Scenic Byway Plan Seeks Final Public Input

Comments Due February 28
By Liz Illg, Scenic Byway Coordinator

The SJISB partnership is now seeking feedback from the public on the first four sections of the plan and the ideas for a logo. The sections, along with an executive summary (that features the logo options) and a comment sheet can be found at https://www.visitsanjuans.com/scenicbyway/. Comments are due by February 28. For more information contact Liz Illg, Scenic Byway Coordinator at 378 – 6104 or at lizillg@rockisland.com.

People have been visiting the San Juan Islands for thousands of years. Up until a few hundred years ago they came in cedar canoes to harvest the bounty of the land, enjoy the tranquility of the beaches, and pull winter food from the Salish Sea. Now visitors come by the thousands via Washington State Ferries and private and commercial passenger boats and planes. The San Juan Islands Scenic Byway is intended to provide access to this unique marine and island environment through collaborative projects in such a way as to protect local resources.

The San Juan Islands Scenic Byway (SJISB) is a local planning effort to coordinate ecologically-sustainable tourism. The Scenic Byway partnership, a consortium under the sponsorship of the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau is now inviting public input into the formation of a corridor management plan for the byway.

Visitors to the San Juan Islands today contribute over $116 million to our local economy. Estimates vary as to how many guests we host each year, but what we do know is less than 20,000 residents and seasonal workers are engaged and impacted by those visitors. The land, our history, our infrastructure, and our quality of life are dependent on the strategies we employ to manage those visitors.

In 2004, after receiving sanction from then County Commissioners John Evans, Darcie Nielsen and Rhea Miller, Deborah Hopkins of the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau contacted Washington State Department of Transportation and requested technical assistance to start the process. Public meetings on the major ferry served islands resulted in community consensus to adopt a three legged route for the byway. One third is the Washington State Ferries terminals and routes, the “Horseshoe Highway” and major spurs to attractions on Orcas Island is the second, and a loop on San Juan that extends from the north to the southern light house of the island is the third.

In 2006 the State of Washington conferred “interim status” to the byway which allowed byway partners to apply for a seed grant from the National Scenic Byways Program (NSBP), a division of the Federal Highway Administration under the U.S. Department of Transportation. This funding resulted in a two-day conference which attracted byway leaders from across the state and the 2008 Transportation Summit which engaged over 200 residents, local officials, and state policy makers. The San Juan slands Scenic Byway was designated as part of the Washington State Recreational and Scenic Highway System by legislation sponsored by Senator Kevin Ranker in spring of 2008.

For the past two years the SJISB partners have been working on a corridor management plan that spells out the vision, values and resources along the byway. With specific strategies for managing tourism and protecting unique natural and cultural resources, the plan hopefully reflects community goals and respects local lifestyles and cultures.