Friends of the San Juans

Check out the April issue of our e-newsletter – Highwater Marks! You’ll hear about our recent victory in court that will help protect the Southern Resident Killer Whales, learn how to report herring spawning in the San Juans this spring, discover more about how to address the growing plastic pollution problem – and more! Read it here. ... read more

Our modern lives are inevitably tied to plastic. The so-called Everlasting Polymer is the epitome of convenience, so it was love at first sight for our consumerist culture. Plastic pollution is a major threat to biosphere health, and the problem is constantly worsening. Single-use plastics comprise about 50% of the 8 million tons of plastic ... read more

This week, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge David Freeman delivered a court victory both to Friends of the San Juans and to the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. “We’re very excited about this ruling,” said Brent Lyles, Friends’ Executive Director, “and it’s been a long time coming!” The issue started in early 2019, when the ... read more

Help make the San Juan Islands “Plastic Free by the Sea”! This year’s Great Islands Clean-up is on Saturday, April 24, 2021. Join the county-wide greening event and collect litter from public beaches and roadways. There will be litter clean-up events happening on Orcas, San Juan, Lopez and Shaw Islands this year. Look out for ... read more

Sign this petition to tell Washington State’s Department of Ecology to require the industries that could cause a major oil spill to comply with state regulations, and to identify and fund the reconnaissance and deterrence operations that will be needed to protect Southern Resident Killer Whales from a major oil spill. Tell Ecology to not let ... read more

Check out the March issue of our e-newsletter – Highwater Marks! You’ll learn about our new virtual reality education program, get the link for our petition that asks the WA Department of Ecology to require oil spill contingency plans that include the required wildlife response protections for the critically endangered Southern Residents, hear how shifting baselines are ... read more

A few years ago, I was combing the beach of Barlow Bay on Lopez Island when I found a whelk shell that had washed out of a midden. This shell was easily ten times larger than the others I had often found dotting the beach, and I have never seen another whelk shell like it. ... read more

For the ultimate immersive experience, we recommend using virtual reality headsets to view the video, like the Oculus Quest units that students use in the classroom. The next best option is an inexpensive cardboard viewer you can use at home, like Google cardboard headsets that use your smart phone to transform the 360˚ YouTube video into a ... read more

Check out our new Shoreline Restoration website! You’ll explore an interactive map and see Friends of the San Juans’ restoration projects that have been completed in partnership with private, Tribal, and public landowners. With an overall goal of improving the marine food web, these projects restored shorelines impacted by unnecessary modifications such as bulkheads, tide gates, groins, ... read more

Check out the first issue of our new e-newsletter – Highwater Marks! You’ll learn about how you can help salmon and orca with your shoreline property, get an update on San Juan County’s Comp Plan progress, hear about what experiences from the pandemic we can apply to the climate crisis, get the first look at our ... read more