By Friends’ Volunteer Media Ambassador, Julia Yarbough
Spend one afternoon with Friends of the San Juans’ Executive Director, Eva Schulte, and you will be enthusiastically pulled into a ‘sea’ of information about the San Juan Islands, the Salish Sea, and the numerous arms of education and advocacy efforts that are underway to ‘Protect this Place.’ Eva’s unique ability to turn data and policy information into impassioned stories of the islands, made for a successful recent visit to Washington, D.C.
I traveled with Eva to the nation’s capital to represent Friends during Puget Sound Day on the Hill April 13 – 16, 2026. We joined more than twenty Puget Sound regional organizations and more than sixty individuals– all working within various environmental and conservation spaces.
Led by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and the Puget Sound Partnership, Puget Sound Day on the Hill focused on a handful of key requests including, continuing support for the Puget Sound Geographic Program in tandem with the National Estuary Program, Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery, and the Reauthorization of the Northwest Straits Commission.
In small groups, participants met with Congressional leaders, to advocate for the unique issues impacting the Pacific Northwest’s population, economy, and future sustainability. Eva and I had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with several of Washington’s legislative leaders including Representative Larson, U.S. Senator Cantwell, and members of U.S. Senator Murray’s legislative team.
“We visited at least 45 Congressional Representatives to share the message of protecting the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea,” says Schulte. “We discussed the need to focus on our economic impacts and how we are engaging communities from all across the islands and the Salish Sea.”
“We found out, thanks to our advocacy and our coalition partners, that the Northwest Straits Commission Reauthorization is in the works!” Schulte explains. “We are so grateful to Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell, and now our Congressional Representative Larson, and how they are advancing the Northwest Straits Commission Reauthorization. That allows us to engage with our marine resource committees and ensure that funding is leveraged to protect habitat, hatchery jobs, and to protect against invasive species.”
To learn more about the Puget Sound Partnership, visit psp.wa.gov
To learn more about the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission visit nwtreatytribes.org