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
No Place Like Loam | Legacy Landscapes: The three design forces of time, experience, and structure
||| NO PLACE LIKE LOAM by ALEX TAMAYO.WOLF ||| Time: The Monk of Reichenau Abbey He worked in a scriptorium lit by high, narrow windows, winter light thin and lateral, flattening shadow against stone. Beeswax
Preparing for when oil meets shore
Inside a Shoreline Assessment Workshop on Lopez Island ||| FROM BILL SYMES and ELAINA THOMPSON ||| Islands’ Oil Spill Association (IOSA) held a public workshop on the classification, assessment, and cleanup of oiled shorelines, February
Vote in OPALCO’s election
Voters eligible to win prizes ||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT COOPERATIVE ||| OPALCO Board Candidate election season is in full swing! OPALCO members should have received a ballot. Get to know
OPALCO Board candidate questionnaire results released
Eight candidates provide detailed perspectives on cooperative future ||| FROM CHOM GREACEN ||| To help members differentiate among an unusually large field of candidates in the upcoming Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) board election,
County float at Waldron temporarily closed April 5-11 for repairs
The County recognizes how important marine facilities are to commuters, visitors, businesses, locals, and other service providers and is working to repair the facility as quickly as possible. ||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
News Brief | How new fishing tech can reduce bycatch of turtles and other creatures
||| FROM ARSTECHNICA.COM Designed to capture animals destined for our dinner tables, our oceans are full of sophisticated, perfect traps. Over the decades, conservationists, researchers, and fishermen have developed ways to minimize various kinds of
News Brief | Inside a rare sperm whale birth
||| FROM INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS ||| Two landmark studies of a rare sperm whale birth observation in the Caribbean are reshaping scientists’ understanding of cooperation in the animal kingdom, revealing that whales in unrelated family
CWR logs encounter #18 with J Pod
||| FROM CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH ||| Full Encounter Report ObservBegin: 03:35 PM ObservEnd: 05:08 PM Vessel: KCB III Staff: Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss Pods: J IDsEncountered: J16, J19, J22, J27, J31, J35, J36, J37, J38, J39, J40,
Larsen demands Trump admin mobilize all options to prepare for upcoming wildfire season
||| FROM THE OFFICE OF U.S. REP. RICK LARSEN ||| Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) joined twelve of his colleagues from Washington and Oregon in a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz, and
CWR encounters J pod near Spieden Island
||| FROM CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH ||| Full Encounter Report ObservBegin: 12:49 PM ObservEnd: 03:58 PM Vessel: KCB III Staff: Michael Weiss, Katie Jones Pods: J IDsEncountered: J19, J22, J27, J31, J35, J36, J38, J39,
Bringing it Home | Sea level rise impact, response planning for Orcas
A Climate Solutions Workshop ||| FROM EARTH DAY ORCAS ||| The Orcas Island community is invited to participate in a sea level rise impact workshop with presentations by Tyler Davis of San Juan County Environmental
Concerned members launch candidate questionnaire to aid OPALCO voters
Multi-Island initiative aims to differentiate record field of nine candidates ahead of board election ||| FROM CHOM GREACEN ||| In response to an unprecedented surge in members running for the Orcas Power & Light Cooperative
SJC Dept. of Environmental Stewardship hosts 2026 Hazardous Waste Roundup events across the islands
Residents and businesses invited to safely dispose of household chemicals, paints, and hazardous materials at collection events on Lopez, San Juan, and Orcas Islands ||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| San Juan County Department
News Brief | Neighbors push back against PSE microgrid on Samish Island
||| FROM KING 5 SEATTLE ||| A PSE-commissioned noise study recommended building a 14-by-18-foot wall to block the sound. That recommendation was made in October, but construction has not begun. READ FULL ARTICLE
The Island Gardener for March ~ 2026
||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB ||| March in the garden is always a bit of a tug-of-war between patience and pure excitement. Even after all these years, I still find myself getting swept up
