COVID 19 is creating many unique challenges for literally everyone and the Land Bank is no exception. The Land Bank typically uses a variety of strategies to achieve stewardship activities including volunteer work parties, collaborating with partners, engaging special interest groups, and leveraging help from youth conservation corps type organizations.

At this time we are not able to use any of these groups. Coupled with this, we are currently short-staffed on San Juan Island. Even with these challenges, and as we move into less restrictions, the Land Bank cares deeply about the health and safety of the community. We intend to take a cautionary approach to volunteer work parties.

With this in mind, we are soliciting volunteer assistance for help with noxious weed control. Rather than running work parties, we are hoping that individuals, or households which are in the same “germ bubble” might be able to assist with weed control along roads and trails of publicly accessible preserves.

Please reach out if you’d like to help. We can assign you to a specific area, provide resources on best practices, and we try to track volunteer time. Whether you are able to spend five minutes or five hours, every bit helps maintain and enhance the beauty and ecological function of your conservation lands.

RSVP to Tanja ([email protected]) or Doug ([email protected]) for more information.

THANK YOU!

Today in the SJ Update Mailbag we have this letter from Gay Graham…

To the Editor:

Covid-19 has caused us to make any number of changes in the paths that we used to take. One of these can be forgetting to renew or not having the opportunity to support those organizations and causes that need our assistance. An organization that continues to need our support is the Women’s Fund.

Yearly membership to the Women’s Fund of the San Juan Island Community Foundation is generally renewed at the annual June luncheon. As with many wonderful fundraisers, it was canceled. This, however, does not cancel the ongoing needs the Women’s Fund addresses.

Briefly, the Women’s Fund was founded in 2003 and to-date has through its annual membership dues of $100 (along with other contributions) granted $236,975 to various organizations many of which you are familiar: Wolf Hollow, Family Umbrella Group, UWFH Labs, Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center, Island Stage Left,  San Juan County Economic Council, Hospice, SJI Library, Whale Museum, FHES PTA, San Juan Community Home Trust, Food Bank, Band Family & Friends, and PADS for Parkinson’s. Continue Reading

Hi, I am Moose. Aren’t I adorable? My new parents think so. I found my forever home and my owners have ordered a DNA test so they can find out exactly who I am. Of course, I know who I am – a great kid of 15 months who has a vocabulary like no other kid on the block.

I know I am strong, run like a Cheetah and hug really good. I’m friendly and want to HUG everyone (I sometime am a little too loving if you know what I mean). Mom and Dad are trying to work with me on this.

The Animal Protection Society-Friday Harbor (APS-FH) is having a contest and believe me – it will be so much fun! I mean anything having to do with me is FUN! I am a PARTY ANIMAL!

Can you guess what kind of breed(s) I am a mix of? Name up to four breeds that you think I am made of (my mom, dad, grandma and grandpa). Of course grandma and grandpa could be the same breed? I can’t tell you, sorry. Continue Reading

Dr. John Geyman, Ph. D. – Contributed photo

John Geyman, M.D. announces the publication of his new book: Profiteering, Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Health Care.

He raises questions that we have to ask and answer:

• Who is the health care system for – profits for health care corporations, their shareholders and Wall Street traders and investors?
• for corrupt and fraudulent scammers?
• or for patients, their families and taxpayers? 

As the U.S. struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the current recession, John Geyman states that the urgent need for health care reform is at an all -time high. The book updates where we are with the untenable status quo and compares three major alternatives for reform: building on the ACA, the public option, and Medicare for All. Continue Reading

Love to garden? Want to enter in the Fair this year? The Fair’s Fruits & Vegetables Department is encouraging gardeners and farmers to donate food to the Orcas Island Food Bank, the San Juan Island Food Bank, and for the “Grow-A-Row” Food Donation program at Woodmen Hall on Lopez Island. 

Fair staff will be on site to assist with uploading online fair entries for Fruits & Vegetables on the following days:

• Orcas Island Food Bank, Friday, July 10th from 10am-1pm
• Woodmen Hall (Lopez Island), Tuesday, July 14th from 9am-10:30am
• San Juan County Fairgrounds Craft & Flea Market, Saturday, July 18th from 9am-1pm at the San Juan County Fairgrounds (look for our information table outside!)
• If you are not able to visit on the above dates, we still encourage you to donate your home grown fruits & vegetables this year!  Just take a photo of your donated items and upload your photos to www.sjcfair.org/onlineentry.  Questions?  Email [email protected] 

In the SJ Update Mailbag we have this letter today from Daniel Schwartz, SJC Republican Precinct Committee Officer…

Response to the San Juan County Democrats Resolution on Police Reform

The San Juan County Democrats have produced a resolution filled with the fabrications, revisionist history, and outright falsehoods that make up the woke playbook of today’s sad shadow of a once great party.

Their resolution’s preamble states that our nation “has never healed the wound caused itself by the institution of slavery.” This is an infamous lie so transparent as to make one wonder whether the author ever learned American history.  Let’s start with nearly 600,000 deaths in our Civil War to end slavery, on through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments – passed by Republicans over the opposition of the Democratic Party – to the Civil Rights legislation of the 20th century again opposed by Democrats, culminating in the election of a black president by an overwhelming percentage of our voting population.  America has and will continue to make equal treatment and opportunity for all the cornerstone of our republic. Continue Reading

Friday Harbor business owners are encouraged to apply to the Town for assistance with business rent and mortgage payments to be awarded through the Friday Harbor Business Rent Relief Grant Program. Grant requests of up to $2000 per business will be funded with monies received from the state under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

Applicants with brick and mortar businesses within the town may seek reimbursement or direct payment of business rent or mortgage expenses incurred beginning March 1, 2020. Applications must be received at Town Hall by July 29, 2020.

