Due to a shortage of crew, the interisland vessel MV Sealth will not sail on Thursday, Feb. 24 or Friday, Feb. 25. According to Washington State Ferries:

Customers needing to travel between islands on Thursday and Friday should give themselves extra travel time and plan on arriving early to their departing terminal to get routed where they need to go using the remaining vessels in service. This may require going through Anacortes to get to your final destination.

Interisland service was cancelled this evening as well, roughly 20 minutes before the scheduled 5:25 p.m. departure from Friday Harbor. Although WSF made schedule changes today to provide additional service between the islands, they have not indicated that they will make such accommodations on Thursday or Friday.

Photo credit: John Miller.

Following the success of its 50-mile challenge in January, Island Rec is trying to get as many Islanders as possible to walk or run at least 100 miles in the month of March.

Participants in the January challenge collectively logged more than 1,800 miles of activity, with most tracking their distances via smartphones or smartwatches.

Taking part in the March event is free. Register with Island Rec to receive instructions for logging your miles.

Together with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the Washington State University Extension Forestry program will host its free Forest Owners’ Winter School on Saturday, Feb. 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to WSU Extension:

The family-friendly event has classes suitable for first-time forest owners and for folks whose families have owned their land for generations. Class topics include how to increase tree resiliency, current forest health issues, integrating agriculture and forestry, improving wildlife habitat, indigenous land management in the Pacific Northwest, and more.

The online Winter School will consist of five 50-minute sessions, during each of which you can pick from a variety of topics. Attendees will be able to ask questions and interact with instructors and panelists via chat as the courses go on. There is also a virtual lunch break scheduled to allow attendees to get to know one another and discuss shared interests in an informal setting. Registrants will receive a final schedule a few days in advance of the event so they can plan which sessions to attend live.

For more information or to register, visit the WSU Extension Forestry program website.

One of the last undeveloped public viewpoints in Friday Harbor is again at risk of disappearing, as a hotel project last proposed in 2018 has come back to life.

Trace & Associates is the developer of the project, located at 196 and 240 First St., across from the San Juan County Courthouse. The company submitted new plans to the Town of Friday Harbor’s Community Development & Planning Department roughly a month ago, on Jan. 25. The revised plans call for a two-story, 23-room hotel with an equal number of below-grade parking spaces.

The hotel’s previous iteration proposed a three-story design with 29 rooms, as well as a restaurant. It was met with criticism from Islanders, who expressed concern that the building would negatively affect public access to views, permanently alter the appearance of the waterfront, increase water and sewer usage, further limit public parking, and force seasonal hotel and restaurant employees into even greater competition for housing. A public hearing was held at a Town Council meeting on March 15, 2018. Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson shares information about how long it takes to purchase a home on San Juan Island in the current market.

The San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22 to talk about their approach to marketing San Juan Island as a tourist destination.

Held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. over Zoom, the meeting will give Islanders a chance to ask the Visitors Bureau questions about the organization’s work, make suggestions, and provide feedback.

Meeting registration is open now.

The San Juan County Economic Development Council and WSU San Juan County Extension’s 4-H program have partnered to offer a series of projects designed to teach children about skilled trades.

The first project involves building an electric motor from a kit provided by the EDC. According to the EDC:

Building and experimenting with the kit will help kids learn about the basic principles of electricity and circuits, principles fundamental to many trades. The motor kits are designed for kids ages 10 years and up, and are fun and informative. Less experienced kids would enjoy working with friends or older family members; more experienced kids would enjoy modifying the kit or helping others. Continue Reading

The San Juan Island Library sends along some updates about their newly hired development director and the location of their new building, on the site of the former Life Care Center.

The San Juan Island Library is excited to announce Amy Saxe-Eyler has joined its staff to serve as Development Director. Amy has lived in the San Juan Islands since 2009 and has been assisting nonprofits for decades. She has experience in fundraising, grant-writing, financial management, and marketing and has served in the nonprofit sector as both director and staff member, as well as volunteering and her service on boards.

In her development role, Amy will work closely with Library Director Laurie Orton, the Friends of the Library, and the Board of Trustees to lead the fundraising efforts for the new library capital campaign. Continue Reading

Transition San Juan Island’s Waste Reduction Guild shares their perspective on the challenges and opportunities associated with the stewardship of waste glass on San Juan Island.

Glass is a modern wonder but the heavy, voluminous containers and window panes that come from melting the quartzite sands of time (plus some chemical magic) to create ubiquitous products, does not degrade and is costly to transport. The modern process of making glass is energy intensive (using heat up to 1700 degrees Fahrenheit) to transform crystalline solids to liquid to form a million shapes. Well over a century of discarded glass may exist far longer than human civilization and become a lasting testament to our unprecedented wastefulness.

We feel that many Islanders try to do the right thing with recycling containers and packaging resulting from our consumptive lifestyles. Do you feel frustrated with the uncertainty and inefficiency of commingled recycling and feel a personal responsibility to do better? If that is the case, then you should be impressed, as we are, with the inspiring community achievements in dealing with solid waste by both Orcas and Lopez islands. Real progress toward a more responsible, technological approach to solid waste management on our larger populated islands is currently separate and unequal despite the oversight of the San Juan County Department of Environmental Stewardship. Continue Reading

The Stewardship Network of the San Juans is looking for nominees for their 15th annual Good Steward Awards. The awards recognize individuals, families, teachers, students, and businesses — who are not conservation professionals — that have shown dedication to preserving the land and sea in the San Juan Islands.

You can submit nominations on the Stewardship Network website.

Winners will be recognized at an awards celebration in April. Each winner will receive a Finnie — a large ceramic fish hand crafted by a local artist.