The San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is located in the northwestern-most section of Washington State and is accessible only by boat or airplane. One of the easiest ways to view the refuge is by taking the Washington State Ferry to Friday Harbor from Anacortes. The San Juan Islands archipelago is made up of about 700 islands and islets, and is one of Washington’s most popular boating and recreation areas, especially in summer months. The refuge is made up of 83 islands scattered amidst the entire group, providing a total of 454 land acres of marine habitat.
Some of the refuge “islands” are so small, just rocks poking above the water with surrounding reefs, that island is a bit of a misnomer. Others are large enough to support small forests and grasslands. But regardless of size, when taken as a whole, the refuge islands provide substantial and critical habitat for birds including cormorants, pigeon guillemots, black oystercatchers, and bald eagles, and places for harbor seals to haul out. With few exceptions, the refuge islands are closed to public access to protect the wildlife and colonies of nesting birds.
About 10,000 years ago, the entire Pacific Northwest was covered in glacial ice up to two miles thick in some places. The ice sheets gouged deeply into the earth and when they melted left deep valleys and a significantly increased ocean level. The San Juan Islands are essentially the tops of mountains poking up out of the water.
By the time explorers came to the San Juan Islands in the late eighteenth century, many generations of Native Americans had lived here, people including the Lummi, Saanich, Samish, and Semiahmoo. They were closely related to the S’Klallam people on the mainland to the south, and all spoke variations of Northern Strait Salish.
With traditions typical of coastal Native Americans, these people wintered in large houses made of cedar planks and in the summer tended to scatter in search of fish and game and other food including camas and wild onion. One of their most notable ways of life and unique to this area is “reef netting”, a complicated but effective method for fishing the large salmon runs.
The first explorers to come to the islands were the Spanish in the early 1790’s. Captain Francisco Eliza mapped the islands in 1791-1792. In 1792, Captain George Vancouver explored the same islands. When contacting the Native Americans the newcomers unintentionally introduced devastating diseases. With reduced numbers and increasingly raided by traditional enemies among the northern tribes (Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and others) the surviving native people were forced to seek shelter elsewhere.
The Spanish eventually abandoned their land claims in the islands but the British did not nor did the Americans. In 1846 the Treaty of Oregon was signed by the British and Americans but failed to deal with boundaries within the San Juan Islands. This ambiguity would eventually lead to the infamous Pig War in 1859 that began when a pig ransacked a potato patch. To make a long story short, eventually the British and US agreed to a border that divided the archipelago somewhat evenly between the two countries.
To protect wildlife amid this popular vacation spot, all efforts are made to keep human interference to a minimum. With only two exceptions, public access is not allowed on the refuge islands. The first exception is Matia Island where five acres have been established as Washington State Park property; the other 140 acres of the island is refuge land. All of Matia Island is considered part of the NWR system and for that reason the State Park has special restrictions such as no off-trail access. Be sure to heed all posted warnings and restrictions.
The other public-access exception is 35-acre Turn Island, also part of the Washington State Park system. Both State Park islands have their own fee structure for day-access, camping, and dump station use. For more information go online to http://www.parks.wa.gov/. Visitors to Matia and Turn Islands are strongly urged to practice “Leave No Trace” principles (visit online at http://www.lnt.org/).
As with other marine refuges, all other islands, islets, rocks, and reefs associated with San Juan islands NWR are closed to the public. Boats must stay at least 200 yards away to avoid disturbing the wildlife.
Interesting Fact
It is estimated that about 10 percent of the eagle population in the San Juan Islands area are golden eagles, although they are commonly mistaken for immature bald eagles.
0 comments:
Post a Comment