San Juan Islands
[1] These islands were home to various Coast Salish peoples, including the Nooksack and Northern Straits groups (consisting of the Lummi, Klallam, Saanich, Samish, and Songhees dialects).
[6] The resulting Pig War and San Juan Dispute were a diplomatic stalemate until the boundary issue was placed in the hands of Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany for arbitration in 1871.
The surrounding bodies of water, including Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca, were recognized collectively as the Salish Sea, by the United States in 2009 and by Canada in 2010.
[7] On the 7th of June 2024, a T-34 plane flown by former astronaut and air force pilot, Bill Anders, crashed on the San Juan Islands.
[8] The islands were heavily logged in the nineteenth century, but now have an extensive second-growth coast Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var.
The San Juan Islands host the greatest concentration of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the contiguous United States.
[9] Great blue herons (Ardea herodias), black oystercatchers (Haematopus bachman), and numerous shorebirds are found along the shore and in winter, the islands are home to trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator), Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and other waterfowl.
Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), northern harriers (Circus cyaneus), barred owls (Strix varia) and other birds of prey are found.
In addition diving birds such as rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata), pigeon guillemots (Cepphus columba) and endangered marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) frequent the surrounding seas.
Other marine mammals include river otters (Lontra canadensis), Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), Dall's porpoises (Phocoenoides dalli) and other cetaceans.
Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) are the largest mammals on the San Juan Islands, which are unusual in their historic absence of large carnivores, except for wolves (Canis lupus) which were extirpated in the 1860s.
[12] Dr. Caleb B. R. Kennerly, surgeon and naturalist, collected a wolf specimen on Lopez Island, which is now in the National Museum of Natural History, probably during the Northwest Boundary Survey from 1857 to 1861.
Gnawed stumps and beaver sign are now seen on Orcas and other islands, and recolonization by this keystone species is likely to lead to increased abundance and diversity of birds, amphibians, reptiles and plants.
[14] In spring 2011 a pair of beaver appeared at Killebrew Lake on Orcas Island, but were killed to avoid flooding a phone company switch box buried under Dolphin Bay Road.
[17] Professional marine mammal biologists verified a single sea otter observed near Cattle Point, San Juan Island, in October 1996.
[24] The coastlines are a mix of sandy and rocky beaches, shallow inlets and deep harbors, placid coves and reef-studded bays.
Gnarled, ochre-colored madrona trees[25] (Arbutus) grace much of the shorelines, while evergreen fir and pine forests cover large inland areas.
[26][27] The San Juan Islands get substantially less rainfall than Seattle, about 65 miles (105 km) to the south, due to their location in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains to the southwest.
Snow is infrequent in winter, except for the higher elevations, but the islands are subject to high winds at times; those from the northeast sometimes bring brief periods of freezing.
[29][30] In the present, the San Juan Islands are an important tourist destination, with sea kayaking and orca whale-watching (by boat or air tours) being two of the primary attractions.
Vessels bound for British Columbia or Alaska also frequently use it in preference to the passages farther west, when greater advantage can be taken of the tidal currents.