“Business owners should have easy access to COVID assistance,” said Town Administrator Duncan Wilson. He explained, “Eligible businesses have been overwhelmed with the number of complicated applications needed to get any financial help with COVID-related expenses, so we set out to create an application that was as simple as possible.” Continue Reading

San Juan Island Sculpture Park is in the news – the National News on CNN.com. Check out this article on wild, weird, spectacular places… https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/best-outdoor-art-united-states/index.html

And remember to go check the park out for yourself. You’ll likely be impressed if you haven’t been there in a while and it’s a great place to relax with some fresh air and stroll with plenty of self-distancing. More info is available on their website.

In the mailbag this morning we have a note from Helen Machin-Smith of Island Stage Left…

Hello from Island Stage Left,

Apparently a rumor has been circulating that Island Stage Left has ceased operations. This is news to us! The rumor is untrue.

At this point we have no idea what the future holds (nor does any theatre in the world) but we are actively planning for a full season in 2021, if Covid can be dealt with by then. We hope to perform “Much Ado about Nothing” next summer, “The Amish Project” in the fall and a Christmas show. Please pass the word. We will keep going as long as we can!

Perplexedly,
Helen

John Rummel and Vicky Hipkin: Life on Mars: Past, Present, and Future?

This July will see the launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover (Perseverance), a Chinese orbiter/lander (Tianwen-1), and the United Arab Emirates Mars orbiter (Hope). Our neighbors, former NASA and Canadian Space Agency personnel John Rummel and Vicky Hipkin–between them they have participated in a dozen Mars missions (not all of them successful!)–will address ongoing and planned missions, focusing on the scientific quest to find life on Mars and the future of the human exploration of the planet.

San Juan Island Library is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting on July 15 at 7:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting: Continue Reading

Bob Reilly in the Round Towner – Contributed photo

The ‘RoundTowner has been on the road for more than 7 years, and provided over 25,000 free or low-cost rides! With service throughout San Juan Island via the grey Nissan Leaf, the service’s name needs to reflect more than Town service.

And, there are plans in progress to create a similar door-to-door ride service on Lopez Island soon. So the non-profit service is looking for a new name to reflect our larger service area.

Please click on or visit the link below to cast your vote for the new name which you feel will best represent free or affordable rides for “seniors, disabled or rural residents of the San Juan Islands.”

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XHCN7NQ

July 6, 2020: Over the weekend, the San Juan County Health & Community Service Department was notified of a new positive test result from a resident of Orcas Island.

The patient has been asymptomatic and was tested as part of a routine medical screening.

The County team has been actively investigating over the holiday weekend, and close contacts of the patient have been notified and are being tested.

Like all cases, this one should serve as a reminder to all of us to maintain caution and awareness about the risk of COVID transmission.

Over the 4^th of July weekend, many island residents have engaged in social activities with friends and family that may have been a bit more relaxed than at any point over the past months. Some of those friends and family may have been visiting from off-island. This uptick in activity, along with increased visitor traffic suggests that the next week or two would be an especially good time to dial back our wider interactions and take a measure of potential impacts from any recent relaxed attention to social distancing.

As always, those individuals who are at high-risk from COVID should be especially careful and extremely thoughtful about when and how they and others in their immediate household choose to engage with the broader community.

The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) announces that the Back-To-Business Grant Fund has been funded in the amount of $300,000, in order to support San Juan Island businesses.

This fund was created to address our business owners’ need to cover essential business expenses as they work to survive the economic downturn caused by Covid-19. Contributors to the fund include Valmark (Kings Market and Marketplace).

Over 40 businesses have been awarded grants which will allow businesses to pay for essential expenses like rent and Covid-19 related costs. The winners will be notified this week. 

For more information on these grants please visit www.sanjuansedc.org/btbgrant

The San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau resumed its regional advertising campaign when County officials anticipated that we would be moving to Phase 3 within a day or two.

Many were surprised when the County Health officer postponed the original application to Phase 3, and then when the Governor paused all requests for phase changes, including ours, on July 2nd. This morning, we initiated the suspension of all advertising. All ads should be down by mid-week.  

We’ve been doing our best to balance a soft opening with community concerns for safety. To this end, we’ve created a “Stay Safe” page and checklist to partner with our visitors to keep our community safe.  

Merri Ann Simonson – Contributed photo

Merri Ann Simonson checks in with a Second Quarter Real Estate summary…

The second quarter results, which complete the first half of the year, in San Juan County were extremely good when considering the virus impact.   Per the NWMLS, the dollar volume in San Juan County was $118,381,567 with a total of 201 transactions.

The numbers reflect a 6% decrease in dollar volume and a 4% increase in the number of transactions as compared to the same period in 2019.

For San Juan Island the transaction volume was $56,453,142 with a total of 91 transactions. This was a 3% increase in volume and a 10% increase in number of transactions.

Continue reading… (PDF)

Join the fun!!  San Juan County Virtual Fair call to action for performers to participate in “2020: A Fair Odyssey” August 12-15!

This year has presented a unique opportunity to showcase your talent and celebrate the culture of the Islands. Help represent this region through music, dance, comedy, theater, improv, storytelling, poetry, visual artists, and everything in-between as the largest event in San Juan County transitions to a virtual format.

The San Juan County Fair is looking for prerecorded materials and livestream opportunities.  Your participation is not confined to 4 days in August on San Juan Island, rather the comfort of your own home or studio and possibly pop-up events on all the islands.  Performers from San Juan County and surrounding areas are encouraged to apply.  Applications are being accepted on line  

About the San Juan County Fair:
Established in 1906, the Fair is one of Puget Sound’s best kept secrets not to be missed!