Friends of the San Juans

Friends of the San Juans is seeking citizen scientists to help conduct beach surveys for spawning forage fish over the next two years. There will be a survey training session on October 26 from 9 am – 1 pm with researchers from Friends and Salish Sea Biological at the Old Town of Friday Harbor Fire ... read more

Approximately 150 people attended the second Community Conversation on Vacation Rentals, held at the Orcas High School Cafeteria on Wednesday evening September 25, 2019. Introductions and a review of the agenda and process were presented by Diane Berreth. Yonatan Aldort, the appointed leader of the Vacation Rentals Working Group, delivered an opening comment. Five presentations ... read more

We enjoyed working with San Juan County students last spring during our marine plastic education and reduction program featured in this video produced by Carl Davis and the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee. Thank you so much to our project funder Keta Legacy Foundation and local artist Brook Meinhardt for helping us bring this important ... read more

Celebrate the power of people coming together to make change and protect what you love. Enjoy seasonally inspired food and beverages while connecting with Friends! Tickets are $50 per person and space is limited. Click here to register today: sanjuans.org/40th. Celebration details: Orcas, Sep. 22 Odd Fellows Hall, 112 Haven Rd., 4 – 6 pm, ... read more

The 2019 Fall Great Island’s Clean-Up (GICU) is coming this Saturday, September 28. This twice a year county wide cleaning event is when residents and visitor’s, individuals, businesses, clubs, school groups, parks and land trusts come together to pick-up litter and marine debris. Friends of the San Juans helps organize the beach clean-ups for San ... read more

You’ll see a timeline of our major accomplishments over the past 40 years, get updates on Friends’ current programs, and discover how you can get involved to protect what you love about the San Juan Islands and Salish Sea. Enjoy! Click here to download our 2019 newsletter. 

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) is updating WA State’s Oil Spill Contingency Plan (see also Chapter 173-182 WAC) that requires large commercial vessels, oil handling facilities, and pipelines to have detailed oil spill contingency plans for appropriate equipment and trained personnel to respond to spills that may occur. A draft of the updated rule ... read more

On Friday July 19, 2019 Whatcom County issued a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS) for the Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery’s proposal to construct a new 300,000 barrel crude oil storage tank and a new 80,000 barrel fuel oil storage tank. The new storage tanks would provide additional operating flexibility for ... read more

Thursday July 25, 4:00-5:30 p.m., San Juan Island Brewing Co., 410 A St., Friday Harbor., WA Join Friends of the San Juans in thanking 20 soldiers from the US Army’s 569th Engineering Dive Detachment who have been removing derelict fishing nets off of the west side of San Juan Island since July 7, 2019. Thousands ... read more

Curious about the role that vacation rentals play in our local community? What about the growth of vacation rentals around the world? A small, diverse group of Orcas community members have been gathering and researching this issue for the past couple of months and they’d like to invite you into the conversation! This community conversation will ... read more