Director’s Note | Fall 2024

We’ve moved into the season of taking advantage of sporadic, sunny days to finish up projects, but our fall rains create opportunities to explore the mysterious qualities of the islands when everything looks far different from our summer memories.

Staff continue to work on year one priority actions from our strategic plan. Over the summer eight service and community organizations invited the Land Bank to their membership meetings to learn more about current and upcoming conservation projects and two, free art-on-preserves series launched: plein-air painting with Alchemy Art Center and poetry writing with Island Verse Literary Collective.  San Juan Island farm leases will soon be  finalized on the eastern side of Beaverton Marsh and also on Frazer Homestead just north of American Camp. Staff and commissioners are excited about new lessees, the San Juan Island Grange and their innovative Overmarsh Farm Commons proposal of Islanders working together to cultivate food for themselves and the community on publicly owned farmland. We also look forward to continuing lessees, the Shephard family, grazing cattle at Frazer. Lastly, we have three stewardship and management plans at various stages, including the final draft for North Shore currently out for public comment.

Looking ahead there are many land management projects in the pipeline, some better suited to winter work, and some that will have to wait until spring, as well as some intriguing conservation opportunities. Stay tuned! And a special thanks to the numerous folks who’ve helped us in so many ways. It’s great to live in a place where people genuinely care about the world around them – and what a world we have in the San Juans!