The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
May 20 & 22, 2014
Salish Sea
Pacific Northwest
Last week over two long days I accompanied a crew of BLM researchers to nine of the 70 or so small islands in San Juan Islands National Monument, which came into being a year ago thanks to President Obama and the Antiquities Act. About half the Monument acreage is several large sites on Lopez and San Juan Islands, with the rest being these islands, ranging from 1 to 200 acres. State and local groups actively help manage these lands, such as the Washington State Parks system, Washington Trails Association, Keepers of the Patos Light, and many more, mostly volunteer.
I tagged along to assist the botanist surveying and documenting vegetation, and I was happy to help, since I'd never stepped on any of these tiny non-ferry-served outlying islands before. I was surprised and amazed by the difference between them, and between them and the populated main islands of the county. One beautiful surprise was how many of the smallest islands, not much more than rocky bluffs, are graced by Garry oaks (Quercus garryana), rare on my home island.
Most of San Juan county, and most of the shoreline, is privately owned, so ordinary middle-class people like me have few places to enjoy the water. These tiny Monument islands and the sites at the south end of Lopez and San Juan belong to the public and we value them! Meteor Blades
wrote recently about why the Antiquities Act has become so critical in protecting natural and historical treasures, and the threat from GOP legislators to future preservation...after the Obama administration, new National Monuments may become impossible. The orange dots on the
map (click for detail and names) may not represent much land acreage, but they mark critical refuges for plants and animals, now in permanent protection, thanks to the Antiquities Act as it currently exists.
Follow me below the fold for a brief tour of some of the islands I visited, in this combo Bucket/photo-diary.
Many of the smaller islands are not much more than rocks. That's an orange lichen in the spray zone.
This is Posey, one of three where camping is allowed (the others Patos and Blind islands). It was clearcut for the lime kilns a hundred years ago. Interestingly, the trees that have grown back are not the usual Douglas fir, Shore Pine and Alder so common elsewhere in the county. Instead, Garry Oak, Coastal Juniper and Madrona are the few trees there, with an understory of mixed grasses and wildflowers.
Madrona (Arbutus menziesii) and Coastal Juniper (Juniperus maritima)
Sea Blush (Plectritis congesta)
Patos Island is the largest Monument island, with deeper soil and denser vegetation. It is free of the Black-Tailed deer who are overpopulating much of the county, and wildflowers flourish without their browsing. I saw lots of native wildflowers, including the densest congregations of Rattlesnake Plantain, a local orchid, I've ever seen (fringed by Pacific Starflower). The orchids and lilies are not blooming yet.
Rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia)
Great Camas (Camassia leichtlinii)
Columbia lily (Lilium columbianum)
A BLM forester in our group was identifying hazard trees, dead trees likely to fall on campsites or structures. He demonstrated why one beautiful old Madrona was on the list: thumping it, we could hear the hollow drumlike sound of heart rot, and peering through the salal, the big hole confirmed it.
Volunteers on Patos and other islands deal with noxious invasive weeds throughout the season, particularly Himalayan blackberry, Scotch broom and English ivy. Here a volunteer rests from his weed-eating, chatting with the botanist. Other volunteers work on lighthouse upkeep. It appeared to me that the more frequented islands, like Patos and Blind islands, had more invasive plants. Patos has only 7 primitive campsites, pit toilets, no water or dock, and yet it it is not surprising that thousands of visitors come to the island every year to see the lighthouse and enjoy the quiet wild beauty of the place.
That's an oil tanker on the horizon. More than 500 large oil tankers pass through the Salish Sea every year (plus many more bulk cargo and containerships). With our swift tidal currents and numerous shoals and islands, you can understand why many of us are concerned about the proposed massive increase in tanker traffic to move tar sand oil through the Sea.
Besides sightseeing, I helped the botanist conduct surveys and inventory species. Out at Turn Point on Stuart island (where another of the three historic lighthouses is located), she runs a transect through dense salal. I held the dumb end of the tape, acted as a marker, and photographed salal flowers.
Some spots, like Victim, McConnell, Oak islands, were a bit trickier to get to. Our water taxi used a boat ramp to get onto the rocks. Other members of the team were doing GIS and trails research.
The small islands are particularly valuable as wildlife refuges. I saw Canada Goose nests on 3 of them (geese nearby). Some other wildlife seen on my brief visit: White-Crowned Sparrow sings from a tree, an unidentified butterfly rests in the brush. River otter debris littered some spots.
We saw uncommon native wildflowers too, such as Paintbrush, Death Camas, Nodding Onion, Oregon Sunshine, Harvest Brodeia, Blue-Eyed Mary, Farewell-to-Spring, and many others. While there is a lot of overlap in species, each island seems to have a somewhat different microclimate and physical setting, with a unique set of vegetation.
Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia grandiflora)
Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida)
Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena)
It was a real delight having a chance to wander these tiny treasures, each unique. Hope you enjoyed this Monumental view of the Salish Sea.
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