Brown Island Restoration Update

We soaked up some fall sunshine during a follow-up visit to our restoration site on Brown Island near Friday Harbor. Huge thanks to participating private landowners, the Islands Conservation Corps (ICC) and Northwest Straits Foundation for their support of this work! Friends and the ICC removed unnatural rock that had surfaced since our initial 2015 armor removal and beach restoration project. We also planted native dune grass and conducted forage fish spawn habitat surveys. Rock removed from this intertidal beach will be used by the Brown Island community as material for inland landscaping projects.

Learn More about the Brown Island Restoration site.

Learn more about our technical assistance program, helping property owners and land managers make sound decisions that benefit people and nature!


It wasn’t until 1979 that San Juan County got a comprehensive growth plan and that was largely due to the Friends of the San Juan’s being there to advocate for the shoreline and the ecosystem. Since then, there have been constant waves of pressure by developers. Friends have risen each time, fighting to protect this fragile and precious place.

Liza Michaelson

member, San Juan Island