For such small and relatively isolated islands, the San Juans boast a variety of unique historical, geographical, and biological features. As I near the end of my first summer on San Juan Island, I continue to be amazed by the new things I learn about the San Juan Islands everyday. Aside from the Orca whales, bald eagles, and other unique types of birds and marine life that inhabit this area, San Juan Island is home to another rare species: the Island Marble butterfly, thought to have gone extinct for nearly 100 years before turning up in American Camp, a National…

Last week on one of our “Eagles and Orcas” one-day sea kayak tours, guests were treated to a visit by an extra-special San Juan Islander. “A whale?” you might wonder. Well, guess again. His name is Tucker, and he is not a whale or a person but a black Labrador retriever whose job it is to sniff out whale poop off the coast of San Juan Island. For the past several years, Tucker has worked tirelessly with a team of researchers from the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology. Their goal? To find and collect samples of whale dung…

The San Juan Islands host between 40 to 50 breeding pairs of bald eagles, one of the largest eagle nesting populations in the continental United States.

The rocky and tree lined shores of the San Juan Islands provide an excellent habitat for a wide variety of different bird species.

One reason people enjoy kayaking the San Juan Islands and visiting the Northwest is due in part to the beauty of the lush, verdant forests in our region. Not only do these forests provide valuable habitat and recreational opportunities, but they also play a major role in combating climate change by storing carbon. In a recent analysis released by the Wilderness Society, the top 10 national forests for storing green house gases in the United States are in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Alaska. The Olympic National Forest tied with Umpqua National Forest in Oregon as the second-best carbon bank…