Reflections from media Ambassador Julia Yarbough
There are no accidents.
Everyone comes into your life for a reason.
Everything happens for a reason.
Quite often we do not recognize the significance of events or chance meetings until years later.
On a cool but sunny afternoon in July 2009, I walked a trail through a beautiful outdoor space and chatted with a man named Billy Frank Jr.
The excursion was part of a 10-day environmental sciences fellowship with the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, where I joined other journalists to explore the environmental challenges facing the Puget Sound region.
At the time, I lived and worked as a news anchor in Miami. Though on opposite coasts, both regions shared some of the same environmental struggles: protecting fragile ecosystems from unchecked development, preserving critical habitat, managing invasive species, and finding win-win solutions for wildlife and humans alike.
I spent a good deal of time that day with Billy Frank Jr. — but did not appreciate the magnitude of the moment. And that’s because I did not know his history.
Billy Frank Jr. was a Nisqually Indian Tribe leader who spent his life fighting for his people’s treaty right to fish the waters of their ancestors. During the Fish Wars of the 1960s and 1970s, that dedication led to more than 50 arrests. His activism drove the landmark 1974 Boldt Decision, securing tribal co-management of Pacific Northwest fisheries. He then turned to habitat restoration and conservation — protecting the very land and water he had always defended.
In 2015, six years after our meeting, President Obama renamed the wildlife refuge in his honor.
Photos courtesy of Julia Yarbough, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Julia Yarbough, 2026.
On a cool, overcast afternoon in February 2026, I pulled into the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, en route to Olympia to join Friday Harbor High School Eco-Club students for a day of legislative advocacy.
The moment I saw the entry sign, I knew I had been to this magical place before.
I had walked the boardwalk, strolled the shoreline, been awed by the beauty. Not only had I visited this place — I had spent the afternoon with a Nisqually Indian Tribe icon; a powerful advocate, environmentalist, and conservationist who dedicated his life to protecting the land of his ancestors, home to more than 300 species of birds, fish, and wildlife.
That land remains for all of us, because of Billy Frank Jr.’s commitment to protecting it.
Seventeen years later, Washington is home. It is an honor to live in such a unique region and serve Friends of the San Juans as Volunteer Media Ambassador.
Without knowing how or why, fate brought me to the Pacific Northwest; to the San Juan Islands — perhaps, like the icon I met all those years ago so I could work alongside ‘Friends’ as we all Protect this Place.
There are no accidents.
Everyone comes into your life for a reason.
Everything happens for a reason.
Text, Photos, and Video Courtesy: Julia Yarbough 2009 & 2026