shoreline protection

At Friends of the San Juans (FSJ) we advocate for orca, healthy seas, and natural beaches. Our policy and education efforts rest on a foundation of science, research, and community engagement. The problems our community faces are wickedly complex and your support is fundamental to building organizational capacity to implement solutions. You have the capacity ... read more

2021 has been a tremendous year for Friends of the San Juans. As you’ve read in our newsletters and as you heard at our Annual Meeting last month, we’ve matured as an organization this year, and we’ve had terrific programmatic successes. In every case, the financial support of our members and donors made those accomplishments ... read more

To those of you who joined us for our 2021 Annual Meeting – thank you! To those of you who missed last week’s event — if only you could have been there! But don’t worry, here’s a link to the recording! We witnessed compelling testimonials, gained insight during our engaging conversation with Lynda Mapes, and ... read more

Check out the August issue of our e-newsletter – Highwater Marks! You’ll learn about joining Friends staff for Q& A’s at the San Juan County Virtual Fair, see the results from our 3 year-long forage fish surveys, plus more actions, news, and updates! Read it here.

Join Friends, Transition San Juan Island, Plastic Free Salish Sea, San Juan County (who officially proclaimed July to be plastic-free in the San Juans), and other communities world-wide in reducing your plastic waste in July! Plastic Free July® is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – ... read more

It’s springtime in the islands and that means tulips, hummingbirds, and eggs – HERRING EGGS! It’s the time of year when herring come to our shorelines to spawn. Herring spawn in eelgrass beds in Eastsound and West Sound on Orcas Island, Shoal, Hunter and Mud Bay on Lopez Island and Blind Bay on Shaw Island. ... read more

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

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