying that we all indulged in one of our favorite pastimes: reading and the luxury of reading to our heart’s contents. Continue Reading

From PeaceHealth

COVID-19 vaccinations are top of mind for everyone right now. That’s why we provide you with the latest news and updates on vaccine eligibility and availability at PeaceHealth. 

On San Juan Island, as of March 4, PeaceHealth received a small number of Moderna booster, or second dose, vaccines this week.

This supply is adequate to provide approximately 100 second doses of the vaccine for PeaceHealth patients who received their first dose several weeks ago.

Other vaccine supply updates in Washington:

Bellingham: PeaceHealth received shipments of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week. This supply is adequate to provide approximately 4,400 prime, or first, doses of the Pfizer vaccine and more than 1,500 second doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Longview: PeaceHealth received some additional vaccines from the state this week. We will continue to actively schedule eligible patients who qualify under the 1B category.

Skagit: PeaceHealth received a small number of Moderna vaccine doses this week. This supply is adequate to provide approximately 100 booster, or second, dose vaccines for eligible patients at the PeaceHealth Burlington Family Medicine clinic.

Vancouver: PeaceHealth received approximately 3,500 vaccines from the state this week. We will be actively scheduling PeaceHealth patients who are eligible under 1B.

As a friendly reminder, please do not contact our clinics. PeaceHealth will contact you if you are eligible for scheduling this week. Because supply allocations to PeaceHealth from the state vary each week, you may be able to get vaccinated sooner at an alternative vaccine location. For potential alternate vaccination locations, please visit the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 vaccine page (Español).

Please remember that eligibility is not a guarantee of availability.

Q: Is there a cost to get the vaccine?
Continue Reading