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
The Island Gardener, June 2026
||| FROM ROBIN SULLIVAN for ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB ||| There is something wonderfully comforting about looking back through the history of our Garden Tour and Garden Faire and realizing that, despite the passing years
News Brief | A tiny solar panel could change America
||| FROM NEW YORK TIMES ||| It’s not so easy to harvest the sunshine if you live in America. But that might be changing soon in more than half the country. A technology — known
The Snake and the Whale screening, finale to Orca Action Month on June 26
||| FROM FRIDAY HARBOR FILM FESTIVAL ||| On Friday, June 26 at 7 PM Friday Harbor Film Festival presents The Snake and the Whale at the San Juan Island Library in Friday Harbor and the
Walking tours scheduled for OPAL neighborhoods
||| FROM QASIM ALI DINO for OPAL COMMUNITY LAND TRUST ||| OPAL Community Land Trust invites community members to lace up their walking shoes and join longtime OPAL homeowner, storyteller – and current OPAL
Reconnect as Turtleback reaches 20 years
Join us on June 24 for a presentation about this remarkable story ||| FROM BARBARA ROSENKOTTER for SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST ||| Did you know the largest fundraising campaign in the San Juans was on
Larsen cheers Trump administration backing off plan to end key ocean monitoring initiative
||| FROM THE OFFICE OF U.S. REP. RICK LARSEN ||| WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement: “Monitoring our oceans is crucial to protect Northwest Washington’s coastlines, marine ecosystems and
Letter to Editor | Easy to be ‘hard’
||| FROM ROBERT AUSTIN ||| I’ve noticed that over the past couple months, water at our Timber Lane house seems to have grown harder than normal: rinsing my car off left behind hundreds of little
A new calf joins L Pod
||| FROM CENTER FOR ORCA RESEARCH ||| Our scientists observed the calf, designated L130 on June 14th and 15th as members of J and L pods traveled through the Salish Sea. Based on the calf's
First detections of highly invasive European green crab discovered on Orcas Island
Students from Orcas Island Middle School discover green crab molt while on a field trip ||| FROM WASHINGTON SEA GRANT CRAB TEAM ||| Evidence of invasive European green crab was detected for the first time
The Exchange update
|||FROM THE EXCHANGE ||| Styrofoam Recycling Matures on Orcas The Exchange is taking the next step in Styrofoam recycling on Orcas Island. After three months of collecting Styrofoam at the Z-Wall, staff toured a commercial
Guest Opinion | About that dirt on Shaw
||| FROM ALEX MACLEOD ||| One way to view voters’ overwhelming rejection of the recent property-tax levy lid lift sought by the County Council is a lack of confidence in the council’s ability to wisely
News Brief | Salmon extinction on the Middle Fork Salmon River in the heart of Idaho
The genius in salmon to persist and thrive through change means this heart attack is still treatable ||| FROM IDAHO CAPITAL SUN ||| The Middle Fork Salmon River is the largest wild watershed in the
EWUA meeting marked by escalating calls for transparency, accountability, leadership change
||| FROM CORY HARRINGTON ||| The Eastsound Water Users Association Board meeting was attended by approximately 50 members and reflected a night of significant tension alongside moments of earnest, heartfelt concern from community members deeply
Here’s a sneak peek at 2026 OIGC Tour Gardens
||| FROM PERRI GIBBONS for ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB ||| Garden A: Warm Valley Farm If you think you know this farm from the many times driving by it to the ferry…. think again!! You
News Brief | World’s leading deepfake expert no longer trusts his own eyes
In the age of A.I., Hany Farid is struggling to prove what’s real before the internet decides for itself ||| FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES ||| Hany Farid has invented software to identify deepfakes. But
