Here’s a thought…
“The competition between Nature and the economy is deep and broad.
In the short term, the economy usually wins. In the long term …?”
BILL APPEL
Beached bird training session
||| FROM COASTAL OBSERVATION AND SEABIRD SURVEY TEAM ||| Join the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), and make a difference for the environment! COASST participants collect monthly data on beached carcasses of marine
Spring cleaning tips for your boat
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| As the days grow longer and warmer, San Juan County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship is pleased to share a few spring cleaning tips with boat owners. Before jumping
Public meeting on prescribed fire in the San Juan Islands
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY LAND BANK ||| A consortium of organizations is researching prescribed fire as a tool to reduce wildfire fuels in the San Juan Islands. Studies indicate that fire occurred every 6–15
Garden Club launches Project Blossom
||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB ||| The Orcas Island Garden Club is sponsoring a citizen science project called Project Blossom. Orcas has many microclimates that affect the bloom time of flowers. This project will
Full lunar eclipse coming this week
||| FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ||| A total lunar eclipse is happening next week, visible across nearly all of North America and all of South America. It will start late the night of March 13 and continue into
2025 Comp Plan Update | Climate element and draft official map amendments available for review
You’re invited to a virtual drop-in session on March 11 to learn more about the Climate Element. Public comments regarding the draft Climate Element & Official Map amendments can be submitted by March 20. |||
Northwest Clean Air Agency welcomes San Juan County
||| FROM SETH PRESTON for NW CLEAN AIR AGENCY ||| San Juan County will officially rejoin the Northwest Clean Air Agency on July 1. Island, San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom counties formed the Northwest Air Pollution Authority
San Juan County rejoins the Northwest Clean Air Agency
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| San Juan County is pleased to announce that it has rejoined the Northwest Clean Air Agency (NWCAA) in an effort to better monitor air quality, collect local data,
Trump moves to increase logging in National Forests
The president wants to circumvent environmental regulations to expand timber production, something sought by homebuilders and the construction industry. ||| FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES ||| President Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill.” Now,
Public Meeting | Land Bank using prescribed fires to manage wildfire risks & restore ecosystems
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| A consortium of organizations is researching prescribed fire as a tool to reduce wildfire fuels in the San Juan Islands. Studies indicate that fire occurred every 6–15 years
Willow cultivation and crafting by Maria Bullock
||| FROM PERRI GIBBONS for ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB ||| Please join us on Wednesday, March 19th at the Orcas Center when the Orcas Island Garden Club welcomes Maria Bullock to speak about cultivating willow
4.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Orcas Island
||| FROM KOMO-TV NEWS ||| If you felt some shaking while making your Monday morning coffee, you weren't imagining things. People across western Washington felt it, too. At 5:02 a.m., a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck
Bellingham taps Orcas glass sand
To take a valueless material and find a use for it! ||| FROM THE SALISH CURRENT ||| Orcas Island’s trailblazing project to divert heavy, discarded glass away from destination landfills and back to the productive
Updates from The Exchange
||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND RECYCLING/THE EXCHANGE ||| Household Hazardous Waste Clean-up in March Another Springtime tradition: Cleanout the toxins! On March 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. bring us your chemicals—everything from cleaning supplies
Forest Service loses billions subsidizing logging, not cleaning outhouses
||| FROM THE WILDLIFE NEWS ||| We have all read about the thousands of Forest Service employees Elon Musk laid off without cause in Trump’s reckless attempt to cut the Federal budget by $2 trillion.